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265 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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274 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
276 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
277 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
278 are preserved on all copies.
280 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
281 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
282 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
283 permission notice identical to this one.
285 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
286 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
295 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
297 Copyright (C) 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
299 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
300 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
301 are preserved on all copies.
304 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
305 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
306 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
307 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
310 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
311 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
312 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
313 permission notice identical to this one.
315 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
316 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
324 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
327 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
328 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
330 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
331 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
332 are preserved on all copies.
334 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
335 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
336 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
337 permission notice identical to this one.
339 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
340 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
349 @top The Gnus Newsreader
353 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
354 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
355 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
358 This manual corresponds to Gnus 5.8.5.
369 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
370 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
372 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
373 being accused of plagiarism:
375 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
376 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
377 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
378 can even read news with it!
380 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
381 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
382 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
383 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
384 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
390 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
391 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
392 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
393 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
394 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
395 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
396 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
397 * Various:: General purpose settings.
398 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
399 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
400 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
401 * Key Index:: Key Index.
404 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
408 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
409 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
410 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
411 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
412 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
413 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
414 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
415 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
416 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
417 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
418 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
422 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
423 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
424 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
428 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
429 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
430 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
431 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
432 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
433 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
434 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
435 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
436 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
437 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
438 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
439 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
440 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
441 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
442 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
443 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
444 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
448 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
449 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
450 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
454 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
455 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
456 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
457 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
458 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
462 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
463 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
464 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
465 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
469 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
470 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
471 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
472 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
473 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
474 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
475 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
476 * Threading:: How threads are made.
477 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
478 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
479 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
480 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
481 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
482 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
483 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
484 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
485 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
486 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
487 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
488 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
489 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
490 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
491 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
492 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
493 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
494 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
495 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
496 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
498 Summary Buffer Format
500 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
501 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
502 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
503 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
507 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
508 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
510 Reply, Followup and Post
512 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
513 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
514 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
515 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
519 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
520 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
521 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
525 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
526 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
527 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
531 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
532 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
534 Customizing Threading
536 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
537 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
538 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
539 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
543 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
544 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
545 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
546 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
547 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
548 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
552 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
553 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
554 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
558 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
559 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
560 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
561 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
562 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
563 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
564 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
565 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
567 Alternative Approaches
569 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
570 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
572 Various Summary Stuff
574 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
575 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
576 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
577 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
581 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
582 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
583 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
584 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
585 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
589 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
590 * Post:: Posting and following up.
591 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
592 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
593 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
594 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
595 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
596 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
600 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
601 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
602 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
603 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
604 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
605 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
606 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
610 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
611 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
612 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
613 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
614 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
615 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
616 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
620 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
621 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
625 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
626 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
627 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
628 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
629 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
630 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
631 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
632 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
633 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
634 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
635 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
636 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
637 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
641 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
642 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
643 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
645 Choosing a Mail Backend
647 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
648 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
649 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
650 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
651 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
652 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
656 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
657 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
658 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
659 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
663 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
664 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
665 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
666 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
667 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
668 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
672 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
676 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
677 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
678 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
682 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
683 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
684 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
688 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
689 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
693 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
694 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
695 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
696 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
697 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
698 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
699 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
700 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
701 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
705 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
706 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
707 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
711 * Group Agent Commands::
712 * Summary Agent Commands::
713 * Server Agent Commands::
717 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
718 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
719 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
720 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
721 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
722 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
723 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
724 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
725 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
726 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
727 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
728 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
729 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
730 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
731 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
732 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
736 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
737 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
738 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
739 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
743 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
744 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
745 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
749 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
750 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
751 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
752 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
753 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
754 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
755 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
756 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
757 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
758 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
759 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
760 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
761 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
762 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
763 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
764 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
765 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
766 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
770 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
771 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
772 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
773 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
774 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
778 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
779 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
780 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
781 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
785 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
786 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
787 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
788 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
789 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
793 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
794 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
795 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
796 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
797 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
798 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
799 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
800 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
804 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
805 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
806 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
807 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
808 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
809 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
810 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
811 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
812 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
813 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
817 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
818 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
819 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
820 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
824 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
825 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
826 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
827 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
831 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
832 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
833 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
834 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
835 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
836 * Group Info:: The group info format.
837 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
838 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
839 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
843 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
844 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
845 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
846 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
847 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
848 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
852 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
853 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
857 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
858 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
864 @chapter Starting Gnus
869 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
870 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
873 @findex gnus-other-frame
874 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
875 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
876 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
878 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
879 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
880 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
882 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
883 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
886 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
887 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
888 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
889 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
890 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
891 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
892 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
893 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
894 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
895 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
896 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
900 @node Finding the News
901 @section Finding the News
904 @vindex gnus-select-method
906 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
907 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
908 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
909 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
912 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
913 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
916 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
919 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
922 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
925 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
926 certainly be much faster.
928 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
930 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
931 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
932 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
933 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
934 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
935 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
937 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
938 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
939 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
940 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
942 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
943 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
944 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
945 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
946 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
947 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
948 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
949 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
950 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
953 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
955 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
956 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
957 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
958 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
959 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
960 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
962 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
964 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
965 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
966 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
967 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
968 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
969 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
972 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
973 would typically set this variable to
976 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
981 @section The First Time
982 @cindex first time usage
984 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
985 be subscribed by default.
987 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
988 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
989 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
990 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
993 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
994 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
995 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
997 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
998 help you with most common problems.
1000 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1001 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1005 @node The Server is Down
1006 @section The Server is Down
1007 @cindex server errors
1009 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1010 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1011 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1013 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1014 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1015 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1016 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1017 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1018 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1019 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1021 @findex gnus-no-server
1022 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1024 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1025 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1026 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1027 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1028 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1029 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1034 @section Slave Gnusae
1037 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1038 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1039 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1040 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1042 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1043 @code{.newsrc} file.
1045 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1046 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1047 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1048 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1049 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1050 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1051 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1053 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1054 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1055 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1056 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1057 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1058 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1059 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1060 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1062 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1063 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1066 @node Fetching a Group
1067 @section Fetching a Group
1068 @cindex fetching a group
1070 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1071 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1072 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1073 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1074 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1075 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1081 @cindex subscription
1083 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1084 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1085 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1086 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1087 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1088 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1089 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1090 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1091 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1094 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1095 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1096 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1100 @node Checking New Groups
1101 @subsection Checking New Groups
1103 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1104 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1105 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1106 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1107 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1108 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1109 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1110 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1111 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1112 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1114 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1115 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1116 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1117 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1118 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1119 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1120 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1121 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1122 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1123 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1124 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1126 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1127 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1128 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1129 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1130 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1131 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1134 @node Subscription Methods
1135 @subsection Subscription Methods
1137 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1138 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1139 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1141 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1142 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1144 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1148 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1149 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1150 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1151 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1152 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1154 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1155 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1156 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1157 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1159 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1160 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1161 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1163 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1164 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1165 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1166 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1167 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1168 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1169 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1170 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1171 up. Or something like that.
1173 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1174 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1175 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1176 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1177 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1179 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1180 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1181 Kill all new groups.
1183 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1184 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1185 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1186 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1187 topic parameter that looks like
1193 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1196 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1201 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1202 A closely related variable is
1203 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1204 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1205 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1206 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1209 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1210 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1211 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1212 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1215 @node Filtering New Groups
1216 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1218 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1219 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1220 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1223 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1226 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1227 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1228 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1229 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1230 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1231 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1232 subscribing these groups.
1233 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1234 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1236 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1237 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1238 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1239 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1240 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1241 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1242 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1243 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1245 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1246 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1247 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1248 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1249 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1250 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1251 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1252 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1253 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1254 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1256 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1257 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1260 @node Changing Servers
1261 @section Changing Servers
1262 @cindex changing servers
1264 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1265 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1266 very flaky and you want to use another.
1268 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1269 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1273 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1274 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1275 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1276 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1279 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1280 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1281 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1282 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1284 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1285 @findex gnus-change-server
1286 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1287 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1288 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1289 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1290 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1292 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1293 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1294 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1295 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1296 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1298 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1299 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1300 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1301 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1302 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1303 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1305 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1306 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1307 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1311 @section Startup Files
1312 @cindex startup files
1317 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1318 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1320 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1321 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1322 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1323 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1324 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1325 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1326 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1328 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1329 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1330 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1331 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1332 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1333 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1335 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1336 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1337 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1338 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1339 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1340 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1341 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1342 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1343 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1344 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1346 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1347 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1348 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1349 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1350 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1351 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1352 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1353 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1354 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1355 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1356 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1357 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1359 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1360 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1361 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1362 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1364 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1365 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1366 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1367 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1368 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1369 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1370 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1371 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1372 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1373 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1376 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1377 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1379 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1380 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1383 @vindex gnus-init-file
1384 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1385 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1386 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1387 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1388 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1389 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1390 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1391 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1392 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1398 @cindex dribble file
1401 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1402 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1403 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1404 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1405 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1408 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1409 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1412 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1413 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1414 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1416 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1417 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1418 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1419 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1420 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1421 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1423 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1424 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1425 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1428 @node The Active File
1429 @section The Active File
1431 @cindex ignored groups
1433 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1434 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1435 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1437 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1438 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1439 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1440 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1441 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1442 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1443 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1446 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1447 @c if you set it to anything else.
1449 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1451 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1452 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1453 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1455 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1456 you actually subscribe to.
1458 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1459 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1460 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1461 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1463 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1464 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1465 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1466 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1467 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1468 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1470 Some news servers (Leafnode and old versions of INN, for instance) do
1471 not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these servers, @code{nil}
1472 is probably the most efficient value for this variable.
1474 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1475 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1476 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1477 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1478 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1479 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1481 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1482 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1484 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1485 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1487 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1488 secondary select methods.
1491 @node Startup Variables
1492 @section Startup Variables
1496 @item gnus-load-hook
1497 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1498 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1499 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1500 times you start Gnus.
1502 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1503 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1504 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1506 @item gnus-startup-hook
1507 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1508 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1510 @item gnus-started-hook
1511 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1512 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1515 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1516 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1517 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1518 generating the group buffer.
1520 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1521 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1522 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1523 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1524 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1525 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1526 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1527 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1529 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1530 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1531 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1532 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1533 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1534 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1536 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1537 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1538 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1540 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1541 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1542 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1544 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1545 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1546 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1547 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1552 @node The Group Buffer
1553 @chapter The Group Buffer
1554 @cindex group buffer
1556 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1557 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1558 long as Gnus is active.
1562 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1563 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1564 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1565 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1566 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1567 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1568 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1569 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1575 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1576 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1577 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1578 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1579 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1580 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1581 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1582 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1583 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1584 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1585 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1586 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1587 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1588 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1589 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1590 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1591 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1595 @node Group Buffer Format
1596 @section Group Buffer Format
1599 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1600 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1601 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1605 @node Group Line Specification
1606 @subsection Group Line Specification
1607 @cindex group buffer format
1609 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1610 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1612 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1615 25: news.announce.newusers
1616 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1621 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1622 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1623 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1624 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1626 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1627 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1628 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1629 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1630 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1631 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1633 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1635 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1636 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1637 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1638 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1641 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1642 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1643 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1645 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1650 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1653 Whether the group is subscribed.
1656 Level of subscribedness.
1659 Number of unread articles.
1662 Number of dormant articles.
1665 Number of ticked articles.
1668 Number of read articles.
1671 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1672 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1675 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1678 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1687 Newsgroup description.
1690 @samp{m} if moderated.
1693 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1702 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1706 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1709 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1710 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1711 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1712 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1713 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1716 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1718 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1722 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1726 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1727 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1728 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1729 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1730 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1731 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1736 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1737 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1738 group, or a bogus native group.
1741 @node Group Modeline Specification
1742 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1743 @cindex group modeline
1745 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1746 The mode line can be changed by setting
1747 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1748 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1752 The native news server.
1754 The native select method.
1758 @node Group Highlighting
1759 @subsection Group Highlighting
1760 @cindex highlighting
1761 @cindex group highlighting
1763 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1764 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1765 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1766 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1767 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1769 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1773 (cond (window-system
1774 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1775 (defface my-group-face-1
1776 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1777 (defface my-group-face-2
1778 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1779 (defface my-group-face-3
1780 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1781 (defface my-group-face-4
1782 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1783 (defface my-group-face-5
1784 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1786 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1787 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1788 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1789 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1790 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1791 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1794 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1796 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1803 The number of unread articles in the group.
1807 Whether the group is a mail group.
1809 The level of the group.
1811 The score of the group.
1813 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1815 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1816 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1818 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1819 topic being inserted.
1822 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1823 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1824 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1826 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1827 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1828 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1829 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1830 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1833 @node Group Maneuvering
1834 @section Group Maneuvering
1835 @cindex group movement
1837 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1838 expected, hopefully.
1844 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1845 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1846 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1852 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1853 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1854 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1858 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1859 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1863 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1864 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1868 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1869 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1870 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1874 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1875 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1876 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1879 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1885 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1886 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1887 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1892 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1893 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1894 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1898 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1899 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1900 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1903 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1904 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1905 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1906 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1910 @node Selecting a Group
1911 @section Selecting a Group
1912 @cindex group selection
1917 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1918 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1919 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1920 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1921 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1922 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1923 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1924 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1925 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1926 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1930 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1931 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1932 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1933 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1934 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1938 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1939 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1940 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1941 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1942 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1943 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1944 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1945 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1946 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1947 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1950 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1951 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1952 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1953 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1954 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1957 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1958 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1959 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1960 doing any processing of its contents
1961 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1962 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1963 manner will have no permanent effects.
1967 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1968 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1969 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1970 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1971 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1972 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1973 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1974 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1977 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1978 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1979 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1980 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1985 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1986 full summary buffer.
1989 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1992 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1997 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
1998 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
1999 Useful functions include:
2002 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2003 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2004 don't select the article.
2006 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2007 Select the first unread article.
2009 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2010 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2014 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2015 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2016 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2020 @node Subscription Commands
2021 @section Subscription Commands
2022 @cindex subscription
2030 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2031 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2032 Toggle subscription to the current group
2033 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2039 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2040 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2041 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2042 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2048 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2049 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2050 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2056 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2057 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2060 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2061 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2062 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2063 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2064 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2070 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2071 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2075 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2076 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2079 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2080 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2081 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2082 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2083 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2084 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2085 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2086 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2087 @file{.newsrc} file.
2091 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2101 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2102 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2103 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2104 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2105 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2106 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2111 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2112 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2113 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2117 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2118 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2119 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2121 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2122 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2123 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2124 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2125 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2126 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2133 @section Group Levels
2137 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2138 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2139 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2140 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2141 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2143 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2149 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2150 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2151 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2152 prompted for a level.
2155 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2156 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2157 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2158 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2159 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2160 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2161 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2162 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2163 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2164 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2165 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2166 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2167 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2168 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2169 reasons of efficiency.
2171 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2172 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2174 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2175 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2176 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2178 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2179 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2180 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2181 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2182 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2183 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2184 relevant valid ranges.
2186 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2187 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2188 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2189 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2190 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2191 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2194 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2195 one with the best level.
2197 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2198 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2199 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2202 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2203 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2204 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2205 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2208 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2209 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2210 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2211 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2213 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2214 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2215 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2216 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2217 to 5. The default is 6.
2221 @section Group Score
2226 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2227 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2228 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2231 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2232 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2233 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2234 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2235 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2236 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2237 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2238 least significant part.))
2240 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2241 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2242 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2243 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2244 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2245 action after each summary exit, you can add
2246 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2247 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2248 slow things down somewhat.
2251 @node Marking Groups
2252 @section Marking Groups
2253 @cindex marking groups
2255 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2256 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2257 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2258 bidding on those groups.
2260 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2261 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2262 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2270 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2271 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2277 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2278 Remove the mark from the current group
2279 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2283 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2284 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2288 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2289 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2293 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2294 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2298 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2299 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2300 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2303 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2305 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2306 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2307 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2308 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2309 the command to be executed.
2312 @node Foreign Groups
2313 @section Foreign Groups
2314 @cindex foreign groups
2316 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2317 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2318 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2319 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2326 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2327 @cindex making groups
2328 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2329 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2330 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2334 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2335 @cindex renaming groups
2336 Rename the current group to something else
2337 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2338 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2344 @findex gnus-group-customize
2345 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2349 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2350 @cindex renaming groups
2351 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2352 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2356 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2357 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2358 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2362 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2363 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2364 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2368 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2370 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2371 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2376 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2377 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2381 @cindex (ding) archive
2382 @cindex archive group
2383 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2384 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2385 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2386 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2387 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2388 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2389 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2393 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2395 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2396 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2397 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2398 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2402 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2404 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2405 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2406 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2410 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2411 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2413 Make a group based on some file or other
2414 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2415 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2416 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2417 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2418 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2419 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2420 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2424 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2425 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2426 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2427 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2431 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2436 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2437 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2438 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2439 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2440 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2441 @xref{Web Searches}.
2443 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2444 to a particular group by using a match string like
2445 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2448 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2449 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2450 This function will delete the current group
2451 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2452 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2453 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2454 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2455 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2459 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2460 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2461 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2465 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2466 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2467 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2470 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2473 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2474 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2475 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2476 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2477 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2478 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2482 @node Group Parameters
2483 @section Group Parameters
2484 @cindex group parameters
2486 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2487 Here's an example group parameter list:
2490 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2494 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2495 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2496 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2497 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2499 The following group parameters can be used:
2504 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2507 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2510 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2511 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2512 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2513 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2514 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2516 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2517 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2518 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2519 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2520 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2521 list address instead.
2525 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
2528 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2531 It is totally ignored
2532 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2533 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2535 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2536 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2537 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2538 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2539 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2541 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2542 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2543 sending the message.
2547 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2548 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2549 of whether it has any unread articles.
2551 @item broken-reply-to
2552 @cindex broken-reply-to
2553 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2554 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2555 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2556 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2557 broken behavior. So there!
2561 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2562 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2566 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2567 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2568 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2573 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2574 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2575 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2576 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2577 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2578 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2579 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2583 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2584 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2585 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2588 @cindex total-expire
2589 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2590 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2591 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2592 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2597 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2598 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2599 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2600 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2601 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2602 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2605 @cindex score file group parameter
2606 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2607 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2608 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2611 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2612 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2613 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2614 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2617 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2618 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2619 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2620 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2623 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2624 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2628 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2631 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2636 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2637 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2638 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2642 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2643 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2644 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2646 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2647 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2648 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2649 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2650 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2651 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2652 @code{eval}ed there.
2654 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2655 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2656 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2657 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2658 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2661 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2662 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2663 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2664 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2665 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2667 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2668 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2669 like this in the group parameters:
2674 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2679 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2680 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2684 @node Listing Groups
2685 @section Listing Groups
2686 @cindex group listing
2688 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2696 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2697 List all groups that have unread articles
2698 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2699 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2700 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2701 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2708 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2709 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2710 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2711 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2712 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2713 unsubscribed groups).
2717 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2718 List all unread groups on a specific level
2719 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2720 with no unread articles.
2724 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2725 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2726 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2727 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2732 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2733 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2737 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2738 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2739 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2743 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2744 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2748 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2749 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2750 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2751 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2752 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2753 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2754 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2755 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2759 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2760 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2761 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2765 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2766 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2767 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2771 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2772 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2776 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2777 @cindex visible group parameter
2778 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2779 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2780 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2781 get the same effect.
2783 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2784 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2785 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2786 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2787 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2790 @node Sorting Groups
2791 @section Sorting Groups
2792 @cindex sorting groups
2794 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2795 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2796 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2797 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2798 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2799 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2804 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2805 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2806 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2808 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2809 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2810 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2812 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2813 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2814 Sort by group level.
2816 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2817 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2818 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2820 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2821 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2822 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2823 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2825 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2826 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2827 Sort by number of unread articles.
2829 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2830 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2831 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2836 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2837 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2841 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2842 some sorting criteria:
2846 @kindex G S a (Group)
2847 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2848 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2849 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2852 @kindex G S u (Group)
2853 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2854 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2855 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2858 @kindex G S l (Group)
2859 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2860 Sort the group buffer by group level
2861 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2864 @kindex G S v (Group)
2865 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2866 Sort the group buffer by group score
2867 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2870 @kindex G S r (Group)
2871 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2872 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2873 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2876 @kindex G S m (Group)
2877 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2878 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2879 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2883 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2884 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2886 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2887 commands will sort in reverse order.
2889 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2893 @kindex G P a (Group)
2894 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2895 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2896 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2899 @kindex G P u (Group)
2900 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2901 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
2902 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2905 @kindex G P l (Group)
2906 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2907 Sort the groups by group level
2908 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2911 @kindex G P v (Group)
2912 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2913 Sort the groups by group score
2914 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2917 @kindex G P r (Group)
2918 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2919 Sort the groups by group rank
2920 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2923 @kindex G P m (Group)
2924 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2925 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
2926 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2932 @node Group Maintenance
2933 @section Group Maintenance
2934 @cindex bogus groups
2939 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2940 Find bogus groups and delete them
2941 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2945 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2946 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2947 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2948 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2949 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2953 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2954 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2955 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2956 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2959 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2960 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2961 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2962 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2967 @node Browse Foreign Server
2968 @section Browse Foreign Server
2969 @cindex foreign servers
2970 @cindex browsing servers
2975 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2976 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2977 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2978 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2981 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2982 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2983 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2984 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2986 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2991 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2992 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2996 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2997 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3000 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3001 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3002 Enter the current group and display the first article
3003 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3006 @kindex RET (Browse)
3007 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3008 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3012 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3013 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3014 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3020 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3021 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3025 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3026 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3027 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3032 @section Exiting Gnus
3033 @cindex exiting Gnus
3035 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3040 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3041 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3042 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3043 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3047 @findex gnus-group-exit
3048 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3049 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3053 @findex gnus-group-quit
3054 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3055 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3058 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3059 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3060 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3061 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3062 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3067 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3068 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3069 trying to customize meta-variables.
3074 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3075 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3076 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3082 @section Group Topics
3085 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3086 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3087 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3088 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3089 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3090 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3094 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3095 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3106 2: alt.religion.emacs
3109 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3111 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3112 13: comp.sources.unix
3115 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3117 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3118 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3119 is a toggling command.)
3121 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3122 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3123 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3124 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3127 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3128 the hook for the group mode:
3131 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3135 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3136 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3137 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3138 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3139 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3143 @node Topic Variables
3144 @subsection Topic Variables
3145 @cindex topic variables
3147 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3148 really neat, I think.
3150 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3151 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3152 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3165 Number of groups in the topic.
3167 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3169 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3172 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3173 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3174 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3177 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3178 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3180 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3181 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3182 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3185 @node Topic Commands
3186 @subsection Topic Commands
3187 @cindex topic commands
3189 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3190 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3191 definitions slightly.
3197 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3198 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3199 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3203 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3204 Move the current group to some other topic
3205 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3206 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3210 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3211 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3215 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3216 Copy the current group to some other topic
3217 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3218 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3222 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3223 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3224 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3225 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3226 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3227 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3228 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3231 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3232 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3236 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3237 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3238 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3242 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3243 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3244 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3248 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3249 Toggle hiding empty topics
3250 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3254 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3255 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3256 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3259 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3260 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3261 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3262 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3266 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3268 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3269 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3270 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3271 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3274 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3275 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3276 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3277 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3281 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3283 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3284 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3285 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3286 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3287 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3288 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3291 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3292 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3293 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
3294 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
3298 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3299 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3300 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3304 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3305 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3306 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3311 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3312 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3315 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3316 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3317 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3321 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3322 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3323 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3327 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3328 @cindex group parameters
3329 @cindex topic parameters
3331 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3332 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3338 @subsection Topic Sorting
3339 @cindex topic sorting
3341 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3347 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3348 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3349 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3350 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3353 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3354 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3355 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3356 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3359 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3360 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3361 Sort the current topic by group level
3362 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3365 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3366 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3367 Sort the current topic by group score
3368 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3371 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3372 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3373 Sort the current topic by group rank
3374 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3377 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3378 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3379 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3380 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3384 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3387 @node Topic Topology
3388 @subsection Topic Topology
3389 @cindex topic topology
3392 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3398 2: alt.religion.emacs
3401 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3403 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3404 13: comp.sources.unix
3407 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3408 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3409 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3414 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3415 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3419 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3420 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3421 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3422 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3423 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3424 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3426 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3427 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3428 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3431 @node Topic Parameters
3432 @subsection Topic Parameters
3433 @cindex topic parameters
3435 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3436 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3437 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3439 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3444 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3445 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3446 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3451 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3452 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3453 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3454 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3460 2: alt.religion.emacs
3464 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3466 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3467 13: comp.sources.unix
3471 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3472 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3473 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3474 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3475 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3476 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3478 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3479 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3480 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3481 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3482 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3484 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3485 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3486 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3487 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3488 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3489 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3490 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3491 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3494 @node Misc Group Stuff
3495 @section Misc Group Stuff
3498 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3499 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3500 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3501 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3508 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3509 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3510 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
3514 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3515 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3516 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3520 @findex gnus-group-mail
3521 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3525 Variables for the group buffer:
3529 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3530 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3531 is called after the group buffer has been
3534 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3535 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3536 is called after the group buffer is
3537 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3540 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3541 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3542 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3543 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3545 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3546 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3547 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3548 whether they are empty or not.
3553 @node Scanning New Messages
3554 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3555 @cindex new messages
3556 @cindex scanning new news
3562 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3563 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3564 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3565 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3566 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3567 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3572 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3573 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3574 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3575 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3576 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3577 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3578 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3580 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3581 @cindex activating groups
3583 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3584 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3589 @findex gnus-group-restart
3590 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3591 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3592 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3596 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3597 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3599 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3600 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3604 @node Group Information
3605 @subsection Group Information
3606 @cindex group information
3607 @cindex information on groups
3614 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3615 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3618 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3619 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3620 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3621 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3622 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3623 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3624 for fetching the file.
3626 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3627 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3631 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3633 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3634 @cindex describing groups
3635 @cindex group description
3636 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3637 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3638 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3642 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3643 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3644 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3651 @findex gnus-version
3652 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3656 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3657 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3660 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3663 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3664 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3668 @node Group Timestamp
3669 @subsection Group Timestamp
3671 @cindex group timestamps
3673 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3674 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3675 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3678 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3681 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3683 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3684 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3687 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3688 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3691 This will result in lines looking like:
3694 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3695 0: custom 19961002T012713
3698 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3699 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3703 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3704 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3709 @subsection File Commands
3710 @cindex file commands
3716 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3717 @vindex gnus-init-file
3718 @cindex reading init file
3719 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3720 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3724 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3725 @cindex saving .newsrc
3726 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3727 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3728 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3731 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3732 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3733 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3738 @node The Summary Buffer
3739 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3740 @cindex summary buffer
3742 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3743 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3745 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3746 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3748 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3751 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3752 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3753 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3754 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3755 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3756 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3757 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3758 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3759 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3760 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3761 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3762 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3763 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3764 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3765 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3766 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3767 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3768 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3769 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3770 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3771 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3772 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3773 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3774 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3775 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3776 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3777 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3778 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3782 @node Summary Buffer Format
3783 @section Summary Buffer Format
3784 @cindex summary buffer format
3788 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3789 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3790 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3796 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3797 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3798 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3799 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3802 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3803 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3804 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3805 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3806 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3807 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3808 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3809 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3810 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3811 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3812 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
3815 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3816 'mail-extract-address-components)
3819 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3820 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3821 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3822 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3825 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3826 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3828 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3829 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3830 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3831 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3832 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3834 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3836 The following format specification characters are understood:
3842 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
3843 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3845 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3846 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3847 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3849 Full @code{From} header.
3851 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3853 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3854 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3856 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3857 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3858 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3859 may be more thorough.
3861 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3864 Number of lines in the article.
3866 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
3867 methods (like nnfolder).
3869 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3871 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3872 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3874 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3875 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3877 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3878 for adopted articles.
3880 One space for each thread level.
3882 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3887 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3888 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3892 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3894 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3895 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3896 default level. If the difference between
3897 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3898 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3906 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3908 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3914 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3915 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3917 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3918 article has any children.
3924 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3925 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3926 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3927 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3928 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3929 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3932 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3933 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3934 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3935 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3936 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3937 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3939 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3940 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3942 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3945 @node To From Newsgroups
3946 @subsection To From Newsgroups
3950 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
3951 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
3952 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
3953 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
3954 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
3958 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
3959 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
3960 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
3964 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3965 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
3968 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
3969 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
3972 @findex gnus-extra-header
3973 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
3974 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
3975 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
3978 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
3982 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3983 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
3984 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
3985 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
3986 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
3987 headers are used instead.
3991 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
3992 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
3993 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
3994 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
3997 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3998 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
3999 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4000 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4002 In summary, you'd typically do something like the following:
4005 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4007 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4008 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4009 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
4010 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4014 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4015 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4022 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4023 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4026 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4027 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4029 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4030 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4031 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4032 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4034 Here are the elements you can play with:
4040 Unprefixed group name.
4042 Current article number.
4044 Current article score.
4048 Number of unread articles in this group.
4050 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4053 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4054 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4055 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4056 and no unselected ones.
4058 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4059 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4061 Subject of the current article.
4063 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4065 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4067 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4069 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4071 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4073 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4077 @node Summary Highlighting
4078 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4082 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4083 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4084 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4085 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4086 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4088 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4089 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4090 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4091 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4093 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4094 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4095 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4096 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4098 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4099 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4100 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4101 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4102 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4103 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4106 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4107 ((> score default) . bold))
4109 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4110 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4114 @node Summary Maneuvering
4115 @section Summary Maneuvering
4116 @cindex summary movement
4118 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4119 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4121 None of these commands select articles.
4126 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4127 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4128 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4129 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4130 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4134 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4135 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4136 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4137 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4138 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4143 @kindex G j (Summary)
4144 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4145 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4146 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4149 @kindex G g (Summary)
4150 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4151 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4152 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4155 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4156 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4157 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4158 to the group buffer.
4160 Variables related to summary movement:
4164 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4165 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4166 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4167 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4168 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4169 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4170 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4171 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4172 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
4173 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4174 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4175 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4176 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4177 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4179 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4180 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4181 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4182 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4183 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4184 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4185 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4187 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4189 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4190 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4191 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4192 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4193 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4195 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4196 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4197 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4198 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4199 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4200 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4201 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4202 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4205 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4206 the given number of lines from the top.
4211 @node Choosing Articles
4212 @section Choosing Articles
4213 @cindex selecting articles
4216 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4217 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4221 @node Choosing Commands
4222 @subsection Choosing Commands
4224 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4225 and they all select and display an article.
4229 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4230 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4231 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4232 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4237 @kindex G n (Summary)
4238 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4239 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4240 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4245 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4246 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4247 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4252 @kindex G N (Summary)
4253 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4254 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4259 @kindex G P (Summary)
4260 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4261 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4264 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4265 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4266 Go to the next article with the same subject
4267 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4270 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4271 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4272 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4273 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4277 @kindex G f (Summary)
4279 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4280 Go to the first unread article
4281 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4285 @kindex G b (Summary)
4287 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4288 Go to the article with the highest score
4289 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4294 @kindex G l (Summary)
4295 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4296 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4299 @kindex G o (Summary)
4300 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4302 @cindex article history
4303 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4304 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4305 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4306 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4307 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4308 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4312 @node Choosing Variables
4313 @subsection Choosing Variables
4315 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4318 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4319 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4320 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4321 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4322 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4323 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4325 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4326 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4327 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4328 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4330 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4331 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4332 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4333 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4334 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4335 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4336 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4337 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4338 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4339 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4340 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4341 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4342 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4343 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4348 @node Paging the Article
4349 @section Scrolling the Article
4350 @cindex article scrolling
4355 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4356 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4357 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4358 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4359 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4362 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4363 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4364 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4367 @kindex RET (Summary)
4368 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4369 Scroll the current article one line forward
4370 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4373 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4374 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4375 Scroll the current article one line backward
4376 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4380 @kindex A g (Summary)
4382 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4383 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4384 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4385 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4386 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4387 the way it came from the server.
4389 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4390 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4391 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4394 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4399 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4404 @kindex A < (Summary)
4405 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4406 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4407 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4412 @kindex A > (Summary)
4413 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4414 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4418 @kindex A s (Summary)
4420 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4421 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4422 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4426 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4427 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4432 @node Reply Followup and Post
4433 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4436 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4437 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4438 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4439 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4443 @node Summary Mail Commands
4444 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4446 @cindex composing mail
4448 Commands for composing a mail message:
4454 @kindex S r (Summary)
4456 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4457 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4458 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4459 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4460 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4465 @kindex S R (Summary)
4466 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4467 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4468 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4469 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4470 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4473 @kindex S w (Summary)
4474 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4475 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4476 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4477 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4478 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4481 @kindex S W (Summary)
4482 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4483 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4484 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4485 the process/prefix convention.
4488 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4489 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4490 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4491 Forward the current article to some other person
4492 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4493 headers of the forwarded article.
4498 @kindex S m (Summary)
4499 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4500 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4501 Send a mail to some other person
4502 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4505 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4506 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4507 @cindex bouncing mail
4508 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4509 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4510 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4511 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4512 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4513 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
4514 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4515 very well fail, though.
4518 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4519 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4520 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4521 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4522 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4523 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4524 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4525 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4526 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4527 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4529 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4530 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4531 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4532 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4533 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4535 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4536 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4539 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4540 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
4541 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4542 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
4543 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4546 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4547 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4548 @cindex crossposting
4549 @cindex excessive crossposting
4550 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4551 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4553 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4554 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4555 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4556 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4557 command understands the process/prefix convention
4558 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4562 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4565 @node Summary Post Commands
4566 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4568 @cindex composing news
4570 Commands for posting a news article:
4576 @kindex S p (Summary)
4577 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4578 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4579 Post an article to the current group
4580 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4585 @kindex S f (Summary)
4586 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4587 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4588 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4592 @kindex S F (Summary)
4594 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4595 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4596 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4597 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4598 process/prefix convention.
4601 @kindex S n (Summary)
4602 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4603 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4604 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4607 @kindex S N (Summary)
4608 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4609 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4610 message through mail and include the original message
4611 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4612 the process/prefix convention.
4615 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4616 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4617 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4618 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
4619 headers of the forwarded article.
4622 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4623 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4625 @cindex making digests
4626 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4627 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4628 process/prefix convention.
4631 @kindex S u (Summary)
4632 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4633 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4634 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4635 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4638 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4641 @node Summary Message Commands
4642 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4646 @kindex S y (Summary)
4647 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4648 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4649 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4650 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4651 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4656 @node Canceling and Superseding
4657 @subsection Canceling Articles
4658 @cindex canceling articles
4659 @cindex superseding articles
4661 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4662 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4664 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4666 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4668 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4669 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4670 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4671 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4672 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4673 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4675 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4676 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4679 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4680 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4681 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4683 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4684 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4685 your original article.
4687 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4689 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4690 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4691 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4694 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4695 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4696 have posted almost the same article twice.
4698 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4699 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4700 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4701 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4702 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4703 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4704 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4705 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4706 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4707 canceled/superseded.
4709 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4712 @node Marking Articles
4713 @section Marking Articles
4714 @cindex article marking
4715 @cindex article ticking
4718 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4720 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4721 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4722 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4724 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4727 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4728 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4729 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4733 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4737 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4738 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4739 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4743 @node Unread Articles
4744 @subsection Unread Articles
4746 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4751 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4752 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4754 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4755 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4756 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4757 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4758 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4762 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4763 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4765 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4766 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4767 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4770 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4771 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4773 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4778 @subsection Read Articles
4779 @cindex expirable mark
4781 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4786 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4787 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4788 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4791 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4792 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4795 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4796 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4797 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4800 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4801 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4804 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4805 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4808 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4809 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4812 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4813 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4816 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4817 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4820 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4821 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4824 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4825 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4829 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4830 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4831 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4835 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4836 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4838 One more special mark, though:
4842 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4843 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4845 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4846 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4847 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4848 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4854 @subsection Other Marks
4855 @cindex process mark
4858 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4864 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4865 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4866 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4867 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4868 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
4871 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4872 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4873 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4874 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4877 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4878 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4879 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4882 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4883 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4884 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4885 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4888 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4889 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4890 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4891 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4892 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4895 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4896 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4897 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4898 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4899 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4900 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4904 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4905 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4906 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4908 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4909 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4910 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4914 @subsection Setting Marks
4915 @cindex setting marks
4917 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4922 @kindex M c (Summary)
4923 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4924 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4925 @cindex mark as unread
4926 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4927 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4933 @kindex M t (Summary)
4934 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4935 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4936 @xref{Article Caching}.
4941 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4942 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4943 Mark the current article as dormant
4944 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4948 @kindex M d (Summary)
4950 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4951 Mark the current article as read
4952 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4956 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4957 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4958 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4963 @kindex M k (Summary)
4964 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4965 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4966 and then select the next unread article
4967 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4971 @kindex M K (Summary)
4972 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4973 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4974 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4975 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4978 @kindex M C (Summary)
4979 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4980 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4981 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4984 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4985 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4986 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4987 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4990 @kindex M H (Summary)
4991 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4992 Catchup the current group to point
4993 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4996 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4997 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4998 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4999 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5002 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5003 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5004 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5005 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5009 @kindex M e (Summary)
5011 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5012 Mark the current article as expirable
5013 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5016 @kindex M b (Summary)
5017 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5018 Set a bookmark in the current article
5019 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5022 @kindex M B (Summary)
5023 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5024 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5025 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5028 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5029 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5030 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5031 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5034 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5035 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5036 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5037 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5040 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5041 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5042 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5043 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5044 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5047 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5048 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5049 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5050 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5051 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5052 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5053 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5054 The default is @code{t}.
5057 @node Generic Marking Commands
5058 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5060 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5061 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5062 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5063 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5064 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5067 Multiply these five behaviours with five different marking commands, and
5068 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5071 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5072 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5073 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5074 to list in this manual.
5076 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5077 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5078 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5079 article, you could say something like:
5082 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5083 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5084 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5090 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5091 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5095 @node Setting Process Marks
5096 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5097 @cindex setting process marks
5104 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5105 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5106 Mark the current article with the process mark
5107 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5108 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5112 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5113 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5114 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5115 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5118 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5119 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5120 Remove the process mark from all articles
5121 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5124 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5125 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5126 Invert the list of process marked articles
5127 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5130 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5131 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5132 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5133 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5136 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5137 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5138 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5139 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5142 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5143 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5144 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5147 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5148 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5149 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5150 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5153 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5154 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5155 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5156 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5159 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5160 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5161 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5162 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5165 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5166 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5167 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5170 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5172 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5173 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5176 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5178 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5181 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5182 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5183 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5184 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5187 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5188 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5189 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5190 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5193 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5194 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5195 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5196 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5199 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5200 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5201 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5202 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5211 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5212 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5213 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5216 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5217 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5218 additional articles.
5224 @kindex / / (Summary)
5225 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5226 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5227 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5230 @kindex / a (Summary)
5231 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5232 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5233 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5236 @kindex / x (Summary)
5237 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5238 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5239 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5240 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5244 @kindex / u (Summary)
5246 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5247 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5248 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5249 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5250 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5253 @kindex / m (Summary)
5254 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5255 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5256 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5259 @kindex / t (Summary)
5260 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5261 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5262 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5263 articles younger than that number of days.
5266 @kindex / n (Summary)
5267 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5268 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5269 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5270 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5273 @kindex / w (Summary)
5274 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5275 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5276 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5280 @kindex / v (Summary)
5281 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5282 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5283 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5287 @kindex M S (Summary)
5288 @kindex / E (Summary)
5289 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5290 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5291 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5294 @kindex / D (Summary)
5295 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5296 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5297 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5300 @kindex / * (Summary)
5301 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5302 Include all cached articles in the limit
5303 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5306 @kindex / d (Summary)
5307 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5308 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5309 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5312 @kindex / M (Summary)
5313 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5314 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5317 @kindex / T (Summary)
5318 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5319 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5322 @kindex / c (Summary)
5323 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5324 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5325 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5328 @kindex / C (Summary)
5329 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5330 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5331 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5332 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5340 @cindex article threading
5342 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5343 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5344 hierarchical fashion.
5346 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5347 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5348 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5349 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
5350 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5351 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5352 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5354 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5358 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5361 A tree-like article structure.
5364 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5367 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5368 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5369 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5370 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5371 called loose threads.
5373 @item thread gathering
5374 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5376 @item sparse threads
5377 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5378 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5384 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5385 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5389 @node Customizing Threading
5390 @subsection Customizing Threading
5391 @cindex customizing threading
5394 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5395 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5396 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5397 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5402 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5405 @cindex loose threads
5408 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5409 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5410 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5411 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5412 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5413 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5415 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
5416 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
5417 There are four possible values:
5421 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5422 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5423 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5424 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5425 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5430 @cindex adopting articles
5435 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5436 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5437 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5438 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5441 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5442 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5443 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5444 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5445 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5446 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5447 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5450 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5451 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5452 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5456 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5457 display them after one another.
5460 Don't gather loose threads.
5463 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5464 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5465 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5466 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
5467 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5468 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5469 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5470 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5471 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5472 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
5473 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5475 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5476 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
5477 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5480 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5481 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5482 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5483 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5484 simplification is used.
5486 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5487 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5488 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5489 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5491 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5493 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5499 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5500 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5501 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5502 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5507 (mapconcat 'identity
5508 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5510 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5513 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5516 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5517 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5518 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5519 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5520 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5521 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5523 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5526 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5527 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5528 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5530 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5531 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5534 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5535 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5536 Remove excessive whitespace.
5539 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5542 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5543 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5544 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5545 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5546 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5547 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5548 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5549 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5551 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5552 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5553 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5554 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5555 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5556 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5557 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5558 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5559 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5563 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5564 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5565 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5566 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5568 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5569 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5570 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5573 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5577 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5578 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5584 @node Filling In Threads
5585 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5588 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5589 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5590 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5591 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5592 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5593 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5594 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5595 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5596 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5597 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5598 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5599 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
5601 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5602 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5603 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5605 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5606 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5607 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5608 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5609 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5610 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5611 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
5612 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5613 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
5614 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
5615 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5616 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
5617 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5618 @code{nil} by default.
5623 @node More Threading
5624 @subsubsection More Threading
5627 @item gnus-show-threads
5628 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5629 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5630 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5631 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5632 slower and more awkward.
5634 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5635 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5636 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5639 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5640 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5641 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5642 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5643 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5644 threads are expunged.
5646 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5647 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5648 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5651 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5652 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5653 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5654 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
5655 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
5658 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5659 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5660 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5663 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5664 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5665 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5666 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5667 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5668 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5669 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5670 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5671 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5672 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5673 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5678 @node Low-Level Threading
5679 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5683 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5684 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5685 Hook run before parsing any headers.
5687 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5688 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5689 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5690 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5691 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5692 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5693 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5694 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5695 meaningful. Here's one example:
5698 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5700 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5701 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5703 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5705 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5712 @node Thread Commands
5713 @subsection Thread Commands
5714 @cindex thread commands
5720 @kindex T k (Summary)
5721 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5722 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5723 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5724 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5725 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5730 @kindex T l (Summary)
5731 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5732 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5733 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5734 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5737 @kindex T i (Summary)
5738 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5739 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5740 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5743 @kindex T # (Summary)
5744 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5745 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5746 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5749 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5750 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5751 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5752 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5755 @kindex T T (Summary)
5756 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5757 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5760 @kindex T s (Summary)
5761 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5762 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5763 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5766 @kindex T h (Summary)
5767 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5768 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5771 @kindex T S (Summary)
5772 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5773 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5776 @kindex T H (Summary)
5777 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5778 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5781 @kindex T t (Summary)
5782 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5783 Re-thread the current article's thread
5784 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5785 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5788 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5789 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5790 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5791 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5795 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5796 understand the numeric prefix.
5801 @kindex T n (Summary)
5803 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
5805 @kindex M-down (Summary)
5806 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5807 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5810 @kindex T p (Summary)
5812 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
5814 @kindex M-up (Summary)
5815 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5816 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5819 @kindex T d (Summary)
5820 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5821 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5824 @kindex T u (Summary)
5825 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5826 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5829 @kindex T o (Summary)
5830 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5831 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5834 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5835 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5836 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5837 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5838 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5839 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5840 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5841 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5842 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5843 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5844 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5845 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5852 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5853 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5854 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5855 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5856 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5857 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5858 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5859 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5860 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
5861 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
5862 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
5864 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5865 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5866 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5867 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5868 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5870 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5871 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5872 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
5874 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
5875 last function in the list. You should probably always include
5876 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5877 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5878 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5879 ascending article order.
5881 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
5882 by number, you could do something like:
5885 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5886 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5887 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5888 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
5891 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5892 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5893 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5894 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5895 which the articles arrived.
5897 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5901 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5903 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5904 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5907 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5908 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5909 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5910 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5913 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5914 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5915 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5916 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5917 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5918 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5919 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5920 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5921 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5922 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5923 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5924 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5925 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5927 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5931 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5932 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5933 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5938 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5939 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5940 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5941 @cindex article pre-fetch
5944 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5945 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5946 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5947 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5948 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5950 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5951 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5953 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5954 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5955 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5956 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5957 connection is blocked.
5959 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5960 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5961 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5962 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5964 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5965 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5966 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5967 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5970 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5973 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5974 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5975 happen automatically.
5977 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5978 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5979 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5980 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5981 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5982 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5983 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5985 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5986 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5987 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5988 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5989 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5990 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5991 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5992 data structure as the only parameter.
5994 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5997 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5998 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5999 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6000 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6003 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6006 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6007 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6008 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6010 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6011 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6012 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6013 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6017 Remove articles when they are read.
6020 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6023 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6025 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6026 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6027 @c from the next group.
6030 @node Article Caching
6031 @section Article Caching
6032 @cindex article caching
6035 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6036 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6037 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6038 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6039 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6041 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6043 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6044 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6045 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6046 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6047 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6048 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6049 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
6050 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6052 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6053 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6054 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6055 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6056 as dormant, and don't worry.
6058 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6060 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6061 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6062 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6063 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6064 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6065 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6066 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6067 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6068 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6069 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6071 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6072 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6073 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6074 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6075 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6076 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6077 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6078 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6079 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6080 not then be downloaded by this command.
6082 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6083 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6084 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6085 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6086 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6087 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6089 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6090 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6091 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6092 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6093 variables, the group is not cached.
6095 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6096 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6097 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6098 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6099 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6100 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
6101 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6102 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6103 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6107 @node Persistent Articles
6108 @section Persistent Articles
6109 @cindex persistent articles
6111 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6112 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6113 useful in my opinion.
6115 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6116 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6117 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6118 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6119 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6120 the expiry going on at the news server.
6122 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6123 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6124 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6130 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6131 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6134 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6135 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6136 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6137 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6141 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6143 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6144 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6145 interested in persistent articles:
6148 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6152 @node Article Backlog
6153 @section Article Backlog
6155 @cindex article backlog
6157 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6158 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6159 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
6160 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6161 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6162 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6163 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
6164 increase memory usage some.
6166 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6167 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
6168 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6169 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
6170 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6171 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6172 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6174 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6177 @node Saving Articles
6178 @section Saving Articles
6179 @cindex saving articles
6181 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6182 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6183 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6184 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6185 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6187 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6188 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
6189 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6191 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6192 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6193 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6194 deleted before saving.
6200 @kindex O o (Summary)
6202 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6203 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6204 Save the current article using the default article saver
6205 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6208 @kindex O m (Summary)
6209 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6210 Save the current article in mail format
6211 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6214 @kindex O r (Summary)
6215 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6216 Save the current article in rmail format
6217 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6220 @kindex O f (Summary)
6221 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6222 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6223 Save the current article in plain file format
6224 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6227 @kindex O F (Summary)
6228 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6229 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6230 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6233 @kindex O b (Summary)
6234 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6235 Save the current article body in plain file format
6236 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6239 @kindex O h (Summary)
6240 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6241 Save the current article in mh folder format
6242 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6245 @kindex O v (Summary)
6246 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6247 Save the current article in a VM folder
6248 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6251 @kindex O p (Summary)
6252 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6253 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6254 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6257 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6258 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6259 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6260 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6261 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6262 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6263 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6264 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6265 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6266 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6267 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6268 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6272 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6273 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6274 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6275 functions below, or you can create your own.
6279 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6280 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6281 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6282 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6283 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6284 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6285 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6287 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6288 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6289 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6290 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6291 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6292 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6294 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6295 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6296 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6297 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6298 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6299 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6300 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6302 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6303 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6304 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6305 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6306 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6308 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6309 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6310 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6311 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6312 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6315 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6316 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6317 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6318 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6319 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6321 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6322 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6323 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6324 reader to use this setting.
6327 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6328 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6329 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6330 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6333 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6334 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6335 available functions that generate names:
6339 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6340 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6341 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6343 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6344 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6345 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6347 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6348 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6349 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6351 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6352 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6353 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6356 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6357 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6358 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6359 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6360 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6364 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6365 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6366 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6367 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6370 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6371 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6372 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6373 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6374 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6375 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6376 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6377 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6378 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6380 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6381 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6382 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6383 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6385 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6386 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6387 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6390 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6391 lots of mail groups called things like
6392 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6393 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6394 following will do just that:
6397 (defun my-save-name (group)
6398 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6399 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6401 (setq gnus-split-methods
6402 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6407 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6408 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6409 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6410 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6411 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6412 all the files in the top level directory
6413 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6414 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6415 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6416 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6418 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6419 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6420 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6421 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6422 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6425 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6429 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6430 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6433 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6434 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6435 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6436 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6439 @node Decoding Articles
6440 @section Decoding Articles
6441 @cindex decoding articles
6443 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6444 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6447 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6448 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6449 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6450 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6451 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6452 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6456 @cindex article series
6457 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6458 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6459 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6460 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6461 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6463 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6464 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6465 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6467 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
6468 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6469 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6471 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6472 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6473 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6476 @node Uuencoded Articles
6477 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6479 @cindex uuencoded articles
6484 @kindex X u (Summary)
6485 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6486 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6487 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6490 @kindex X U (Summary)
6491 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6492 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6493 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6496 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6497 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6498 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6501 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6502 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6503 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6504 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6508 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6509 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6510 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6511 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6512 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6514 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6515 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6516 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6517 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6520 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6521 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6522 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6523 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6524 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6525 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6529 @node Shell Archives
6530 @subsection Shell Archives
6532 @cindex shell archives
6533 @cindex shared articles
6535 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6536 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6537 some commands to deal with these:
6542 @kindex X s (Summary)
6543 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6544 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6547 @kindex X S (Summary)
6548 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6549 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6552 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6553 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6554 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6557 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6558 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6559 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6560 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6564 @node PostScript Files
6565 @subsection PostScript Files
6571 @kindex X p (Summary)
6572 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6573 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6576 @kindex X P (Summary)
6577 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6578 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6579 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6582 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6583 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6584 View the current PostScript series
6585 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6588 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6589 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6590 View and save the current PostScript series
6591 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6596 @subsection Other Files
6600 @kindex X o (Summary)
6601 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6602 Save the current series
6603 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6606 @kindex X b (Summary)
6607 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6608 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6609 doesn't really work yet.
6613 @node Decoding Variables
6614 @subsection Decoding Variables
6616 Adjective, not verb.
6619 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6620 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6621 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6625 @node Rule Variables
6626 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6627 @cindex rule variables
6629 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6630 variables are of the form
6633 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6640 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6641 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6643 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6644 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6647 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6648 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6651 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6652 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6653 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6654 user and default view rules.
6656 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6657 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6658 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6663 @node Other Decode Variables
6664 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6667 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6669 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6670 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6671 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6672 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6673 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6677 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6678 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6681 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6682 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6683 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6686 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6687 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6688 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6689 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6690 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6693 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6694 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6695 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6697 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6698 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6699 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6700 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6701 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6704 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6705 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6706 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6708 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6709 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6710 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6711 looking for files to display.
6713 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6714 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6715 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6718 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6719 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6720 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6723 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6724 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6725 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6728 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6729 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6730 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6733 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6734 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6735 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6736 decoded articles as unread.
6738 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6739 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6740 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6741 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6743 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6744 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6745 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6747 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6748 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6750 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6751 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6752 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6753 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6755 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6756 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6757 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6758 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6759 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6760 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
6761 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6762 simply dropped them.
6767 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6768 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6772 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6773 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6774 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6775 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6776 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6777 for you when you post the article.
6779 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6780 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6781 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6782 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6784 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6785 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6786 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6787 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6788 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6789 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6790 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6792 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6793 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6794 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6795 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6796 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6797 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6798 Default is @code{t}.
6804 @subsection Viewing Files
6805 @cindex viewing files
6806 @cindex pseudo-articles
6808 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
6809 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6810 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6811 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
6812 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6813 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6814 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6816 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6817 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6818 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6819 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6821 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6822 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6823 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6825 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6826 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6827 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6828 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6829 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6831 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6832 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6833 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6834 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6835 a list of parameters to that command.
6837 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6838 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6839 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6841 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6842 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6843 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6846 @node Article Treatment
6847 @section Article Treatment
6849 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6850 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6851 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6852 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6853 these articles easier.
6856 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6857 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6858 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6859 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6860 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6861 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6862 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6863 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
6867 @node Article Highlighting
6868 @subsection Article Highlighting
6869 @cindex highlighting
6871 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6872 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6877 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6878 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6879 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6880 Do much highlighting of the current article
6881 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6882 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6885 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6886 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6887 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6888 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6889 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6890 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
6891 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
6892 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6893 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6894 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6895 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6896 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6899 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6900 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6901 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6903 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6906 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6908 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6909 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6910 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6912 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6913 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6914 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6916 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6917 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6918 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6920 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6921 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6922 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6923 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6924 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6925 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6927 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6928 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6929 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6931 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6932 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6933 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6935 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6936 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6937 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6938 that it's a citation.
6940 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6941 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6942 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6944 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6945 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6946 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6948 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6949 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6950 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6951 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6957 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6958 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6959 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6960 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6961 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6962 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6963 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6964 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6969 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
6972 @node Article Fontisizing
6973 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6975 @cindex article emphasis
6977 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6978 @kindex W e (Summary)
6979 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6980 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
6981 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6982 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6984 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
6985 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6986 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
6987 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6988 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6989 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6990 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6991 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6995 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6996 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6997 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7006 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7007 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7008 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7009 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7010 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7011 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7012 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7013 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7014 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7015 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7016 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7017 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7018 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7020 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7021 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7022 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7026 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7029 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7031 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7032 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7033 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7034 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7036 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7039 @node Article Hiding
7040 @subsection Article Hiding
7041 @cindex article hiding
7043 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7044 too much cruft in most articles.
7049 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7050 @findex gnus-article-hide
7051 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7052 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7053 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7056 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7057 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
7058 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7062 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7063 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7064 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7065 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7068 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7069 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7070 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7074 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7075 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7076 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7077 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}.
7078 These are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of
7079 all @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any
7080 leading @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping.
7084 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7085 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7086 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7087 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7092 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7093 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7094 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7095 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7096 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7097 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7098 articles that have signatures in them do:
7100 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7102 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7104 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7105 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7107 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7110 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7115 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7116 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7117 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7118 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7121 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7122 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7125 @cindex stripping advertisments
7126 @cindex advertisments
7127 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7128 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7129 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7130 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7131 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7132 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7133 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7134 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7135 signature should be removed.
7138 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7139 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7140 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7141 customizing the hiding:
7145 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7146 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7147 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7148 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7149 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7150 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7151 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7156 Starting point of the hidden text.
7158 Ending point of the hidden text.
7160 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7162 Number of lines of hidden text.
7165 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7166 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7167 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7168 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7169 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7174 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7175 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7177 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7178 following two variables:
7181 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7182 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7183 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7184 50), hide the cited text.
7186 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7187 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7188 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7193 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7194 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7195 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7196 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7197 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7198 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7202 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7203 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7204 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7206 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7207 citation customization.
7209 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7213 @node Article Washing
7214 @subsection Article Washing
7216 @cindex article washing
7218 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7219 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7221 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7222 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7228 @kindex W l (Summary)
7229 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7230 Remove page breaks from the current article
7231 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7235 @kindex W r (Summary)
7236 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7237 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7238 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7239 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7240 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7241 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7243 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7244 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7245 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7246 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7249 @kindex W t (Summary)
7250 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
7251 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7252 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
7255 @kindex W v (Summary)
7256 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7257 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7258 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7261 @kindex W o (Summary)
7262 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7263 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7266 @kindex W d (Summary)
7267 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7268 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7270 @cindex M******** sm*rtq**t*s
7272 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7273 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7274 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7275 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7279 @kindex W w (Summary)
7280 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7281 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7283 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7287 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7288 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7289 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7292 @kindex W C (Summary)
7293 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7294 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7295 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7298 @kindex W c (Summary)
7299 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7300 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7301 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7302 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7303 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7306 @kindex W q (Summary)
7307 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
7308 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
7309 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
7310 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
7311 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
7312 readable to me. Note that the this is usually done automatically by
7313 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
7314 header that says that this encoding has been done.
7317 @kindex W f (Summary)
7319 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7320 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7321 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7322 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7328 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7329 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7330 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7331 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7332 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7333 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7334 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7335 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
7336 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
7337 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7338 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7339 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7340 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
7341 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7345 @kindex W b (Summary)
7346 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7347 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7348 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7351 @kindex W B (Summary)
7352 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7353 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7354 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7357 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7358 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7359 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7360 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7363 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7364 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7365 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7366 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7369 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7370 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7371 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7372 lines with a single empty line.
7373 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7376 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7377 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7378 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7379 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7382 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7383 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7384 Do all the three commands above
7385 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7388 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7389 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7390 Remove all blank lines
7391 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7394 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7395 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7396 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7397 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7400 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7401 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7402 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7403 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7407 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7410 @node Article Buttons
7411 @subsection Article Buttons
7414 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7415 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7416 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7417 button on these references.
7419 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7420 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7421 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7426 @item gnus-button-alist
7427 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7428 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7431 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7437 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7438 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7439 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7442 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7443 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7444 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7447 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7448 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7449 avoid false matches.
7452 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7455 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7456 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7460 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7463 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7466 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7467 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7468 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7469 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7470 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7473 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7476 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7478 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7479 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7480 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7481 default values of the variables above.
7483 @item gnus-article-button-face
7484 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7485 Face used on buttons.
7487 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7488 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7489 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7493 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7497 @subsection Article Date
7499 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7500 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7501 when the article was sent.
7506 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7507 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7508 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7509 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7512 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7513 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7515 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7516 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7519 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7520 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7521 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7524 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7525 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7526 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7527 @findex format-time-string
7528 Display the date using a user-defined format
7529 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7530 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7531 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7532 for a list of possible format specs.
7535 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7536 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7537 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7538 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7539 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7540 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7543 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
7546 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7547 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7550 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7551 into wonderful absurdities.
7553 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7556 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7559 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7560 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7564 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7565 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7566 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7567 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7568 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7569 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7570 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7574 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7575 preferred format automatically.
7578 @node Article Signature
7579 @subsection Article Signature
7581 @cindex article signature
7583 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7584 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7585 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7586 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7587 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7588 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7589 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7590 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7591 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7594 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7595 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7596 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7597 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7598 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7599 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7600 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7601 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7604 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7607 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7608 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7609 signature when displaying articles.
7613 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7616 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7619 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7620 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7622 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7623 in question is not a signature.
7626 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7627 listed above. Here's an example:
7630 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7631 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7634 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7635 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7636 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7637 signature after all.
7640 @node Article Miscellania
7641 @subsection Article Miscellania
7645 @kindex A t (Summary)
7646 @findex gnus-article-babel
7647 Translate the article from one language to another
7648 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
7654 @section @sc{mime} Commands
7655 @cindex MIME decoding
7657 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
7658 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
7664 @kindex K v (Summary)
7665 View the @sc{mime} part.
7668 @kindex K o (Summary)
7669 Save the @sc{mime} part.
7672 @kindex K c (Summary)
7673 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
7676 @kindex K e (Summary)
7677 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
7680 @kindex K i (Summary)
7681 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
7684 @kindex K | (Summary)
7685 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
7688 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
7693 @kindex K b (Summary)
7694 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in from of them. This is
7695 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
7699 @kindex K m (Summary)
7700 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
7701 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
7702 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
7703 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
7704 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
7707 @kindex X m (Summary)
7708 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
7709 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
7710 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
7711 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7714 @kindex M-t (Summary)
7715 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
7716 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
7717 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
7720 @kindex W M w (Summary)
7721 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
7722 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
7725 @kindex W M c (Summary)
7726 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
7727 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
7729 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
7730 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
7731 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
7732 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
7733 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
7734 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7737 @kindex W M v (Summary)
7738 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
7739 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
7746 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
7747 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
7748 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7749 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
7752 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
7755 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
7759 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7760 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7761 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7762 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
7763 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
7765 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
7766 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
7767 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
7768 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
7769 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
7770 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
7771 save all jpegs into some directory).
7773 Here's an example function the does the latter:
7776 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
7777 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
7779 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
7780 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
7781 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
7782 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
7783 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
7786 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7787 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
7788 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
7797 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
7798 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
7799 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
7800 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
7801 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
7802 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
7803 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
7805 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
7806 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
7807 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match group names) and
7808 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
7810 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
7811 aren't. These blitely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
7812 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
7813 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
7814 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
7815 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
7816 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
7817 something some agents insist on having in there.
7819 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
7820 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
7821 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
7822 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
7823 quoted-printable header encoding.
7825 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
7826 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
7827 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
7831 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
7834 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
7835 means encode all charsets),
7837 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
7838 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
7839 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
7846 @cindex coding system aliases
7847 @cindex preferred charset
7849 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
7851 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
7852 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
7855 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
7856 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
7859 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
7860 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
7862 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
7865 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
7868 This will almost do the right thing.
7870 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
7874 (codepage-setup 1251)
7875 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
7879 @node Article Commands
7880 @section Article Commands
7887 @kindex A P (Summary)
7888 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
7889 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
7890 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
7891 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
7892 run just before printing the buffer.
7897 @node Summary Sorting
7898 @section Summary Sorting
7899 @cindex summary sorting
7901 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
7902 can't really see why you'd want that.
7907 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
7908 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
7909 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
7912 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
7913 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
7914 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
7917 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
7918 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
7919 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
7922 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
7923 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
7924 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
7927 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
7928 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
7929 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
7932 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
7933 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
7934 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
7937 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
7938 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
7939 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
7942 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
7943 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
7944 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
7945 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
7946 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
7950 @node Finding the Parent
7951 @section Finding the Parent
7952 @cindex parent articles
7953 @cindex referring articles
7958 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
7959 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
7960 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
7961 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
7962 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
7963 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
7964 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
7965 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
7966 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
7968 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
7969 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
7970 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
7971 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
7972 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
7976 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
7977 @kindex A R (Summary)
7978 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
7979 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
7982 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
7983 @kindex A T (Summary)
7984 Display the full thread where the current article appears
7985 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
7986 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
7987 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
7988 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
7989 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
7990 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
7992 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
7993 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
7994 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
7995 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
7996 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
7997 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8000 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8001 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8003 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8004 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8005 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8006 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8007 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8008 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8009 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8012 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8013 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8014 by giving this command a prefix.
8016 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8017 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8018 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8019 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8020 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8021 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8024 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8025 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8026 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8029 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8030 then ask Deja if that fails:
8033 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8035 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8038 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8039 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8040 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8041 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8042 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8043 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8046 @node Alternative Approaches
8047 @section Alternative Approaches
8049 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8050 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8053 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8054 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8059 @subsection Pick and Read
8060 @cindex pick and read
8062 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8063 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8064 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8065 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8067 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8068 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8069 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8070 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8071 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8072 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8074 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8079 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8080 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8081 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8082 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8083 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8084 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8085 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8086 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8089 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8090 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8091 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8092 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8096 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8097 Unpick the thread or article
8098 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8099 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8100 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8101 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8102 the thread or article at that line.
8106 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8107 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8108 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8109 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8110 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8111 will still be visible when you are reading.
8115 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8116 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8117 which is mapped to the same function
8118 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8120 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8123 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8126 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8127 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8129 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8130 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8131 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8133 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8134 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8135 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8136 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8137 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8138 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8139 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8143 @subsection Binary Groups
8144 @cindex binary groups
8146 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8147 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8148 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8149 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8150 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8151 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8152 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8155 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8156 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8157 command, when you have turned on this mode
8158 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8160 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8161 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8165 @section Tree Display
8168 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8169 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
8170 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8171 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8174 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8177 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8178 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8179 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8181 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8182 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8183 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8184 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8185 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8187 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8188 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8189 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8190 default is @code{modeline}.
8192 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8193 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8194 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8195 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8196 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8197 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8198 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8204 The name of the poster.
8206 The @code{From} header.
8208 The number of the article.
8210 The opening bracket.
8212 The closing bracket.
8217 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8219 Variables related to the display are:
8222 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8223 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8224 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8225 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8226 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8227 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8229 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8230 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8231 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8232 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8236 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8237 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8238 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
8239 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
8240 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8241 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8242 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8243 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8244 other windows displayed next to it.
8246 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8247 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8248 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8249 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8250 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8251 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8252 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8256 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8259 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8269 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8273 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8274 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8276 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8278 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8283 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8284 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8285 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8288 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8289 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8290 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8291 (gnus-add-configuration
8295 (summary 0.75 point)
8300 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
8303 @node Mail Group Commands
8304 @section Mail Group Commands
8305 @cindex mail group commands
8307 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8308 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8310 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8311 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8316 @kindex B e (Summary)
8317 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8318 Expire all expirable articles in the group
8319 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
8322 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8323 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8324 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8325 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8326 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8327 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8330 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8331 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8332 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8333 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8334 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8335 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8338 @kindex B m (Summary)
8340 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8341 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8342 Move the article from one mail group to another
8343 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8344 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8347 @kindex B c (Summary)
8349 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8350 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8351 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8352 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8353 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8356 @kindex B B (Summary)
8357 @cindex crosspost mail
8358 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8359 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8360 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8361 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8362 be properly updated.
8365 @kindex B i (Summary)
8366 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8367 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8368 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8369 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8372 @kindex B r (Summary)
8373 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8374 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8375 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8376 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8377 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8378 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8379 (which is the default).
8383 @kindex B w (Summary)
8385 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8386 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8387 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8388 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8389 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8390 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8393 @kindex B q (Summary)
8394 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8395 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8396 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8397 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8400 @kindex B t (Summary)
8401 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8402 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8403 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8406 @kindex B p (Summary)
8407 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8408 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8409 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8410 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8411 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8412 article from your news server (or rather, from
8413 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8414 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8415 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8416 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8417 just not have arrived yet.
8421 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8422 @cindex moving articles
8423 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
8424 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8425 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8426 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8427 suggestions you find reasonable.
8430 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8431 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8432 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8433 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8437 @node Various Summary Stuff
8438 @section Various Summary Stuff
8441 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8442 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8443 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8444 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8448 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8449 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8450 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8452 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8453 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8454 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8455 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8456 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8457 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8460 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8461 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8462 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8463 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8464 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8466 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8467 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8468 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8471 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8472 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8473 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8474 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8475 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8476 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8477 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
8478 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8479 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8480 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8482 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8483 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8484 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8485 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8486 list of articles to be selected.
8488 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8489 the list in one particular group:
8492 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8493 (if (string= group "some.group")
8494 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8501 @node Summary Group Information
8502 @subsection Summary Group Information
8507 @kindex H f (Summary)
8508 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8509 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8510 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8511 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8512 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8513 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8514 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8515 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8516 be used for fetching the file.
8519 @kindex H d (Summary)
8520 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8521 Give a brief description of the current group
8522 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8523 rereading the description from the server.
8526 @kindex H h (Summary)
8527 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8528 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8529 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8532 @kindex H i (Summary)
8533 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8534 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8538 @node Searching for Articles
8539 @subsection Searching for Articles
8544 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8545 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8546 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
8547 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8550 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8551 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8552 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
8553 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8557 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8558 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
8559 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8560 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
8564 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8565 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8566 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8567 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8570 @node Summary Generation Commands
8571 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8576 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8577 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8578 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8581 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8582 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8583 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
8584 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
8589 @node Really Various Summary Commands
8590 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
8596 @kindex C-d (Summary)
8597 @kindex A D (Summary)
8598 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
8599 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
8600 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
8601 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
8602 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
8603 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
8604 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
8605 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
8609 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
8610 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
8611 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
8612 several documents into one biiig group
8613 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
8614 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
8615 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
8616 command understands the process/prefix convention
8617 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8620 @kindex C-t (Summary)
8621 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
8622 Toggle truncation of summary lines
8623 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
8624 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
8625 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
8629 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
8630 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
8631 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
8634 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
8635 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
8636 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8637 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
8640 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
8641 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
8642 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8643 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
8648 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
8649 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
8650 @cindex summary exit
8651 @cindex exiting groups
8653 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
8654 group and return you to the group buffer.
8660 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
8662 @findex gnus-summary-exit
8663 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
8664 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
8665 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
8666 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
8667 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
8668 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
8669 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
8670 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
8671 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
8672 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
8676 @kindex Z E (Summary)
8678 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
8679 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
8680 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
8684 @kindex Z c (Summary)
8686 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
8687 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
8688 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
8689 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
8692 @kindex Z C (Summary)
8693 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
8694 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
8695 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
8698 @kindex Z n (Summary)
8699 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
8700 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
8701 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
8704 @kindex Z R (Summary)
8705 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
8706 Exit this group, and then enter it again
8707 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
8708 all articles, both read and unread.
8712 @kindex Z G (Summary)
8713 @kindex M-g (Summary)
8714 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
8715 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
8716 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
8717 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
8718 articles, both read and unread.
8721 @kindex Z N (Summary)
8722 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
8723 Exit the group and go to the next group
8724 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
8727 @kindex Z P (Summary)
8728 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
8729 Exit the group and go to the previous group
8730 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
8733 @kindex Z s (Summary)
8734 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
8735 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
8736 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
8737 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
8738 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
8741 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
8742 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
8743 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
8744 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
8746 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
8747 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
8748 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
8749 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
8750 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
8751 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
8752 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
8753 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
8754 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
8755 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
8756 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
8757 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
8759 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
8761 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
8762 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
8763 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
8764 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
8765 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
8766 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
8767 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
8768 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
8769 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
8772 @node Crosspost Handling
8773 @section Crosspost Handling
8777 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
8778 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
8779 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
8780 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
8781 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
8782 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
8785 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
8786 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
8787 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
8788 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
8789 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
8791 @cindex cross-posting
8794 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
8795 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
8796 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
8797 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
8798 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
8799 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
8800 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
8801 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
8802 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
8803 the cross reference mechanism.
8805 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
8806 @cindex overview.fmt
8807 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
8808 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
8809 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
8810 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
8811 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
8812 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
8815 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
8816 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
8817 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
8822 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
8825 @node Duplicate Suppression
8826 @section Duplicate Suppression
8828 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
8829 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
8830 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
8831 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
8836 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
8837 is evil and not very common.
8840 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
8841 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
8844 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
8845 different @sc{nntp} servers.
8848 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
8851 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
8852 well, but these four are the most common situations.
8854 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
8855 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
8856 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
8857 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
8858 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
8859 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
8860 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
8863 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
8864 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
8865 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
8866 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
8867 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
8871 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
8872 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
8873 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
8875 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
8876 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
8877 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
8878 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
8879 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
8880 session are suppressed.
8882 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
8883 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
8884 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
8885 suppression list. The default is 10000.
8887 @item gnus-duplicate-file
8888 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
8889 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
8890 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
8893 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
8894 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
8895 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
8896 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
8897 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
8898 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
8899 to you to figure out, I think.
8902 @node The Article Buffer
8903 @chapter The Article Buffer
8904 @cindex article buffer
8906 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
8907 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
8908 tell Gnus otherwise.
8911 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
8912 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
8913 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
8914 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
8915 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
8919 @node Hiding Headers
8920 @section Hiding Headers
8921 @cindex hiding headers
8922 @cindex deleting headers
8924 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
8925 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
8927 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
8928 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
8929 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
8930 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
8931 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
8932 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
8933 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
8934 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
8935 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
8937 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
8941 @item gnus-visible-headers
8942 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
8943 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
8944 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
8945 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
8947 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
8948 the article and the subject, you'd say:
8951 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
8954 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8957 @item gnus-ignored-headers
8958 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
8959 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
8960 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
8961 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
8962 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
8964 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
8965 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
8968 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
8971 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8974 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
8975 variable will have no effect.
8979 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
8980 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
8981 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
8982 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
8983 the headers are to be displayed.
8985 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
8986 and then the subject, you might say something like:
8989 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
8992 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
8993 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
8995 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8996 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
8997 You can hide further boring headers by setting
8998 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-header} to @code{head}. What this function
8999 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9000 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9001 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9004 These conditions are:
9007 Remove all empty headers.
9009 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9010 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9012 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9015 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9018 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9021 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9023 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9026 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
9029 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9030 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9033 This is also the default value for this variable.
9037 @section Using @sc{mime}
9040 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9041 while people stand around yawning.
9043 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9044 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9046 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9047 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9048 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9050 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
9051 @findex gnus-display-mime
9052 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
9053 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
9054 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
9055 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
9057 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
9061 @findex gnus-article-press-button
9063 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
9064 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
9065 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
9067 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
9068 @item M-RET (Article)
9070 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
9071 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
9073 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
9075 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
9076 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
9078 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
9080 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
9081 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
9083 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
9085 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
9086 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
9088 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
9090 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
9092 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
9094 Insert the raw contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
9095 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}).
9099 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
9100 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
9103 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
9104 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
9105 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
9106 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
9107 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
9108 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
9109 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
9110 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
9111 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
9113 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9115 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9118 @node Customizing Articles
9119 @section Customizing Articles
9120 @cindex article customization
9122 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9123 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9124 called automatically when you select the articles.
9126 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9127 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9128 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9129 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9131 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9132 for sensible values.
9136 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9139 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9142 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9145 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9148 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9152 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9153 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9154 regexps in the list.
9157 A list where the first element is not a string:
9159 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9160 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9161 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9165 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9170 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9171 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9172 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9173 considered to contain just a single part.
9175 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9176 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9177 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9178 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9179 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9180 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9181 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9183 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9184 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9185 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9186 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9189 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9190 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9191 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9192 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9193 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9194 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9195 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9196 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9197 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9198 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9199 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9200 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9201 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9202 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9203 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9204 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9205 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9206 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9207 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9208 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9209 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9210 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9211 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9212 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9213 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9214 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9215 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9216 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9217 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9218 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9219 @item gnus-treat-translate
9222 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9223 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9224 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9225 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9226 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9230 @node Article Keymap
9231 @section Article Keymap
9233 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9234 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9235 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9236 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9239 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9244 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9245 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9246 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9249 @kindex DEL (Article)
9250 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9251 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9254 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9255 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9256 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9257 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9258 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9261 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9262 @findex gnus-article-mail
9263 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9264 given a prefix, include the mail.
9268 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9269 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9270 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9274 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9275 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9276 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9279 @kindex TAB (Article)
9280 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9281 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9282 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9285 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9286 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9287 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9293 @section Misc Article
9297 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9298 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9299 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9300 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9303 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9304 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9306 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9307 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9309 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9310 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9311 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9312 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9313 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9314 the contents of the article buffer.
9316 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9317 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9318 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9320 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9321 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9322 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9323 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9325 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9326 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9327 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9328 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9329 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9334 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9335 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9338 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9341 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9343 @item gnus-break-pages
9344 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9345 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9346 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9347 paging will not be done.
9349 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9350 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9351 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9356 @node Composing Messages
9357 @chapter Composing Messages
9358 @cindex composing messages
9361 @cindex sending mail
9366 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9367 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9368 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9369 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9370 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9371 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9374 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9375 * Post:: Posting and following up.
9376 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9377 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9378 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9379 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9380 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9381 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9384 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9385 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9391 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9394 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9395 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9396 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9397 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9399 @item gnus-add-to-list
9400 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9401 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9402 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9410 Variables for composing news articles:
9413 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
9414 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
9415 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
9416 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
9417 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
9418 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
9419 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
9420 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
9421 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
9424 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
9425 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
9426 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
9427 file. It is 1000 by default.
9432 @node Posting Server
9433 @section Posting Server
9435 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9436 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9438 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9440 @vindex gnus-post-method
9442 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
9443 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
9444 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9445 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9446 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9449 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9452 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9453 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9454 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9455 the ``current'' server for posting.
9457 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9458 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9460 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9461 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9464 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
9465 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
9466 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
9471 @section Mail and Post
9473 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9477 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9478 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9479 @cindex mailing lists
9481 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9482 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9483 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9484 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9485 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9486 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9487 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9488 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9489 still a pain, though.
9493 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9494 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9495 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9498 @findex ispell-message
9500 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
9503 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
9504 you're in, you could say something like the following:
9507 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
9510 ((string-match "^de\\." gnus-newsgroup-name)
9511 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
9513 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
9516 Modify to suit your needs.
9519 @node Archived Messages
9520 @section Archived Messages
9521 @cindex archived messages
9522 @cindex sent messages
9524 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
9525 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
9526 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
9527 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
9530 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
9531 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
9532 use to store sent messages. The default is:
9536 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
9537 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
9538 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
9539 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
9542 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
9543 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
9544 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
9545 directory chosen, you could say something like:
9548 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
9549 '(nnfolder "archive"
9550 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
9551 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
9552 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
9555 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
9557 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
9558 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
9559 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
9561 This variable can be used to do the following:
9565 Messages will be saved in that group.
9566 @item a list of strings
9567 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
9568 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
9569 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
9571 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
9576 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
9578 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
9581 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
9583 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
9586 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
9588 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9589 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
9590 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
9591 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
9596 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9597 '((if (message-news-p)
9602 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
9603 messages in one file per month:
9606 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9607 '((if (message-news-p)
9609 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
9612 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
9613 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
9615 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
9616 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
9617 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
9618 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
9619 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
9620 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
9621 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
9622 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
9623 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
9624 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
9626 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
9627 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
9628 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
9629 this will disable archiving.
9632 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
9633 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
9634 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
9635 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
9636 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
9639 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
9640 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
9641 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
9644 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
9645 but the latter is the preferred method.
9649 @node Posting Styles
9650 @section Posting Styles
9651 @cindex posting styles
9654 All them variables, they make my head swim.
9656 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
9657 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
9658 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
9661 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
9662 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
9663 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
9664 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
9665 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
9670 (signature "Peace and happiness")
9671 (organization "What me?"))
9673 (signature "Death to everybody"))
9674 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
9675 (organization "Emacs is it")))
9678 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
9679 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
9680 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
9681 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
9682 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
9683 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
9684 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
9685 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
9687 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
9688 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
9689 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header that
9690 match the next element in the match, and compare that to the last header
9691 in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function will be called
9692 with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
9693 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
9694 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
9697 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
9698 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} . @var{value})} pair. The
9699 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
9700 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
9701 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
9702 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
9703 article. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated,
9704 and the result is thrown away.
9706 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
9707 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
9708 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
9709 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
9710 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
9711 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
9713 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
9714 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
9715 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
9717 @findex message-mail-p
9718 @findex message-news-p
9720 So here's a new example:
9723 (setq gnus-posting-styles
9725 (signature-file "~/.signature")
9727 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
9728 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
9730 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
9731 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
9732 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
9734 (signature my-news-signature))
9735 (header "From.*To" "larsi.*org"
9736 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
9737 ((posting-from-work-p)
9738 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
9739 (address "user@@bar.foo")
9740 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
9741 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
9743 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
9751 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
9752 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
9753 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
9754 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
9755 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
9757 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
9758 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
9759 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
9760 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
9761 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
9765 @vindex nndraft-directory
9766 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
9767 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
9768 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
9769 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
9770 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
9771 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
9773 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
9774 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
9777 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
9778 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
9779 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
9780 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
9781 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
9782 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
9783 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
9784 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
9785 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
9786 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
9787 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
9788 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
9789 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
9790 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
9792 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
9793 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
9794 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
9796 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
9798 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
9799 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
9800 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
9802 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
9805 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
9806 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
9807 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
9808 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
9809 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
9810 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
9811 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
9814 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
9815 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
9816 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
9819 @node Rejected Articles
9820 @section Rejected Articles
9821 @cindex rejected articles
9823 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
9824 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
9825 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
9826 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
9828 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
9829 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
9830 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
9831 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
9832 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
9834 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
9835 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
9836 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
9839 @node Select Methods
9840 @chapter Select Methods
9841 @cindex foreign groups
9842 @cindex select methods
9844 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
9845 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
9846 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
9847 personal mail group.
9849 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
9850 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
9851 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
9852 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
9853 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
9854 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
9856 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
9857 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
9859 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
9862 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
9863 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
9864 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
9865 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
9866 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
9868 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
9871 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
9872 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
9873 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
9874 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
9875 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
9876 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
9877 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
9881 @node The Server Buffer
9882 @section The Server Buffer
9884 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
9885 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
9886 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
9887 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
9888 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
9889 backend represents a virtual server.
9891 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
9892 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
9893 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
9894 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
9896 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
9897 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
9898 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
9899 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
9900 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
9901 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
9902 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
9904 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
9905 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
9908 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
9909 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
9910 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
9911 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
9912 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
9913 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
9914 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
9917 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
9918 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
9921 @node Server Buffer Format
9922 @subsection Server Buffer Format
9923 @cindex server buffer format
9925 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
9926 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
9927 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
9928 variable, with some simple extensions:
9933 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
9936 The name of this server.
9939 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
9942 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
9945 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
9946 The mode line can also be customized by using the
9947 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
9948 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
9958 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
9961 @node Server Commands
9962 @subsection Server Commands
9963 @cindex server commands
9969 @findex gnus-server-add-server
9970 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
9974 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
9975 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
9978 @kindex SPACE (Server)
9979 @findex gnus-server-read-server
9980 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
9984 @findex gnus-server-exit
9985 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
9989 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
9990 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
9994 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
9995 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
9999 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10000 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10004 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10005 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10009 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10010 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10011 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10016 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10017 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10018 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10019 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
10024 @node Example Methods
10025 @subsection Example Methods
10027 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10030 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10033 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10039 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10040 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10043 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10044 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10046 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10047 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10051 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10054 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10055 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10057 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10058 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10059 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10063 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10066 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10069 Here's the method for a public spool:
10073 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10074 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10077 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10078 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10079 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10080 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10081 should probably look something like this:
10085 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
10086 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10087 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10088 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10089 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
10092 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10093 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
10094 server that would look something like this:
10098 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
10099 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
10100 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10101 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10102 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10103 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
10106 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10107 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10108 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10109 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10112 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10113 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10115 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10116 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10118 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10119 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10120 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10122 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10124 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10125 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10126 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10127 will contain the following:
10137 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10138 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10139 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10142 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10143 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10144 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10147 @node Server Variables
10148 @subsection Server Variables
10150 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10151 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10152 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10153 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10154 won't change the "derived" variables.
10156 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10157 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10158 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10159 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10160 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10161 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10162 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10163 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10164 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10168 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10169 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10170 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10174 @node Servers and Methods
10175 @subsection Servers and Methods
10177 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10178 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10179 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10180 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10184 @node Unavailable Servers
10185 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10187 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10188 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10189 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10190 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10191 actually the case or not.
10193 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10194 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10195 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10196 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10197 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10198 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10199 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10200 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10202 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10203 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10205 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
10206 with the following commands:
10212 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10213 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10214 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10218 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10219 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10220 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10224 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10225 Mark the current server as unreachable
10226 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10229 @kindex M-o (Server)
10230 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10231 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10232 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10235 @kindex M-c (Server)
10236 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10237 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10238 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10242 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10243 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10244 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10250 @section Getting News
10251 @cindex reading news
10252 @cindex news backends
10254 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10255 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10256 or it can read from a local spool.
10259 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10260 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10265 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10268 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10269 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10270 server as the, uhm, address.
10272 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10273 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10274 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10275 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10277 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10278 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10279 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10281 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10286 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10287 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10288 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10290 @cindex authentification
10291 @cindex nntp authentification
10292 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10293 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10294 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10295 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10296 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10297 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10298 present in this hook.
10300 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10301 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10302 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10303 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10304 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10305 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10306 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10307 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10308 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10309 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10310 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10311 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10315 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10318 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
10319 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10320 @samp{default}, @samp{port} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a
10321 valid @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is almost the only way the
10322 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
10327 Here's an example file:
10330 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10331 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10334 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10335 have to be first, for instance.
10337 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10338 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10339 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10340 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10341 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10342 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10343 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10345 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10346 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10352 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10353 previously mentioned.
10355 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10357 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10358 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10359 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10360 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10361 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10364 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10365 '(("innd" (ding))))
10368 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10370 The default value is
10373 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10374 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10377 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10378 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10380 @item nntp-maximum-request
10381 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10382 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10383 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10384 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10385 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10386 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10387 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10389 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10390 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10391 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10392 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10393 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10394 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10395 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10396 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10397 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10398 no timeouts are done.
10400 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10401 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10402 @c @cindex PPP connections
10403 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10404 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10405 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10406 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10407 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10408 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10409 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10410 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10411 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10412 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10414 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10415 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10416 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10417 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10418 @c described above.
10420 @item nntp-server-hook
10421 @vindex nntp-server-hook
10422 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
10425 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
10426 @findex nntp-open-telnet
10427 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
10428 @item nntp-open-connection-function
10429 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
10430 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
10431 functions are supplied:
10434 @item nntp-open-network-stream
10435 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
10438 @item nntp-open-rlogin
10439 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
10440 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
10443 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
10447 @item nntp-rlogin-program
10448 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
10449 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
10450 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
10452 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
10453 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
10454 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
10456 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10457 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10458 User name on the remote system.
10462 @item nntp-open-telnet
10463 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
10464 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
10466 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
10469 @item nntp-telnet-command
10470 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
10471 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
10473 @item nntp-telnet-switches
10474 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
10475 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
10477 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
10478 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
10479 User name for log in on the remote system.
10481 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
10482 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
10483 Password to use when logging in.
10485 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
10486 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
10487 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
10490 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10491 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10492 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
10493 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
10495 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10496 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10497 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
10498 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
10499 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
10503 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
10504 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
10505 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
10506 you must have SSLay installed
10507 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
10508 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
10509 define a server as follows:
10512 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
10514 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
10516 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
10517 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
10518 (nntp-port-number "snews")
10519 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
10524 @item nntp-end-of-line
10525 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
10526 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
10527 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
10528 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
10530 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10531 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10532 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
10536 @vindex nntp-address
10537 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
10539 @item nntp-port-number
10540 @vindex nntp-port-number
10541 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
10544 @item nntp-buggy-select
10545 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
10546 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
10548 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
10549 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
10550 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
10551 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
10554 @item nntp-xover-commands
10555 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
10558 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
10559 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
10563 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
10564 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
10565 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
10566 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
10567 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
10568 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
10569 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
10570 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
10571 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
10572 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
10573 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
10575 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
10576 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
10577 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
10579 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10580 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10581 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
10582 server closes connection.
10584 @item nntp-record-commands
10585 @vindex nntp-record-commands
10586 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
10587 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
10588 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
10589 that doesn't seem to work.
10595 @subsection News Spool
10599 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
10600 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
10601 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
10604 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
10605 anything else) as the address.
10607 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
10608 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
10609 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
10610 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
10614 @item nnspool-inews-program
10615 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
10616 Program used to post an article.
10618 @item nnspool-inews-switches
10619 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
10620 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
10622 @item nnspool-spool-directory
10623 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
10624 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
10625 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
10627 @item nnspool-nov-directory
10628 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
10629 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
10630 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
10632 @item nnspool-lib-dir
10633 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
10634 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
10636 @item nnspool-active-file
10637 @vindex nnspool-active-file
10638 The path to the active file.
10640 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
10641 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
10642 The path to the group descriptions file.
10644 @item nnspool-history-file
10645 @vindex nnspool-history-file
10646 The path to the news history file.
10648 @item nnspool-active-times-file
10649 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
10650 The path to the active date file.
10652 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
10653 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
10654 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
10657 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10658 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10660 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
10661 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
10662 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
10668 @section Getting Mail
10669 @cindex reading mail
10672 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
10676 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
10677 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
10678 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
10679 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
10680 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
10681 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
10682 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
10683 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
10684 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
10685 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
10686 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
10687 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
10688 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
10692 @node Mail in a Newsreader
10693 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
10695 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
10696 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
10697 of a culture shock.
10699 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
10700 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
10702 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
10703 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
10704 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
10705 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
10707 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
10709 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
10710 deleted? How awful!
10712 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
10713 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
10714 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
10715 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
10718 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
10719 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
10720 they want to treat a message.
10722 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
10723 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
10724 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
10725 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
10726 archived somewhere else.
10728 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
10729 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
10730 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
10731 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
10732 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
10734 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
10735 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
10736 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
10738 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
10739 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
10742 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
10743 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
10744 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
10745 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
10746 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
10748 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
10749 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
10750 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
10751 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
10752 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
10753 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
10757 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
10758 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
10760 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
10761 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
10762 and things will happen automatically.
10764 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
10765 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
10768 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
10769 '((nnml "private")))
10772 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
10773 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
10774 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
10775 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
10776 like any other group.
10778 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
10781 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10782 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
10783 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
10787 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
10788 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
10789 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
10792 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
10793 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
10794 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
10797 @node Splitting Mail
10798 @subsection Splitting Mail
10799 @cindex splitting mail
10800 @cindex mail splitting
10802 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
10803 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
10804 to be split into groups.
10807 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10808 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
10809 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
10810 ("mail.other" "")))
10813 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
10814 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
10815 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
10816 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
10817 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
10818 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
10819 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
10822 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
10825 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
10826 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
10827 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
10828 mail belongs in that group.
10830 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
10831 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
10832 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
10833 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
10834 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
10835 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
10837 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
10838 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
10839 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
10840 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
10841 thinks should carry this mail message.
10843 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
10844 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
10845 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
10846 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
10848 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
10849 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
10850 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
10851 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
10852 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
10854 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
10857 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
10858 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
10859 links. If that's the case for you, set
10860 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
10861 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
10863 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
10864 @kindex nnmail-split-history
10865 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
10866 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
10868 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
10869 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
10870 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
10871 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
10872 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
10873 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
10874 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
10875 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
10876 month's rent money.
10880 @subsection Mail Sources
10882 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
10883 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
10887 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
10888 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
10889 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
10893 @node Mail Source Specifiers
10894 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
10896 @cindex mail server
10899 @cindex mail source
10901 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
10902 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
10907 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
10910 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
10911 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
10912 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
10915 The following mail source types are available:
10919 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
10925 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
10926 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
10929 An example file mail source:
10932 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
10935 Or using the default path:
10941 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
10942 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not you ange-ftp
10943 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
10946 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
10950 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
10953 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
10957 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
10960 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
10962 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
10965 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
10969 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
10970 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
10976 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
10980 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
10984 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
10985 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
10986 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
10987 predicate are considered.
10991 Script run before/after fetching mail.
10995 An example directory mail source:
10998 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11003 Get mail from a POP server.
11009 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11010 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11013 The port number of the POP server. The default is @samp{pop3}.
11016 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11020 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11024 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This is should be
11025 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11028 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11031 The valid format specifier characters are:
11035 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11036 included in this string.
11039 The name of the server.
11042 The port number of the server.
11045 The user name to use.
11048 The password to use.
11051 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11052 corresponding keywords.
11055 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11056 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11059 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11060 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11063 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11064 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11067 @item :authentication
11068 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11069 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11074 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11075 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11077 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11078 default user name, and default fetcher:
11084 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11087 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11088 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11091 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11094 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11098 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11099 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11100 contains exactly one mail.
11106 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11107 @samp{~/Maildir/new}.
11109 If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11110 them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11111 @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11114 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11115 from locking problems).
11119 Two example maildir mail sources:
11122 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/cur")
11126 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/new")
11130 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap} as
11131 intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for some
11132 reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server and
11133 fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox.
11139 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11140 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11143 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11144 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11147 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11151 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11155 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11156 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11157 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11159 @item :authenticator
11160 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11161 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11162 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11166 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11167 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11170 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11171 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11172 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11173 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11174 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11175 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11178 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{Deleted}
11179 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{Seen} which
11180 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11181 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11184 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11185 after finishing the fetch.
11189 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11192 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :stream kerberos4 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11196 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11197 mail.yahoo.com, www.netaddress.com and www.my-deja.com.
11199 NOTE: Webmail largely depends on w3 (url) package, whose version of "WWW
11200 4.0pre.46 1999/10/01" or previous ones may not work.
11202 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11208 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11209 alternatives are @code{yahoo}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11212 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11216 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11220 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11221 folder after finishing the fetch.
11225 An example webmail source:
11228 (webmail :subtype 'yahoo :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11233 @item Common Keywords
11234 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11240 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11241 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11245 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11250 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11251 useful when you use local mail and news.
11256 @node Mail Source Customization
11257 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11259 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11260 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11264 @item mail-source-crash-box
11265 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11266 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11267 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11269 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11270 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11271 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11273 @item mail-source-directory
11274 @vindex mail-source-directory
11275 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
11276 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
11277 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
11280 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
11281 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
11282 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
11287 @node Fetching Mail
11288 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
11290 @vindex mail-sources
11291 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
11292 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
11293 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
11294 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
11296 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
11297 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
11300 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
11301 mail server, you'd say something like:
11306 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11307 :password "secret")))
11310 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
11314 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
11315 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11318 :password "secret")))
11322 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
11323 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
11324 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
11325 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
11326 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
11327 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
11331 @node Mail Backend Variables
11332 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
11334 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
11338 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11339 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11340 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
11341 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
11343 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
11344 @item nnmail-split-hook
11345 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
11346 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
11347 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
11348 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
11349 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
11350 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
11351 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
11352 in the buffer will show up in any files.
11353 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
11356 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11357 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11358 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11359 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11360 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
11361 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
11362 starting to handle the new mail) and
11363 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
11364 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
11365 default file modes the new mail files get:
11368 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11369 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
11371 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
11372 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
11375 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
11376 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
11377 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
11378 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
11379 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
11380 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
11381 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
11383 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
11384 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
11385 @findex delete-file
11386 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
11388 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11389 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11390 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
11391 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
11392 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
11397 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
11398 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
11399 @cindex mail splitting
11400 @cindex fancy mail splitting
11402 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
11403 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
11404 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
11405 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
11406 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
11407 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
11409 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
11412 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
11413 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
11414 ;; from real errors.
11415 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
11417 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
11418 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
11419 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
11420 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
11421 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
11422 ;; Other mailing lists...
11423 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
11424 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
11425 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
11426 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
11427 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
11428 ;; message was really cross-posted.
11429 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
11430 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
11432 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
11433 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
11437 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
11438 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
11439 the five possible split syntaxes:
11444 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
11445 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
11449 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
11450 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
11451 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
11452 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
11453 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
11454 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
11455 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
11456 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
11459 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11460 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
11461 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
11462 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
11465 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11466 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
11469 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
11470 this message. Use with extreme caution.
11473 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
11474 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
11475 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
11476 function should return a @var{split}.
11479 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11480 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
11481 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
11485 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
11489 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
11490 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
11491 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
11492 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
11493 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
11495 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
11496 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
11497 are expanded as specified by the variable
11498 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
11499 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
11502 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
11503 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
11504 when all this splitting is performed.
11506 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
11507 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
11508 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
11511 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
11514 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
11515 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
11517 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
11518 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
11519 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
11520 groupings 1 through 9.
11523 @node Group Mail Splitting
11524 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
11525 @cindex mail splitting
11526 @cindex group mail splitting
11528 @findex gnus-group-split
11529 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
11530 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
11531 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
11532 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
11533 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
11534 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
11535 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
11536 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
11538 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
11539 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
11540 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
11541 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
11543 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
11544 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
11545 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
11546 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
11547 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
11548 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
11549 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
11551 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
11552 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
11553 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
11554 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
11555 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
11556 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
11557 @code{gnus-group-split}.
11559 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
11560 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
11561 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
11562 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
11563 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
11564 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
11565 that group is used as the catch-all group. Note that, in this case,
11566 there's no cross-posting, as a @code{|} fancy split encloses the
11567 @code{&} split and the catch-all group.
11569 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
11574 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
11575 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
11577 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
11578 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
11579 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
11580 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
11582 ((split-spec . catch-all))
11585 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
11586 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
11587 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
11590 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
11591 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
11592 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
11596 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
11597 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
11598 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
11602 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
11605 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
11606 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
11607 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
11608 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} may be the name
11609 of a group to be used as the default catch-all group. If
11610 @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
11611 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
11612 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
11613 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
11615 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
11616 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
11617 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
11618 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
11619 used to select @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
11620 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
11621 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
11622 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
11623 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
11625 @findex gnus-group-split-update
11626 However, if you change group parameters, you have to update
11627 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
11628 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
11629 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
11630 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
11633 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
11636 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
11637 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
11638 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
11639 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional),
11640 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
11643 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
11644 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
11645 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
11646 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
11648 @node Incorporating Old Mail
11649 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
11651 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
11652 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
11653 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
11656 Doing so can be quite easy.
11658 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
11659 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
11660 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
11661 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
11662 your @code{nnml} groups.
11668 Go to the group buffer.
11671 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
11672 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
11675 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
11678 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
11679 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
11682 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
11683 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
11686 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
11687 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
11688 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
11689 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
11690 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
11692 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
11693 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
11694 using the new mail backend.
11697 @node Expiring Mail
11698 @subsection Expiring Mail
11699 @cindex article expiry
11701 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
11702 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
11703 different approach to mail reading.
11705 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
11706 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
11707 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
11708 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
11709 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
11710 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
11713 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
11714 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
11715 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
11716 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
11717 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
11718 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
11719 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
11720 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
11722 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
11723 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
11724 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
11725 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
11726 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
11727 column in the summary buffer.
11729 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
11730 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
11731 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
11732 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
11735 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
11737 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
11738 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
11739 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
11742 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
11743 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
11744 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
11745 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
11746 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
11748 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
11749 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
11752 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
11753 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
11756 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
11757 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
11759 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
11760 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
11761 don't really mix very well.
11763 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
11764 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
11765 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
11766 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
11769 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
11770 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
11771 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
11772 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
11775 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
11777 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
11779 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
11781 ((string= group "mail.junk")
11783 ((string= group "important")
11789 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
11790 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
11792 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
11793 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
11794 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
11797 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
11798 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
11800 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
11801 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
11802 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
11803 other groups instead of deleting them. The @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
11804 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
11805 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
11806 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
11807 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
11808 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
11809 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
11812 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
11813 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
11814 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
11815 easier for procmail users.
11817 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
11818 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
11819 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
11820 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
11821 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
11822 caution. Even more dangerous is the
11823 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
11824 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
11825 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
11826 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
11827 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
11828 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
11829 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
11832 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
11834 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
11835 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
11836 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
11837 auto-expire turned on.
11841 @subsection Washing Mail
11842 @cindex mail washing
11843 @cindex list server brain damage
11844 @cindex incoming mail treatment
11846 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
11847 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
11848 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
11849 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
11850 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
11851 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
11853 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
11854 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
11855 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
11858 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
11859 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
11860 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
11861 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
11864 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
11865 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
11866 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
11867 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
11868 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
11871 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
11872 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
11873 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
11874 Emacs running on MS machines.
11878 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
11879 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
11880 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
11881 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
11884 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
11885 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
11886 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
11887 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
11889 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
11890 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
11891 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
11892 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
11893 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
11894 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
11895 also be a list of regexp.
11897 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
11898 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
11901 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
11902 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
11905 This can also be done non-destructively with
11906 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
11908 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
11909 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
11910 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
11912 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
11913 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
11915 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
11916 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
11917 @code{References} headers.
11921 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
11922 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
11923 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
11927 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
11928 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
11929 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
11936 @subsection Duplicates
11938 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
11939 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
11940 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
11941 @cindex duplicate mails
11942 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
11943 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
11944 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
11945 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
11946 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
11947 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
11948 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
11949 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
11950 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
11951 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
11952 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
11953 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
11954 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
11956 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
11957 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
11958 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
11959 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
11961 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
11964 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
11965 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
11969 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
11970 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
11971 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
11972 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
11973 (any mail "mail.misc")
11980 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11981 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
11986 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
11987 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
11988 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
11989 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
11990 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
11993 @node Not Reading Mail
11994 @subsection Not Reading Mail
11996 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
11997 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
11998 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12000 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12001 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12002 mail, which should help.
12004 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12005 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12006 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12007 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12008 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12009 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12010 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12011 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12012 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12013 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12014 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12016 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12017 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12021 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12022 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12024 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12025 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12026 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12028 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12029 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12030 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12031 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12034 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12035 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12036 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12037 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12038 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12039 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12043 @node Unix Mail Box
12044 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12046 @cindex unix mail box
12048 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12049 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12050 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12051 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12052 which group it belongs in.
12054 Virtual server settings:
12057 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12058 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12059 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
12061 @item nnmbox-active-file
12062 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12063 The name of the active file for the mail box.
12065 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12066 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12067 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12073 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12077 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12078 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12079 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12080 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12081 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12083 Virtual server settings:
12086 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12087 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12088 The name of the rmail mbox file.
12090 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12091 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12092 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
12094 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12095 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12096 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
12101 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12103 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12105 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12106 format. It should be used with some caution.
12108 @vindex nnml-directory
12109 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12110 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12111 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12112 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12114 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12117 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12118 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12119 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12120 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12121 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12122 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12123 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12124 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12126 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12127 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12128 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12129 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12131 Virtual server settings:
12134 @item nnml-directory
12135 @vindex nnml-directory
12136 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12138 @item nnml-active-file
12139 @vindex nnml-active-file
12140 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
12142 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12143 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12144 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12147 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12148 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12149 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
12151 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12152 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12153 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12155 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12156 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12157 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12159 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12160 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12161 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12165 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12166 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12167 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12168 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12169 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12170 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12171 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12176 @subsubsection MH Spool
12178 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12180 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12181 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12182 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12183 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12185 Virtual server settings:
12188 @item nnmh-directory
12189 @vindex nnmh-directory
12190 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
12192 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
12193 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12194 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
12197 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
12198 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
12199 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
12200 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
12201 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
12202 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
12203 to set this variable to @code{t}.
12208 @subsubsection Mail Folders
12210 @cindex mbox folders
12211 @cindex mail folders
12213 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
12214 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
12215 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
12218 Virtual server settings:
12221 @item nnfolder-directory
12222 @vindex nnfolder-directory
12223 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
12225 @item nnfolder-active-file
12226 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
12227 The name of the active file.
12229 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12230 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12231 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
12233 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
12234 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12235 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
12237 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12238 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12239 @cindex backup files
12240 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
12241 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
12242 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
12243 your @file{.emacs} file:
12246 (defun turn-off-backup ()
12247 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
12249 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
12252 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12253 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12254 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
12255 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
12256 extract some information from it before removing it.
12261 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
12262 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
12263 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
12264 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
12265 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
12266 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
12269 @node Comparing Mail Backends
12270 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
12272 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
12273 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
12274 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
12275 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
12276 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
12278 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
12279 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
12280 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
12281 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
12282 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
12283 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
12284 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
12285 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
12288 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
12289 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
12290 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
12291 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
12296 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
12297 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
12298 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
12299 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
12300 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
12301 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
12302 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
12303 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
12304 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
12305 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
12306 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
12307 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
12308 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
12313 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
12314 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
12315 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
12316 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
12317 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
12318 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
12319 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
12320 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
12321 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
12322 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
12323 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
12324 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
12325 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
12326 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
12328 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
12329 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
12334 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
12335 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
12336 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
12337 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
12338 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
12339 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
12340 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
12341 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
12342 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
12343 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
12344 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
12345 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
12346 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
12347 provided by the active file and overviews.
12349 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
12350 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
12351 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
12352 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
12353 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
12356 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
12357 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
12362 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
12363 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
12364 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
12365 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
12366 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
12367 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
12368 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
12372 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
12373 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
12374 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
12375 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
12376 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
12377 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
12378 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
12379 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
12380 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
12382 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
12383 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
12384 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
12385 friendly mail backend all over.
12390 @node Browsing the Web
12391 @section Browsing the Web
12393 @cindex browsing the web
12397 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
12398 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
12399 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
12400 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
12401 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
12402 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
12403 even know what a news group is.
12405 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
12406 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
12407 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
12408 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
12409 you mad in the end.
12411 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
12414 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
12415 interfaces to these sources.
12418 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
12419 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
12420 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
12421 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
12422 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
12425 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
12427 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
12428 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
12429 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
12430 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
12431 though, you should be ok.
12433 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
12434 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
12435 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
12436 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
12437 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
12441 @subsection Web Searches
12445 @cindex InReference
12446 @cindex Usenet searches
12447 @cindex searching the Usenet
12449 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
12450 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
12451 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
12452 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
12453 searches without having to use a browser.
12455 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
12456 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
12457 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
12458 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
12459 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
12461 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
12462 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
12463 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
12464 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
12465 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
12466 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
12467 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
12468 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
12469 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
12470 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
12473 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
12474 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
12475 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
12476 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
12477 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
12478 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
12480 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
12481 to use @code{nnweb}.
12483 Virtual server variables:
12488 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
12489 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
12493 @vindex nnweb-search
12494 The search string to feed to the search engine.
12496 @item nnweb-max-hits
12497 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
12498 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
12501 @item nnweb-type-definition
12502 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
12503 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
12504 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
12509 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
12513 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
12516 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
12519 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
12523 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
12530 @subsection Slashdot
12534 Slashdot (@file{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
12535 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
12536 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
12538 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
12539 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12542 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
12543 '((nnslashdot "")))
12546 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
12547 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
12548 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
12549 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
12550 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
12553 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
12554 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12556 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
12557 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
12558 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
12559 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
12560 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
12561 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
12564 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
12567 @item nnslashdot-threaded
12568 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
12569 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
12570 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
12571 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
12572 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
12573 but much, much slower than untreaded.
12575 @item nnslashdot-login-name
12576 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
12577 The login name to use when posting.
12579 @item nnslashdot-password
12580 @vindex nnslashdot-password
12581 The password to use when posting.
12583 @item nnslashdot-directory
12584 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
12585 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default value is
12586 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
12588 @item nnslashdot-active-url
12589 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
12590 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
12591 news articles and comments. The default is
12592 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
12594 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
12595 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
12596 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
12598 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
12600 @item nnslashdot-article-url
12601 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
12602 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
12604 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
12606 @item nnslashdot-threshold
12607 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
12608 The score threshold. The default is -1.
12610 @item nnslashdot-group-number
12611 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
12612 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
12613 updated. The default is 0.
12620 @subsection Ultimate
12622 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
12624 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@file{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
12625 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
12626 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
12627 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
12629 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
12630 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
12631 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
12632 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
12633 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
12634 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
12635 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
12637 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
12640 @item nnultimate-directory
12641 @vindex nnultimate-directory
12642 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
12643 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
12648 @subsection Web Archive
12650 @cindex Web Archive
12652 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
12653 @file{http://www.egroups.com/} and
12654 @file{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
12655 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
12658 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
12659 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
12660 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
12661 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
12662 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
12663 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
12664 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
12666 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
12669 @item nnwarchive-directory
12670 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
12671 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
12672 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
12674 @item nnwarchive-login
12675 @vindex nnwarchive-login
12676 The account name on the web server.
12678 @item nnwarchive-passwd
12679 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
12680 The password for your account on the web server.
12684 @node Customizing w3
12685 @subsection Customizing w3
12691 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
12692 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
12693 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
12695 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
12696 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
12697 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
12700 (eval-after-load "w3"
12702 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
12703 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
12704 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
12705 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
12707 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
12710 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
12711 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
12715 @node Other Sources
12716 @section Other Sources
12718 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
12719 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
12723 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
12724 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
12725 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
12726 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
12727 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
12728 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
12732 @node Directory Groups
12733 @subsection Directory Groups
12735 @cindex directory groups
12737 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
12738 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
12741 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
12742 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
12743 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
12744 backend to read directories. Big deal.
12746 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
12747 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
12748 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
12749 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
12750 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
12752 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
12754 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
12755 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
12756 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
12757 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
12760 @node Anything Groups
12761 @subsection Anything Groups
12764 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
12765 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
12766 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
12769 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
12770 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
12771 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
12772 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
12773 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
12774 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
12775 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
12776 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
12777 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
12778 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
12781 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
12782 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
12783 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
12784 in the article buffer, just as usual.
12786 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
12787 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
12788 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
12789 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
12791 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
12792 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
12793 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
12794 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
12795 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
12796 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
12797 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
12798 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
12803 @item nneething-map-file-directory
12804 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
12805 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
12806 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
12808 @item nneething-exclude-files
12809 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
12810 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
12811 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
12813 @item nneething-include-files
12814 @vindex nneething-include-files
12815 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
12816 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
12818 @item nneething-map-file
12819 @vindex nneething-map-file
12820 Name of the map files.
12824 @node Document Groups
12825 @subsection Document Groups
12827 @cindex documentation group
12830 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
12831 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
12838 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
12843 The standard Unix mbox file.
12845 @cindex MMDF mail box
12847 The MMDF mail box format.
12850 Several news articles appended into a file.
12853 @cindex rnews batch files
12854 The rnews batch transport format.
12855 @cindex forwarded messages
12858 Forwarded articles.
12861 Netscape mail boxes.
12864 MIME multipart messages.
12866 @item standard-digest
12867 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
12870 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
12873 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
12874 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
12875 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
12878 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
12879 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
12880 group. And that's it.
12882 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
12883 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
12884 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
12885 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
12886 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
12887 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
12888 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
12889 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
12890 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
12891 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
12893 Virtual server variables:
12896 @item nndoc-article-type
12897 @vindex nndoc-article-type
12898 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
12899 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
12900 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
12901 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
12903 @item nndoc-post-type
12904 @vindex nndoc-post-type
12905 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
12906 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
12911 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
12915 @node Document Server Internals
12916 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
12918 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
12919 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
12920 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
12921 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
12923 First, here's an example document type definition:
12927 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
12928 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
12931 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
12932 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
12933 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
12934 types can be defined with very few settings:
12937 @item first-article
12938 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
12939 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
12942 @item article-begin
12943 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
12944 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
12946 @item head-begin-function
12947 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
12950 @item nndoc-head-begin
12951 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
12954 @item nndoc-head-end
12955 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
12956 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
12958 @item body-begin-function
12959 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
12963 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
12966 @item body-end-function
12967 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
12971 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
12974 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
12975 regexp will be totally ignored.
12979 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
12980 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
12981 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
12982 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
12983 something that's palatable for Gnus:
12986 @item prepare-body-function
12987 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
12988 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
12989 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
12991 @item article-transform-function
12992 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
12993 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
12994 body of the article.
12996 @item generate-head-function
12997 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
12998 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
12999 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13000 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13004 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13009 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13010 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13011 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13012 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13013 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13014 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13015 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13016 (subtype digest guess))
13019 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13020 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13021 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13022 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13023 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13025 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13026 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13027 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13028 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13029 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
13030 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13031 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13032 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13033 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13034 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13042 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13043 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13044 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13046 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13047 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13048 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13051 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13052 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13053 that interested in doing things properly.
13055 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13056 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13059 First some terminology:
13064 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13065 get news and/or mail from.
13068 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13069 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13072 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13076 @item message packets
13077 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13078 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13079 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13081 @item response packets
13082 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13083 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13084 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13094 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13095 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13096 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13097 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13100 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13103 You put the packet in your home directory.
13106 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13107 the native or secondary server.
13110 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13111 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13114 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
13118 You transfer this packet to the server.
13121 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
13124 You then repeat until you die.
13128 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
13129 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
13132 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
13133 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
13134 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
13138 @node SOUP Commands
13139 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
13141 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
13145 @kindex G s b (Group)
13146 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
13147 Pack all unread articles in the current group
13148 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
13149 process/prefix convention.
13152 @kindex G s w (Group)
13153 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
13154 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
13157 @kindex G s s (Group)
13158 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
13159 Send all replies from the replies packet
13160 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
13163 @kindex G s p (Group)
13164 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
13165 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
13168 @kindex G s r (Group)
13169 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
13170 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
13173 @kindex O s (Summary)
13174 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
13175 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
13176 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
13177 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13182 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
13187 @item gnus-soup-directory
13188 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
13189 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
13190 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
13192 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
13193 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
13194 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
13195 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
13197 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
13198 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
13199 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
13200 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
13202 @item gnus-soup-packer
13203 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
13204 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13205 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
13207 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
13208 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
13209 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13210 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13212 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
13213 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
13214 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
13216 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13217 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13218 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
13219 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
13225 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
13228 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
13229 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
13230 you can read them at leisure.
13232 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
13236 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
13237 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
13238 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
13239 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
13241 @item nnsoup-directory
13242 @vindex nnsoup-directory
13243 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
13244 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
13246 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
13247 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
13248 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
13249 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
13251 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
13252 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
13253 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
13254 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
13255 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
13257 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
13258 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
13259 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
13260 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
13262 @item nnsoup-active-file
13263 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
13264 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
13265 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
13266 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
13267 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
13269 @item nnsoup-packer
13270 @vindex nnsoup-packer
13271 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
13272 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
13274 @item nnsoup-unpacker
13275 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
13276 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
13277 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13279 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
13280 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
13281 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
13284 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
13285 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
13286 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
13289 @item nnsoup-always-save
13290 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
13291 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
13297 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
13299 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
13300 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
13301 more for that to happen.
13303 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
13304 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
13305 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
13308 In specific, this is what it does:
13311 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
13312 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
13315 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
13316 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
13317 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
13320 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
13321 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
13322 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
13325 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
13326 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
13327 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
13329 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
13335 @item nngateway-address
13336 @vindex nngateway-address
13337 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
13339 @item nngateway-header-transformation
13340 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
13341 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
13342 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
13343 transformation should be called, and defaults to
13344 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
13345 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
13348 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
13349 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
13350 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
13353 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
13356 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
13359 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
13362 The following pre-defined functions exist:
13364 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13367 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13368 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13369 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
13371 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13373 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13374 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13375 @code{nngateway-address}.
13380 (setq gnus-post-method
13381 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
13382 (nngateway-header-transformation
13383 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
13391 So, to use this, simply say something like:
13394 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
13400 @subsection @sc{imap}
13404 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
13405 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap} server
13406 is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just specify the
13407 network address of the server.
13409 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
13414 @item nnimap-address
13415 @vindex nnimap-address
13417 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
13418 server name if not specified.
13420 @item nnimap-server-port
13421 @vindex nnimap-server-port
13422 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
13424 @item nnimap-list-pattern
13425 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
13426 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
13427 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
13428 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
13429 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
13430 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
13432 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
13433 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
13434 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
13440 ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*" ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))
13443 @item nnimap-stream
13444 @vindex nnimap-stream
13445 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
13446 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
13447 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
13448 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
13452 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Require the
13453 @samp{imtest} program.
13455 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Require the @samp{imtest} program.
13457 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
13458 SSL). Require the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13461 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Require OpenSSL (the
13462 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
13464 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
13467 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD, nnimap support
13468 both @samp{imtest} version 1.5.x and version 1.6.x.
13470 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
13471 @file{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
13472 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of SSLeay,
13473 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it useless. Earlier
13474 versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to work.
13476 @item nnimap-authenticator
13477 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
13479 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
13480 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
13484 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
13485 external program @code{imtest}.
13487 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
13490 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
13491 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
13493 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
13495 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
13497 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
13500 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
13502 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
13503 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
13504 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
13505 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
13506 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
13507 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
13510 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
13511 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
13512 running in circles yet?
13514 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
13515 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
13518 The possible options are:
13523 The default behaviour, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
13526 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
13527 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
13528 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
13529 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
13531 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
13538 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
13539 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
13540 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
13545 @node Splitting in IMAP
13546 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
13547 @cindex splitting imap mail
13549 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
13550 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
13551 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
13552 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
13553 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
13557 Here are the variables of interest:
13561 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
13562 @cindex splitting, crosspost
13564 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
13566 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
13567 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
13569 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
13571 @item nnimap-split-inbox
13572 @cindex splitting, inbox
13574 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
13576 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
13577 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
13581 (setq nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
13584 No nnmail equivalent.
13586 @item nnimap-split-rule
13587 @cindex Splitting, rules
13588 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
13590 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
13593 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
13594 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
13595 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
13596 Neither did I, we need examples.
13599 (setq nnimap-split-rule
13600 '(("INBOX.nnimap" "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
13601 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
13602 ("INBOX.private" "")))
13605 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
13606 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
13607 into INBOX.spam and everything else in INBOX.private.
13609 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
13610 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
13614 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
13617 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13618 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
13619 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
13620 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
13622 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
13623 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
13624 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
13625 of your inbox. (This might might affect performance if you keep lots of
13626 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
13627 them every time you fetch new mail.)
13629 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
13630 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
13631 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
13633 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
13634 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
13635 thinks the article should be splitted to.
13637 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
13639 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
13641 @item nnimap-split-predicate
13643 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
13645 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
13646 splitted, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
13648 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
13649 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
13650 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
13653 @item nnimap-split-fancy
13654 @cindex splitting, fancy
13655 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
13656 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
13658 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
13659 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
13660 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
13662 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
13663 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
13664 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
13665 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
13670 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
13671 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
13674 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
13678 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
13679 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
13680 @cindex editing imap acls
13681 @cindex Access Control Lists
13682 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
13684 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
13686 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
13687 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
13688 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
13691 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
13692 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
13693 editing window with detailed instructions.
13695 Some possible uses:
13699 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
13700 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
13701 follow the list without subscribing to it.
13703 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
13704 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
13705 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
13709 @node Expunging mailboxes
13710 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
13714 @cindex Manual expunging
13716 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
13718 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-close},
13719 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
13720 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
13722 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
13727 @node Combined Groups
13728 @section Combined Groups
13730 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
13734 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
13735 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
13739 @node Virtual Groups
13740 @subsection Virtual Groups
13742 @cindex virtual groups
13743 @cindex merging groups
13745 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
13748 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
13749 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
13750 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
13752 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
13753 regexp to match component groups.
13755 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
13756 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
13757 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
13758 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
13759 the virtual group.)
13761 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
13762 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
13765 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
13768 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
13769 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
13771 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
13772 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
13773 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
13774 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
13777 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
13780 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
13781 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
13782 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
13784 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
13785 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
13786 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
13787 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
13788 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
13790 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
13791 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
13792 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
13794 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
13795 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
13796 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
13797 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
13798 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
13799 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
13800 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
13801 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
13802 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
13803 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
13804 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
13806 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
13807 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
13808 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
13809 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
13810 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
13811 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
13812 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
13814 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
13815 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
13819 @node Kibozed Groups
13820 @subsection Kibozed Groups
13824 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
13825 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
13826 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
13827 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
13829 @kindex G k (Group)
13830 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
13833 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
13834 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
13835 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
13836 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
13838 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
13839 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
13840 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
13842 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
13843 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
13844 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
13845 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
13846 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
13847 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
13848 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
13849 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
13851 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
13852 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
13853 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
13854 Stranger things have happened.
13856 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
13857 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
13859 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
13860 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
13861 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
13862 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
13863 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
13864 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
13866 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
13867 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
13870 @node Gnus Unplugged
13871 @section Gnus Unplugged
13876 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
13878 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
13879 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
13880 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
13881 read news. Believe it or not.
13883 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
13884 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
13885 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
13886 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
13887 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
13889 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
13890 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
13891 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
13892 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
13893 reading news on a machine.
13895 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
13899 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
13900 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
13904 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
13905 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13912 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
13914 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
13917 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
13918 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
13919 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
13920 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
13921 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
13922 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
13923 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
13924 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
13925 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
13930 @subsection Agent Basics
13932 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
13934 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
13935 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
13936 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
13937 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
13939 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
13940 connected to the net continuously.
13942 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
13943 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
13945 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
13950 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
13951 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
13952 already fetched while in this mode.
13955 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
13956 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
13957 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
13960 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
13961 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
13962 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
13963 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
13966 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
13967 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
13968 then you read the news offline.
13971 And then you go to step 2.
13974 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
13980 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
13981 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
13982 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
13983 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
13984 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
13985 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
13988 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
13995 @node Agent Categories
13996 @subsection Agent Categories
13998 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
13999 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
14000 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
14001 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
14002 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
14003 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
14004 you're interested in the articles anyway.
14006 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
14007 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
14008 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
14009 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
14010 managing categories.
14013 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
14014 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
14015 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
14019 @node Category Syntax
14020 @subsubsection Category Syntax
14022 A category consists of two things.
14026 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
14027 are eligible for downloading; and
14030 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
14031 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
14032 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
14035 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
14036 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
14037 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
14038 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
14040 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
14041 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
14042 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as descibed below.
14044 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
14045 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
14046 operators sprinkled in between.
14048 Perhaps some examples are in order.
14050 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
14051 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
14057 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
14058 short (for some value of ``short'').
14060 Here's a more complex predicate:
14069 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
14070 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
14073 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
14074 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
14075 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
14077 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
14078 you want to do, you can write your own.
14082 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
14083 lines; default 100.
14086 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
14087 lines; default 200.
14090 True iff the article has a download score less than
14091 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
14094 True iff the article has a download score greater than
14095 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
14098 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
14099 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
14100 checksum and sees whether articles match.
14109 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
14110 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
14111 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
14114 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
14115 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
14116 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
14117 something along the lines of the following:
14120 (defun my-article-old-p ()
14121 "Say whether an article is old."
14122 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
14123 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
14126 with the predicate then defined as:
14129 (not my-article-old-p)
14132 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
14133 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
14134 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
14135 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
14138 (defvar gnus-category-predicate-alist
14139 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
14140 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
14143 and simply specify your predicate as:
14149 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
14150 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
14151 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
14152 just don't give a damm.
14154 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
14155 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
14156 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
14157 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
14158 parameters like so:
14161 (agent-predicate . short)
14164 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
14165 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
14166 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
14168 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
14171 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
14174 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
14175 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
14176 predicate is assumed to be a list.
14179 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
14180 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
14181 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
14182 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
14183 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
14184 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
14186 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
14187 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
14188 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
14189 if it's to be specific to that group.
14191 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
14198 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
14199 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
14205 Category specification
14209 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14215 Group Parameter specification
14218 (agent-score ("from"
14219 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14224 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
14230 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
14237 Category specification
14240 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
14246 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
14250 Group Parameter specification
14253 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
14256 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
14261 Use @code{normal} score files
14263 If you dont want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
14264 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
14265 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
14266 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
14268 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
14269 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
14270 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
14271 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
14275 Category Specification
14282 Group Parameter specification
14285 (agent-score . file)
14290 @node The Category Buffer
14291 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
14293 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
14294 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
14295 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
14297 The following commands are available in this buffer:
14301 @kindex q (Category)
14302 @findex gnus-category-exit
14303 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
14306 @kindex k (Category)
14307 @findex gnus-category-kill
14308 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
14311 @kindex c (Category)
14312 @findex gnus-category-copy
14313 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
14316 @kindex a (Category)
14317 @findex gnus-category-add
14318 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
14321 @kindex p (Category)
14322 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
14323 Edit the predicate of the current category
14324 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
14327 @kindex g (Category)
14328 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
14329 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
14330 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
14333 @kindex s (Category)
14334 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
14335 Edit the download score rule of the current category
14336 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
14339 @kindex l (Category)
14340 @findex gnus-category-list
14341 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
14345 @node Category Variables
14346 @subsubsection Category Variables
14349 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
14350 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
14351 Hook run in category buffers.
14353 @item gnus-category-line-format
14354 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
14355 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
14356 Variables}). Valid elements are:
14360 The name of the category.
14363 The number of groups in the category.
14366 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
14367 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
14368 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
14370 @item gnus-agent-short-article
14371 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
14372 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
14374 @item gnus-agent-long-article
14375 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
14376 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
14378 @item gnus-agent-low-score
14379 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
14380 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
14383 @item gnus-agent-high-score
14384 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
14385 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
14391 @node Agent Commands
14392 @subsection Agent Commands
14394 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
14395 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
14396 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
14400 * Group Agent Commands::
14401 * Summary Agent Commands::
14402 * Server Agent Commands::
14405 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
14406 following incantation:
14408 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14410 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14415 @node Group Agent Commands
14416 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
14420 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
14421 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
14422 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
14423 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
14426 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
14427 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
14428 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
14431 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
14432 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
14433 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
14434 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
14437 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
14438 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
14439 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
14440 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
14443 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
14444 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
14445 Add the current group to an Agent category
14446 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
14447 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
14450 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
14451 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
14452 Remove the current group from its category, if any
14453 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
14454 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
14459 @node Summary Agent Commands
14460 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
14464 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
14465 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
14466 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
14469 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
14470 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
14471 Remove the downloading mark from the article
14472 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
14475 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
14476 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
14477 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
14480 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
14481 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
14482 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
14487 @node Server Agent Commands
14488 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
14492 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
14493 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
14494 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
14495 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
14498 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
14499 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
14500 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
14501 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
14507 @subsection Agent Expiry
14509 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
14510 @findex gnus-agent-expire
14511 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
14512 @cindex Agent expiry
14513 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
14516 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
14517 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
14518 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
14519 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
14520 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
14521 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
14523 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
14524 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
14525 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
14526 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
14527 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
14530 @node Outgoing Messages
14531 @subsection Outgoing Messages
14533 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
14534 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
14535 after posting, and edit them at will.
14537 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
14538 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
14539 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
14540 messages in the draft group.
14544 @node Agent Variables
14545 @subsection Agent Variables
14548 @item gnus-agent-directory
14549 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
14550 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
14551 @file{~/News/agent/}.
14553 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
14554 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
14555 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
14556 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
14557 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
14560 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
14561 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
14562 Hook run when connecting to the network.
14564 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
14565 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
14566 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
14571 @node Example Setup
14572 @subsection Example Setup
14574 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
14575 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
14576 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
14579 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
14580 ;;; from your ISP's server.
14581 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
14583 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
14584 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
14585 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
14587 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
14588 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
14590 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
14594 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
14595 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
14598 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
14599 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
14600 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
14601 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
14602 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
14605 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
14606 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
14607 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
14608 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
14609 back all the killed groups.)
14611 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
14612 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
14613 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
14616 @node Batching Agents
14617 @subsection Batching Agents
14619 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
14620 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
14621 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
14625 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
14629 @node Agent Caveats
14630 @subsection Agent Caveats
14632 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
14633 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
14637 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
14642 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
14643 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
14649 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
14650 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
14657 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
14658 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
14659 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
14662 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
14663 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
14664 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
14665 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
14666 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
14668 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
14669 before generating the summary buffer.
14671 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
14672 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
14673 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
14675 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
14676 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
14677 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
14678 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
14681 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
14682 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
14683 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
14684 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
14685 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
14686 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
14687 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
14688 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
14689 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
14690 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
14691 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
14692 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
14693 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
14694 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
14695 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
14696 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
14700 @node Summary Score Commands
14701 @section Summary Score Commands
14702 @cindex score commands
14704 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
14705 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
14706 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
14707 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
14708 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
14710 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
14711 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
14712 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
14713 score file the current one.
14715 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
14720 @kindex V s (Summary)
14721 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
14722 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
14725 @kindex V S (Summary)
14726 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
14727 Display the score of the current article
14728 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
14731 @kindex V t (Summary)
14732 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
14733 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
14734 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
14737 @kindex V R (Summary)
14738 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
14739 Run the current summary through the scoring process
14740 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
14741 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
14742 effect you're having.
14745 @kindex V c (Summary)
14746 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
14747 Make a different score file the current
14748 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
14751 @kindex V e (Summary)
14752 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
14753 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
14754 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
14758 @kindex V f (Summary)
14759 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
14760 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
14761 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
14764 @kindex V F (Summary)
14765 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
14766 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
14767 after editing score files.
14770 @kindex V C (Summary)
14771 @findex gnus-score-customize
14772 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
14773 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
14777 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
14782 @kindex V m (Summary)
14783 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
14784 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
14785 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
14788 @kindex V x (Summary)
14789 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
14790 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
14791 expunge all articles below this score
14792 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
14795 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
14796 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
14799 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
14800 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
14804 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
14805 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
14807 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
14808 keys are available:
14812 Score on the author name.
14815 Score on the subject line.
14818 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
14821 Score on the @code{References} line.
14827 Score on the number of lines.
14830 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
14833 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
14834 the followups to this author.
14848 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
14849 what headers you are scoring on.
14861 Substring matching.
14864 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
14893 Greater than number.
14898 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
14899 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
14900 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
14904 Temporary score entry.
14907 Permanent score entry.
14910 Immediately scoring.
14915 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
14916 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
14917 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
14918 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
14920 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
14921 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
14922 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
14923 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
14924 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
14926 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
14927 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
14928 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
14929 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
14930 current score file.
14932 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
14933 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
14934 pretend they are keymaps or not.
14937 @node Group Score Commands
14938 @section Group Score Commands
14939 @cindex group score commands
14941 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
14946 @kindex W f (Group)
14947 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
14948 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
14949 all the time. This command will flush the cache
14950 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
14954 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
14956 @findex gnus-batch-score
14957 @cindex batch scoring
14959 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
14963 @node Score Variables
14964 @section Score Variables
14965 @cindex score variables
14969 @item gnus-use-scoring
14970 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
14971 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
14972 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
14974 @item gnus-kill-killed
14975 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
14976 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
14977 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
14978 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
14979 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
14980 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
14981 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
14983 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
14984 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
14985 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
14986 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
14987 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
14989 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
14990 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
14991 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
14992 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
14994 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
14995 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
14996 @cindex score cache
14997 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
14998 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
14999 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
15000 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
15001 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
15002 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
15005 @item gnus-save-score
15006 @vindex gnus-save-score
15007 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
15008 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
15009 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
15011 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
15012 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
15013 across group visits.
15015 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15016 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15017 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
15018 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
15019 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
15020 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
15021 manually entered data.
15023 @item gnus-summary-default-score
15024 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
15025 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
15027 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
15028 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
15029 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
15030 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
15031 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
15032 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
15034 @item gnus-score-over-mark
15035 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
15036 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
15037 default. Default is @samp{+}.
15039 @item gnus-score-below-mark
15040 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
15041 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
15042 default. Default is @samp{-}.
15044 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15045 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15046 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
15047 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
15049 Predefined functions available are:
15052 @item gnus-score-find-single
15053 @findex gnus-score-find-single
15054 Only apply the group's own score file.
15056 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
15057 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
15058 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
15059 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
15060 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
15061 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
15062 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
15063 then a regexp match is done.
15065 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
15066 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
15068 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
15069 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
15070 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
15071 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
15073 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15074 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15075 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
15076 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
15077 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
15080 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
15081 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
15082 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
15083 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
15084 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
15085 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
15088 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
15089 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
15090 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
15091 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
15092 are expired. It's 7 by default.
15094 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15095 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15096 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
15097 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
15098 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
15099 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
15100 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
15103 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15104 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15105 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
15107 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
15108 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
15109 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
15110 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
15111 threading---according to the current value of
15112 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
15113 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
15114 simplified in this manner.
15119 @node Score File Format
15120 @section Score File Format
15121 @cindex score file format
15123 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
15124 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
15125 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
15127 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
15131 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
15133 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
15135 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
15137 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
15142 (mark-and-expunge -10)
15146 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
15147 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
15148 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
15149 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
15153 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
15154 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
15156 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
15157 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
15158 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
15160 Six keys are supported by this alist:
15165 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
15166 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
15167 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
15168 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
15169 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
15170 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
15171 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
15172 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
15173 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
15174 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
15175 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
15176 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
15177 to articles that matches these score entries.
15179 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
15180 score entry has one to four elements.
15184 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
15185 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
15189 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
15190 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
15191 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
15192 is successful. If this element is not present, the
15193 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
15194 instead. This is 1000 by default.
15197 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
15198 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
15199 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
15200 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
15201 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
15204 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
15205 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
15206 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
15207 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
15210 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
15211 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
15212 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
15213 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
15214 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
15215 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
15216 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
15217 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
15218 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
15219 instead, if you feel like.
15222 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
15223 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
15225 These predicates are true if
15228 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
15231 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
15232 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
15239 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
15240 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
15241 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
15242 it's not. I think.)
15244 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
15245 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
15246 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
15247 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
15250 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
15251 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
15252 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
15253 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
15254 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
15255 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
15256 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
15260 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
15261 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
15262 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
15263 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
15264 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
15265 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
15266 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
15267 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
15270 @item Head, Body, All
15271 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
15275 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
15276 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
15277 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
15278 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
15279 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
15280 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
15281 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
15285 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
15286 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
15287 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
15288 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
15289 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
15290 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
15291 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
15292 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
15293 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
15294 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
15295 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
15299 @cindex Score File Atoms
15301 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15302 lower than this number will be marked as read.
15305 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15306 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
15308 @item mark-and-expunge
15309 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15310 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
15313 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
15314 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
15315 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
15316 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
15317 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
15320 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
15321 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
15324 @item exclude-files
15325 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
15326 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
15330 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
15331 ignored when handling global score files.
15334 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
15335 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
15336 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
15337 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
15340 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
15341 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
15342 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
15343 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
15345 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
15349 (mark-and-expunge -100)
15352 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
15353 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
15354 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
15355 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
15356 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
15358 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
15359 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
15360 ordinary scoring rules.
15363 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
15364 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
15365 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
15366 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
15367 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
15368 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
15369 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
15370 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
15371 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
15372 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
15373 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
15377 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
15378 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
15379 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
15380 file for a number of groups.
15383 @cindex local variables
15384 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
15385 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
15386 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
15387 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
15388 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
15392 @node Score File Editing
15393 @section Score File Editing
15395 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
15396 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
15397 with a mode for that.
15399 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
15400 additional commands:
15405 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
15406 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
15407 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
15408 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
15411 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
15412 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
15413 Insert the current date in numerical format
15414 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
15415 you were wondering.
15418 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
15419 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
15420 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
15421 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
15422 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
15427 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
15429 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
15430 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
15432 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
15433 e} to begin editing score files.
15436 @node Adaptive Scoring
15437 @section Adaptive Scoring
15438 @cindex adaptive scoring
15440 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
15441 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
15442 stupidity, to be precise.
15444 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
15445 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
15446 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
15447 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
15448 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
15449 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
15450 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
15451 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
15452 variable to @code{(word line)}.
15454 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
15455 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
15456 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
15457 might look something like this:
15460 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
15461 '((gnus-unread-mark)
15462 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
15463 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
15464 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
15465 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
15466 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
15467 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
15468 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
15469 (gnus-ancient-mark)
15470 (gnus-low-score-mark)
15471 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
15474 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
15475 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
15476 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
15477 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
15478 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
15479 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
15482 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
15483 will be applied to each article.
15485 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
15486 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
15487 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
15488 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
15490 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
15491 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
15492 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
15493 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
15495 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
15496 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
15497 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
15498 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
15500 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
15501 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
15502 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
15503 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
15504 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
15505 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
15507 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
15508 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
15509 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
15510 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
15511 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
15512 aspirins afterwards.)
15514 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
15515 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
15516 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
15518 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
15519 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
15520 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
15522 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
15523 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
15524 let you use different rules in different groups.
15526 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
15527 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
15528 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
15531 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
15532 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
15533 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
15534 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
15535 the length of the match is less than
15536 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
15537 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
15540 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
15541 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
15542 headers. If you adapt on words, the
15543 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
15544 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
15547 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
15548 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
15549 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
15550 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
15551 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
15554 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
15555 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
15556 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
15557 score with 30 points.
15559 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
15560 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
15561 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
15562 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
15563 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
15565 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
15566 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
15567 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
15568 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
15570 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
15571 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
15572 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
15573 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
15575 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
15576 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
15577 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
15578 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
15579 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
15581 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
15582 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
15583 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
15585 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
15586 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
15587 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
15588 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
15591 @node Home Score File
15592 @section Home Score File
15594 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
15595 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
15596 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
15597 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
15599 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
15600 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
15601 could perhaps use the same home score file.
15603 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
15604 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
15609 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
15613 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
15614 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
15618 A list. The elements in this list can be:
15622 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
15623 group name, the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
15626 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
15627 the home score file.
15630 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
15633 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
15638 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
15641 (setq gnus-home-score-file
15642 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
15645 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
15646 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
15648 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
15650 (setq gnus-home-score-file
15651 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
15654 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
15655 Other functions include
15658 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
15659 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
15660 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
15661 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
15665 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
15666 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
15667 their own home score files:
15670 (setq gnus-home-score-file
15671 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
15672 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
15673 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
15674 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
15677 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
15678 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
15679 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
15680 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
15681 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
15683 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
15684 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
15685 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
15686 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
15687 precedence over this variable.
15690 @node Followups To Yourself
15691 @section Followups To Yourself
15693 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
15694 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
15695 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
15696 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
15697 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
15698 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
15702 @item gnus-score-followup-article
15703 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
15704 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
15707 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
15708 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
15709 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
15713 @vindex message-sent-hook
15714 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
15715 @code{message-sent-hook}.
15717 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
15718 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
15722 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
15723 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
15726 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
15727 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
15732 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
15736 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
15737 is system-dependent.
15741 @section Scoring Tips
15742 @cindex scoring tips
15748 @cindex scoring crossposts
15749 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
15750 the @code{Xref} header.
15752 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
15755 @item Multiple crossposts
15756 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
15757 more than, say, 3 groups:
15759 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
15762 @item Matching on the body
15763 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
15764 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
15765 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
15766 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
15767 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
15768 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
15769 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
15772 @item Marking as read
15773 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
15774 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
15775 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
15779 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
15781 @item Negated character classes
15782 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
15783 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
15784 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
15788 @node Reverse Scoring
15789 @section Reverse Scoring
15790 @cindex reverse scoring
15792 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
15793 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
15794 like this in your score file:
15798 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
15803 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
15804 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
15807 @node Global Score Files
15808 @section Global Score Files
15809 @cindex global score files
15811 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
15812 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
15813 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
15815 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
15816 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
15817 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
15819 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
15820 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
15821 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
15822 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
15823 files are applicable to which group.
15825 Say you want to use the score file
15826 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
15827 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
15830 (setq gnus-global-score-files
15831 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
15832 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
15835 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
15836 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
15837 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
15838 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
15839 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
15841 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
15842 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
15844 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
15845 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
15846 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
15847 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
15848 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
15849 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
15851 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
15857 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
15859 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
15861 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
15863 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
15864 lowered out of existence.
15866 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
15867 articles completely.
15870 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
15871 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
15872 old articles for a long time.
15875 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
15876 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
15877 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
15878 holding our breath yet?
15882 @section Kill Files
15885 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
15886 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
15887 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
15889 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
15890 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
15891 files into score files.
15893 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
15894 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
15895 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
15896 that isn't a very good idea.
15898 Normal kill files look like this:
15901 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
15902 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
15906 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
15907 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
15909 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
15910 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
15913 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
15918 @kindex M-k (Summary)
15919 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
15920 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
15923 @kindex M-K (Summary)
15924 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
15925 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
15928 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
15933 @kindex M-k (Group)
15934 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
15935 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
15938 @kindex M-K (Group)
15939 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
15940 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
15943 Kill file variables:
15946 @item gnus-kill-file-name
15947 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
15948 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
15949 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
15950 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
15951 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
15952 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
15954 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
15955 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
15956 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
15957 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
15960 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
15961 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
15962 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
15963 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
15964 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
15965 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
15966 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
15967 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
15968 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
15970 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
15971 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
15972 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
15977 @node Converting Kill Files
15978 @section Converting Kill Files
15980 @cindex converting kill files
15982 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
15983 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
15984 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
15987 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
15988 You can fetch it from
15989 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
15991 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
15992 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
15993 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
16001 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
16002 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
16003 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
16005 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
16006 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
16007 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
16008 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
16009 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
16010 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
16011 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
16012 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
16016 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
16017 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
16018 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
16019 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
16023 @node Using GroupLens
16024 @subsection Using GroupLens
16026 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
16028 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
16029 better bit in town at the moment.
16031 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
16035 @item gnus-use-grouplens
16036 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
16037 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
16038 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
16040 @item grouplens-pseudonym
16041 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
16042 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
16043 with the Better Bit Bureau.
16045 @item grouplens-newsgroups
16046 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
16047 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
16051 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
16052 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
16053 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
16054 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
16055 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
16056 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
16059 @node Rating Articles
16060 @subsection Rating Articles
16062 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
16063 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
16064 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
16065 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
16068 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
16073 @kindex r (GroupLens)
16074 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
16075 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
16078 @kindex k (GroupLens)
16079 @findex grouplens-score-thread
16080 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
16081 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
16082 threads in rec.humor.
16086 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
16087 the score of the article you're reading.
16092 @kindex n (GroupLens)
16093 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
16094 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
16097 @kindex , (GroupLens)
16098 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
16099 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
16103 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
16104 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
16107 @node Displaying Predictions
16108 @subsection Displaying Predictions
16110 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
16111 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
16112 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
16113 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
16114 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
16116 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
16117 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
16118 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
16119 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
16120 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
16121 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
16122 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
16123 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
16124 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
16125 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
16126 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
16127 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
16128 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
16130 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
16131 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
16132 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
16133 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
16135 The following are valid values for that variable.
16138 @item prediction-spot
16139 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
16142 @item confidence-interval
16143 A numeric confidence interval.
16145 @item prediction-bar
16146 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
16148 @item confidence-bar
16149 Numerical confidence.
16151 @item confidence-spot
16152 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
16154 @item prediction-num
16155 Plain-old numeric value.
16157 @item confidence-plus-minus
16158 Prediction +/- confidence.
16163 @node GroupLens Variables
16164 @subsection GroupLens Variables
16168 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
16169 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
16170 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
16171 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
16174 @item grouplens-bbb-host
16175 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
16178 @item grouplens-bbb-port
16179 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
16181 @item grouplens-score-offset
16182 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
16183 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
16186 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
16187 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
16188 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
16193 @node Advanced Scoring
16194 @section Advanced Scoring
16196 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
16197 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
16198 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
16199 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
16200 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
16202 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
16206 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
16207 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
16208 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
16212 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
16213 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
16215 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
16216 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
16217 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
16218 non-@code{nil} value.
16220 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
16221 operator, and various match operators.
16228 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16229 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
16230 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
16235 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16236 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
16237 then this operator will return @code{false}.
16242 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
16243 logical negation of the value of its argument.
16247 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
16248 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
16249 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
16250 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
16251 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
16252 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
16253 the ancestry you want to go.
16255 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
16256 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
16257 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
16258 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
16259 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
16262 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
16263 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
16265 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
16266 when he's talking about Gnus:
16270 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16271 ("subject" "Gnus"))
16277 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
16281 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16288 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
16289 really don't want to read what he's written:
16293 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16294 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
16298 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
16299 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
16300 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
16307 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
16308 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
16309 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
16310 ("body" "white.*socks"))
16314 The possibilities are endless.
16317 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
16318 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
16320 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
16321 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
16322 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
16323 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
16324 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
16325 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
16326 @samp{subject}) first.
16328 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
16329 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
16340 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
16341 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
16347 ("subject" "Gnus")))
16354 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
16355 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
16360 @section Score Decays
16361 @cindex score decays
16364 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
16365 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
16366 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
16367 use them in any sensible way.
16369 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
16370 @findex gnus-decay-score
16371 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
16372 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
16373 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
16374 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
16375 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
16376 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
16377 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
16378 definition of that function:
16381 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
16383 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
16384 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
16387 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
16389 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
16391 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
16394 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
16395 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
16396 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
16397 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
16401 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
16404 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
16407 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
16411 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
16412 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
16413 the new score, which should be an integer.
16415 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
16416 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
16423 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
16424 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
16425 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
16426 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
16427 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
16428 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
16429 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
16430 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
16431 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
16432 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
16433 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
16434 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
16435 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
16436 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
16437 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
16438 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
16439 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
16440 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
16444 @node Process/Prefix
16445 @section Process/Prefix
16446 @cindex process/prefix convention
16448 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
16449 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
16451 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
16452 command to be performed on.
16456 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
16457 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
16458 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
16459 with the current one.
16461 @vindex transient-mark-mode
16462 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
16463 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
16465 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
16466 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
16469 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
16470 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
16472 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
16475 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
16476 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
16477 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
16478 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
16480 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
16481 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
16482 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
16483 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
16484 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
16485 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
16486 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
16487 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
16489 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
16490 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
16491 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
16492 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
16493 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
16497 @section Interactive
16498 @cindex interaction
16502 @item gnus-novice-user
16503 @vindex gnus-novice-user
16504 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
16505 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
16506 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
16507 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
16510 @item gnus-expert-user
16511 @vindex gnus-expert-user
16512 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
16513 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
16514 matter how strange.
16516 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
16517 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
16518 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
16519 is @code{t} by default.
16521 @item gnus-interactive-exit
16522 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
16523 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
16528 @node Symbolic Prefixes
16529 @section Symbolic Prefixes
16530 @cindex symbolic prefixes
16532 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
16533 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
16534 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
16535 rule of 900 to the current article.
16537 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
16538 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
16539 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
16540 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
16541 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
16542 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
16543 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
16545 @kindex M-i (Summary)
16546 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
16547 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
16548 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
16549 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
16550 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
16551 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
16552 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
16553 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
16555 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
16556 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
16557 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
16559 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
16563 @node Formatting Variables
16564 @section Formatting Variables
16565 @cindex formatting variables
16567 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
16568 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
16569 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
16570 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
16571 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
16574 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
16575 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
16576 lots of percentages everywhere.
16579 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
16580 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
16581 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
16582 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
16583 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
16586 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
16587 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
16588 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
16589 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
16590 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
16591 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
16592 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
16593 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
16595 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
16596 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
16598 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
16599 @findex gnus-update-format
16600 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
16601 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
16602 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
16603 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
16607 @node Formatting Basics
16608 @subsection Formatting Basics
16610 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
16611 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
16612 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
16614 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
16615 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
16616 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
16617 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
16618 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
16621 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
16622 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
16623 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
16624 less than 4 characters wide.
16627 @node Mode Line Formatting
16628 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
16630 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
16631 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
16632 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
16633 with the following two differences:
16638 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
16641 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
16642 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
16643 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
16644 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
16645 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
16646 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
16647 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
16652 @node Advanced Formatting
16653 @subsection Advanced Formatting
16655 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
16656 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
16657 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
16658 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
16660 These are the valid modifiers:
16665 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
16669 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
16674 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
16677 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
16682 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
16685 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
16688 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
16691 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
16695 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
16696 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
16697 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
16698 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
16699 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
16700 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
16701 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
16703 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
16704 last operation, padding.
16706 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
16707 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
16708 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
16709 @xref{Compilation}.
16712 @node User-Defined Specs
16713 @subsection User-Defined Specs
16715 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
16716 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
16717 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
16718 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
16719 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
16720 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
16721 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
16722 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
16723 should protect against that.
16725 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
16726 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
16727 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
16728 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
16732 @node Formatting Fonts
16733 @subsection Formatting Fonts
16735 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
16736 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
16737 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
16738 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
16741 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
16742 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
16743 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
16744 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
16745 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
16746 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
16748 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
16749 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
16750 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
16751 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
16752 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
16753 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
16754 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
16755 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
16757 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
16760 ;; Create three face types.
16761 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
16762 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
16764 ;; We want the article count to be in
16765 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
16766 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
16767 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
16769 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
16770 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
16772 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
16773 (setq gnus-group-line-format
16774 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
16777 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
16778 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
16780 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
16781 mode-line variables.
16784 @node Windows Configuration
16785 @section Windows Configuration
16786 @cindex windows configuration
16788 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
16790 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
16791 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
16792 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
16793 @code{t} by default.
16795 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
16796 glitches. Use at your own peril.
16798 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
16799 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
16800 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
16803 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
16804 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
16805 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
16809 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
16810 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
16811 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
16812 possible names is listed below.
16814 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
16815 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
16818 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
16822 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
16823 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
16824 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
16825 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
16826 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
16827 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
16828 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
16829 size spec per split.
16831 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
16832 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
16833 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
16834 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
16835 present) gets focus.
16837 Here's a more complicated example:
16840 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
16841 (summary 0.25 point)
16842 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
16846 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
16847 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
16848 occupy, not a percentage.
16850 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
16851 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
16852 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
16853 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
16854 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
16857 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
16860 (article (horizontal 1.0
16865 (summary 0.25 point)
16870 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
16871 @code{horizontal} thingie?
16873 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
16874 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
16875 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
16876 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
16877 the screen is to be given to this strip.
16879 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
16880 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
16881 lines from the splits.
16883 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
16887 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
16888 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
16889 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
16890 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
16891 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
16892 size = number | frame-params
16893 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
16896 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
16897 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
16898 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
16899 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
16901 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
16902 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
16903 @cindex window height
16904 @cindex window width
16905 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
16906 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
16907 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
16908 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
16909 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
16910 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
16912 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
16913 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
16914 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
16915 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
16917 @findex gnus-configure-frame
16918 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
16919 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
16920 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
16921 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
16922 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
16923 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
16924 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
16925 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
16926 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
16927 configuration list.
16930 (gnus-configure-frame
16934 (article 0.3 point))
16942 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
16943 @code{frame} split:
16946 (gnus-configure-frame
16949 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
16951 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
16952 (user-position . t)
16953 (left . -1) (top . 1))
16958 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
16959 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
16960 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
16961 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
16962 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
16963 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
16964 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
16965 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
16967 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
16968 be found in its default value.
16970 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
16971 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
16972 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
16976 (message (horizontal 1.0
16977 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
16979 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
16984 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
16985 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
16986 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
16989 (message (frame 1.0
16990 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
16991 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
16992 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
16993 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
16994 (name . "Message"))
16995 (message 1.0 point))))
16998 @findex gnus-add-configuration
16999 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
17000 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
17001 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
17002 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
17005 (gnus-add-configuration
17006 '(article (vertical 1.0
17008 (summary .25 point)
17012 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
17013 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
17014 Gnus has been loaded.
17016 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
17017 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
17018 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
17019 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
17020 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
17022 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
17023 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
17024 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
17028 @node Faces and Fonts
17029 @section Faces and Fonts
17034 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
17035 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
17036 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
17041 @section Compilation
17042 @cindex compilation
17043 @cindex byte-compilation
17045 @findex gnus-compile
17047 Remember all those line format specification variables?
17048 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
17049 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
17050 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
17051 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
17052 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
17055 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
17056 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
17057 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
17058 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
17059 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
17060 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
17061 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
17065 @section Mode Lines
17068 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
17069 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
17070 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
17071 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
17072 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
17073 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
17074 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
17077 @cindex display-time
17079 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
17080 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
17081 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
17082 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
17083 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
17084 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
17085 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
17086 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
17089 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
17091 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
17092 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
17094 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
17095 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
17096 (length display-time-string)))))
17099 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
17100 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
17101 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
17102 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
17103 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
17106 @node Highlighting and Menus
17107 @section Highlighting and Menus
17109 @cindex highlighting
17112 @vindex gnus-visual
17113 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
17114 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
17115 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
17118 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
17119 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
17122 @item group-highlight
17123 Do highlights in the group buffer.
17124 @item summary-highlight
17125 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
17126 @item article-highlight
17127 Do highlights in the article buffer.
17129 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
17131 Create menus in the group buffer.
17133 Create menus in the summary buffers.
17135 Create menus in the article buffer.
17137 Create menus in the browse buffer.
17139 Create menus in the server buffer.
17141 Create menus in the score buffers.
17143 Create menus in all buffers.
17146 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
17147 buffers, you could say something like:
17150 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
17153 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
17156 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
17159 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
17160 in all Gnus buffers.
17162 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
17165 @item gnus-mouse-face
17166 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
17167 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
17168 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
17172 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
17176 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
17177 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
17178 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
17180 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
17181 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
17182 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
17184 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
17185 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
17186 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
17188 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
17189 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
17190 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
17192 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
17193 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
17194 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
17196 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
17197 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
17198 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
17209 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
17210 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
17211 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
17212 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
17213 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
17217 @vindex gnus-carpal
17218 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
17219 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
17220 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
17225 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17226 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17227 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
17229 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
17230 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
17231 Face used on buttons.
17233 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
17234 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
17235 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
17237 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17238 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17239 Buttons in the group buffer.
17241 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17242 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17243 Buttons in the summary buffer.
17245 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17246 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17247 Buttons in the server buffer.
17249 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17250 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17251 Buttons in the browse buffer.
17254 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
17255 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
17256 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
17264 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
17265 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
17266 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
17267 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
17268 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
17270 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
17271 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
17272 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
17274 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
17275 been idle for thirty minutes:
17278 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
17281 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
17285 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
17288 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
17289 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
17290 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17292 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
17293 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
17294 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
17295 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17297 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
17298 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
17299 @var{idle} minutes.
17301 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
17302 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
17305 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
17306 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
17307 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
17309 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
17310 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
17311 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
17312 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
17314 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
17315 your @file{.gnus} file:
17317 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
17319 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
17322 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
17323 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
17324 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
17325 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
17326 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
17327 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
17328 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
17329 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
17330 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
17331 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
17332 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
17334 @findex gnus-demon-init
17335 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
17336 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
17337 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
17338 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
17339 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
17341 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
17342 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
17343 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
17352 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
17353 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
17355 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
17356 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
17357 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
17358 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
17361 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
17362 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
17363 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
17364 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
17366 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
17367 this will make spam disappear.
17369 There are some variables to customize, of course:
17372 @item gnus-use-nocem
17373 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
17374 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
17377 @item gnus-nocem-groups
17378 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
17379 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
17380 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
17381 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
17383 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
17384 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
17385 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
17386 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
17387 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
17388 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
17389 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
17391 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
17394 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
17395 @cindex Chris Lewis
17396 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
17397 usenet abuse than anybody else.
17400 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
17401 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
17402 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
17404 @item jem@@xpat.com;
17406 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
17409 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
17410 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
17411 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
17414 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
17415 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
17416 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
17417 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
17418 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
17419 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
17420 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
17421 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
17422 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
17423 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
17425 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
17426 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
17429 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
17432 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
17433 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
17436 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
17439 The specs are applied left-to-right.
17442 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
17443 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
17445 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
17446 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
17447 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
17448 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
17450 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
17451 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
17454 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
17456 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
17464 This might be dangerous, though.
17466 @item gnus-nocem-directory
17467 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
17468 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
17469 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
17471 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
17472 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
17473 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
17474 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
17475 might then see old spam.
17479 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
17480 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
17481 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
17482 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
17489 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
17490 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
17491 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
17493 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
17494 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
17495 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
17496 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
17497 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
17498 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
17499 @code{undo} function.
17501 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
17502 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
17503 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
17504 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
17505 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
17506 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
17507 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
17508 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
17509 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
17510 never be totally undoable.
17512 @findex gnus-undo-mode
17513 @vindex gnus-use-undo
17515 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
17516 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
17517 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
17518 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
17523 @section Moderation
17526 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
17527 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
17528 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
17531 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
17535 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
17538 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
17540 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
17545 You split your incoming mail by matching on
17546 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
17547 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
17550 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
17551 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
17554 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
17555 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
17559 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
17562 (setq gnus-moderated-list
17563 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
17567 @node XEmacs Enhancements
17568 @section XEmacs Enhancements
17571 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
17575 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
17576 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
17577 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
17578 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
17591 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
17592 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
17593 over your shoulder as you read news.
17596 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
17597 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
17598 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
17599 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
17600 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
17605 @subsubsection Picon Basics
17607 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
17616 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
17617 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
17618 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
17619 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
17620 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
17621 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
17622 @code{GIF} formats.
17625 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
17626 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
17627 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
17628 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
17629 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
17631 @vindex gnus-picons-database
17632 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
17633 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
17634 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
17635 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
17636 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
17639 @node Picon Requirements
17640 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
17642 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
17643 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
17646 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
17647 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
17648 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
17650 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
17651 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
17652 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
17653 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
17654 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
17658 @subsubsection Easy Picons
17660 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
17661 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
17664 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
17665 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
17668 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
17669 containing the Picons databases.
17671 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
17674 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
17675 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
17680 @subsubsection Hard Picons
17688 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
17689 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
17690 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
17691 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
17692 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
17697 @item gnus-picons-database
17698 @vindex gnus-picons-database
17699 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
17700 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
17701 subdirectories. This is only useful if
17702 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
17703 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
17705 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
17706 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
17707 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
17708 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
17709 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
17710 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
17711 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
17713 @item gnus-picons-display-where
17714 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
17715 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
17716 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
17717 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
17718 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
17719 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
17720 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
17722 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
17723 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
17724 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
17729 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
17730 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
17732 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
17733 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
17736 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
17738 @item gnus-article-display-picons
17739 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
17740 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
17741 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
17743 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
17744 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
17745 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
17751 @node Picon Useless Configuration
17752 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
17760 The following variables offer further control over how things are
17761 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
17762 don't need to worry about.
17766 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
17767 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
17768 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
17769 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
17771 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
17772 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
17773 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
17774 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
17776 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
17777 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
17778 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
17779 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
17780 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
17782 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
17783 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
17784 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
17785 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
17786 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
17787 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
17788 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
17790 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
17791 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
17792 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
17793 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
17795 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
17796 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
17797 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
17798 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
17799 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
17800 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
17801 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
17803 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
17804 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
17805 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
17806 Defaults to @code{nil}.
17808 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
17809 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
17810 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
17811 Defaults to @code{t}.
17813 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
17814 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
17815 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
17816 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
17818 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
17819 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
17820 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
17822 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
17823 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
17824 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
17825 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
17827 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
17828 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the defailt.
17830 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
17831 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
17832 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
17833 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
17834 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
17835 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
17836 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
17837 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
17848 @subsection Smileys
17853 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
17858 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
17859 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
17861 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
17862 @file{.gnus.el} file:
17865 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
17868 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
17869 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
17870 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
17871 text and maps that to file names.
17873 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
17874 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
17875 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
17876 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
17877 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
17878 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
17880 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
17881 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
17883 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
17884 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
17885 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
17887 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
17888 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
17892 @item smiley-data-directory
17893 @vindex smiley-data-directory
17894 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
17896 @item smiley-flesh-color
17897 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
17898 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
17900 @item smiley-features-color
17901 @vindex smiley-features-color
17902 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
17904 @item smiley-tongue-color
17905 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
17906 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
17908 @item smiley-circle-color
17909 @vindex smiley-circle-color
17910 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
17912 @item smiley-mouse-face
17913 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
17914 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
17920 @subsection Toolbar
17930 @item gnus-use-toolbar
17931 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
17932 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
17933 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
17934 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
17936 @item gnus-group-toolbar
17937 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
17938 The toolbar in the group buffer.
17940 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
17941 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
17942 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
17944 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
17945 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
17946 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
17952 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
17955 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
17956 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
17957 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
17958 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
17959 unusual directory structure.
17961 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
17962 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
17963 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
17964 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
17966 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
17967 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
17968 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
17969 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
17970 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
17971 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
17973 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
17974 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
17975 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
17989 @node Fuzzy Matching
17990 @section Fuzzy Matching
17991 @cindex fuzzy matching
17993 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
17994 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
17996 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
17997 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
17998 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
18000 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
18001 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
18002 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
18003 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
18004 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
18007 @node Thwarting Email Spam
18008 @section Thwarting Email Spam
18012 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
18014 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
18015 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
18016 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
18017 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
18018 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
18019 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
18020 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
18021 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
18024 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
18025 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
18026 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
18027 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
18028 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
18029 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
18033 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
18034 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
18036 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
18037 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
18038 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
18039 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
18040 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
18041 part of the mail address.)
18044 (setq message-default-news-headers
18045 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
18048 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
18049 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
18054 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
18055 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
18056 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
18062 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
18063 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
18064 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
18065 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
18067 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
18068 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
18069 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
18070 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
18071 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
18072 your fancy split rule in this way:
18077 (to "larsi" "misc")
18081 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
18082 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
18083 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
18084 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
18085 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
18087 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
18088 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
18089 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
18090 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
18091 cosmic balance somewhat.
18093 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
18094 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
18095 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
18096 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
18099 @node Various Various
18100 @section Various Various
18106 @item gnus-home-directory
18107 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
18108 defaults to @file{~/}.
18110 @item gnus-directory
18111 @vindex gnus-directory
18112 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
18113 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
18114 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
18116 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
18117 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
18118 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
18119 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
18121 @item gnus-default-directory
18122 @vindex gnus-default-directory
18123 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
18124 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
18125 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
18126 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
18127 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
18128 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
18131 @vindex gnus-verbose
18132 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
18133 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
18134 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
18135 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
18136 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
18138 @item gnus-verbose-backends
18139 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
18140 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
18141 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
18143 @item nnheader-max-head-length
18144 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
18145 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
18146 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
18147 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
18148 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
18149 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
18150 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
18151 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
18152 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
18154 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
18155 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
18156 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
18157 read when doing the operation described above.
18159 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18160 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18162 @cindex invalid characters in file names
18163 @cindex characters in file names
18164 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
18165 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
18166 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
18169 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18173 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
18174 Windows (phooey) systems.
18176 @item gnus-hidden-properties
18177 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
18178 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
18179 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
18180 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
18182 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
18183 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
18184 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
18185 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
18186 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
18188 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
18189 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
18190 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
18199 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
18200 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
18202 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
18204 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
18210 Not because of victories @*
18213 but for the common sunshine,@*
18215 the largess of the spring.
18219 but for the day's work done@*
18220 as well as I was able;@*
18221 not for a seat upon the dais@*
18222 but at the common table.@*
18227 @chapter Appendices
18230 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
18231 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
18232 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
18233 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
18234 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
18235 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
18236 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
18237 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
18245 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
18246 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
18248 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
18249 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
18250 @file{http://quimby.gnus.org/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
18251 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
18252 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
18254 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
18255 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
18256 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
18257 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
18258 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
18259 appropriate name, don't you think?)
18261 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
18262 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
18263 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
18264 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
18267 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
18268 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
18269 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
18270 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
18271 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
18272 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
18273 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
18274 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
18275 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
18276 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
18280 @node Gnus Versions
18281 @subsection Gnus Versions
18282 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
18284 @cindex September Gnus
18285 @cindex Quassia Gnus
18287 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
18288 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
18289 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
18291 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
18292 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
18294 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
18295 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
18297 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
18298 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
18300 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
18301 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
18304 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
18305 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
18306 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
18307 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
18308 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
18312 @node Other Gnus Versions
18313 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
18316 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
18317 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
18318 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
18319 @sc{mime} capabilities.
18321 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
18322 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
18323 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
18324 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
18331 What's the point of Gnus?
18333 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
18334 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
18335 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
18336 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
18337 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
18338 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
18339 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
18340 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
18341 keep track of millions of people who post?
18343 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
18344 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
18345 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
18346 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
18347 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
18348 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
18349 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
18350 every one of you to explore and invent.
18352 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
18353 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
18356 @node Compatibility
18357 @subsection Compatibility
18359 @cindex compatibility
18360 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
18361 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
18362 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
18367 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
18371 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
18374 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
18377 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
18378 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
18379 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
18380 important variables have their values copied into their global
18381 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
18382 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
18384 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
18385 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
18386 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
18387 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
18388 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
18392 @cindex highlighting
18393 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
18394 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
18395 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
18396 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
18397 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
18398 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
18401 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
18402 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
18403 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
18404 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
18406 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
18407 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
18408 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
18409 to stop doing it the old way.
18411 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
18413 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
18415 @cindex reporting bugs
18417 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
18418 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
18419 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
18421 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
18422 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
18423 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
18424 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
18429 @subsection Conformity
18431 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
18432 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
18439 There are no known breaches of this standard.
18443 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
18445 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
18446 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
18447 We do have some breaches to this one.
18453 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
18454 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
18455 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
18456 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
18457 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
18462 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
18463 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
18464 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
18465 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
18469 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
18470 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
18475 @subsection Emacsen
18481 Gnus should work on :
18489 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
18493 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
18494 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
18497 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
18498 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
18499 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
18503 @node Gnus Development
18504 @subsection Gnus Development
18506 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
18507 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
18508 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
18509 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
18510 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
18511 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
18512 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
18513 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
18515 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
18516 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
18517 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
18518 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
18519 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
18522 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
18523 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
18524 In particular, @code{nnmail-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
18525 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
18526 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
18528 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
18529 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
18530 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
18531 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
18532 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
18533 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
18534 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
18535 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
18536 usually keep up with these rapid changes, whille people on the newsgroup
18537 can't be assumed to do so.
18542 @subsection Contributors
18543 @cindex contributors
18545 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
18546 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
18547 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
18548 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
18549 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
18550 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
18551 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
18552 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
18553 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
18554 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
18556 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
18562 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
18565 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
18566 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
18567 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
18568 functionality and stuff.
18571 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
18572 well as numerous other things).
18575 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
18578 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
18581 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
18584 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
18585 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
18588 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
18591 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
18592 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
18595 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
18598 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
18601 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
18604 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
18607 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
18608 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
18611 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
18614 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
18617 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
18620 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
18624 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
18627 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
18630 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
18633 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
18634 well as autoconf support.
18638 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
18639 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
18641 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
18650 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
18654 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
18664 Alexei V. Barantsev,
18679 Massimo Campostrini,
18684 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
18685 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
18689 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
18692 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
18698 Michael Welsh Duggan,
18703 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
18707 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
18715 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
18717 Michelangelo Grigni,
18721 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
18723 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
18725 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
18732 François Felix Ingrand,
18733 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
18734 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
18736 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
18747 Peter Skov Knudsen,
18748 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
18750 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
18751 Thor Kristoffersen,
18754 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
18772 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
18773 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
18780 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
18785 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
18789 John McClary Prevost,
18795 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
18800 Christian von Roques,
18803 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
18810 Philippe Schnoebelen,
18812 Randal L. Schwartz,
18826 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
18831 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
18847 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
18852 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
18853 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
18854 (550kB and counting).
18856 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
18859 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
18860 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
18864 @subsection New Features
18865 @cindex new features
18868 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
18869 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
18870 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
18871 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
18874 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
18875 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
18876 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
18880 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
18882 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
18887 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
18888 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
18891 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
18892 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
18895 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
18898 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
18899 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
18900 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
18903 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
18904 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
18905 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
18906 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
18909 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
18910 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
18913 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
18914 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
18915 (@pxref{The Active File}).
18918 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
18919 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
18922 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
18923 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
18924 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
18927 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
18928 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
18929 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
18932 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
18933 the @file{.emacs} file.
18936 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
18937 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18940 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
18941 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
18944 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
18945 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
18948 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
18949 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
18952 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
18953 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
18956 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
18959 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
18960 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
18963 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
18964 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
18967 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
18968 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
18971 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
18974 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
18975 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
18978 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
18982 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
18986 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
18987 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
18990 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
18996 @node September Gnus
18997 @subsubsection September Gnus
19001 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
19005 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
19010 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
19011 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
19015 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
19016 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
19020 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
19024 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
19025 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
19028 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
19032 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19035 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
19038 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
19041 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
19045 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
19046 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
19049 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
19053 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
19057 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
19061 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
19065 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
19068 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
19069 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
19072 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
19076 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
19077 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
19080 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
19083 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
19084 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
19085 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19088 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
19092 The Gnus cache is much faster.
19095 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
19099 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
19100 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19103 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
19104 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
19107 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
19108 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19111 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
19112 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
19113 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
19116 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
19117 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
19120 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
19123 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19126 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
19129 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
19132 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
19133 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
19136 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
19140 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
19143 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
19148 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
19151 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
19155 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19158 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
19162 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
19165 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
19168 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
19169 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19172 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
19173 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
19177 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
19178 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
19181 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
19185 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
19186 buffer to allow easier treatment.
19189 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
19192 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
19196 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
19200 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
19201 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
19204 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
19208 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
19209 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19212 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
19213 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19216 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
19220 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19223 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
19226 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
19232 @subsubsection Red Gnus
19234 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
19238 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
19245 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
19248 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
19249 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19252 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
19253 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
19257 Article washing status can be displayed in the
19258 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
19261 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
19264 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
19265 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
19268 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
19272 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
19273 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
19277 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
19278 Server Internals}).
19281 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
19285 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
19288 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
19289 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
19292 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
19293 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
19294 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
19297 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
19298 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
19301 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
19302 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
19305 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
19309 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
19310 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19313 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
19314 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19317 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
19321 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
19324 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
19328 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
19329 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19332 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
19333 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
19336 A new command for reading collections of documents
19337 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
19338 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
19341 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
19345 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
19346 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
19349 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
19350 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
19351 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
19354 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
19355 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
19359 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
19363 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
19367 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
19372 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
19376 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
19380 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
19381 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
19384 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
19390 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
19392 New features in Gnus 5.6:
19397 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
19398 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
19399 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
19402 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
19403 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
19404 group, which is created automatically.
19407 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
19411 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
19414 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
19415 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
19418 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
19422 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
19425 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
19426 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
19429 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
19432 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
19433 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
19436 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
19437 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
19440 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
19441 control over simplification.
19444 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
19447 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
19451 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
19454 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
19457 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
19458 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
19459 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
19462 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
19463 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
19466 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
19470 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
19471 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
19474 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
19475 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
19478 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
19482 A history of where mails have been split is available.
19485 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
19488 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
19489 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
19492 A new function for citing in Message has been
19493 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
19496 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
19499 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
19503 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
19504 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
19507 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
19508 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
19511 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
19514 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
19519 @node Newest Features
19520 @subsection Newest Features
19523 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
19526 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
19528 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
19529 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
19532 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
19537 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
19538 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
19541 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
19544 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
19547 facep is not declared.
19550 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
19551 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
19554 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
19559 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
19560 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
19561 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
19562 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
19563 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
19564 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
19565 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
19570 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
19573 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
19576 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
19578 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
19579 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
19581 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
19583 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
19585 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
19586 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
19588 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
19590 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
19591 be marked as unread.
19593 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
19595 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
19597 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
19598 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
19600 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
19602 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
19604 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
19605 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
19607 topics that contain just groups with ticked
19608 articles aren't displayed.
19610 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
19612 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
19613 make the mail groups killed.
19615 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
19617 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
19618 and articles have to be removed.
19620 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
19623 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
19625 finding short score file names takes forever.
19627 canceling articles in foreign groups.
19629 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
19631 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
19633 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
19635 nnweb doesn't work properly.
19637 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
19639 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
19640 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
19644 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
19646 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
19647 bar and the Gnus bar.
19650 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
19651 `(canonize-message-id id)'
19652 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
19653 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
19654 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
19655 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
19660 nnml .overview directory with splits.
19664 postponed commands.
19666 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
19668 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
19671 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
19672 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
19674 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
19675 inherit copy prompts and save files.
19677 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
19679 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
19680 for backends that support that.
19682 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
19684 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
19685 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
19687 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
19688 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
19690 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
19692 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
19694 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
19696 server mode command: close/open all connections
19698 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
19699 has been changed before using it.
19701 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
19703 hide (sub)threads with low score.
19705 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
19707 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
19709 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
19710 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
19712 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
19713 contain groups that match a regexp.
19715 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
19718 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
19721 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
19722 from subject lines.
19724 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
19726 nntp-ping-before-connect
19728 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
19730 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
19731 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
19733 message annotations.
19735 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
19737 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
19738 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
19740 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
19745 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
19747 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
19749 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
19751 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
19752 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
19754 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
19756 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
19758 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
19759 finds and generate proper active ranges.
19761 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
19762 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
19764 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
19766 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
19768 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
19769 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
19771 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
19773 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
19775 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
19776 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
19779 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
19781 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
19783 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
19784 `C-c C-c' when posting.
19786 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
19789 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
19790 should be marker as expirable.
19792 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
19794 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
19795 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
19797 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
19798 Also consult Date headers.
19800 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
19802 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
19804 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
19805 Message-ID, delete the "original".
19807 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
19808 into a See-Also header.
19810 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
19812 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
19814 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
19815 should be listed as such and not as "K".
19817 generate font names dynamically.
19819 score file mode auto-alist.
19821 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
19822 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
19824 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
19825 absolutely all headers there is.
19827 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
19828 and pipe them to the process.
19830 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
19831 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
19832 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
19834 function for starting to edit a file to put into
19835 the current mail group.
19837 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
19839 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
19840 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
19842 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
19843 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
19845 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
19847 when replying to several process-marked articles,
19848 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
19850 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
19851 groups it has been mailed to.
19853 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
19855 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
19857 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
19859 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
19860 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
19862 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
19863 newlines) should be ignored.
19865 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
19866 groups in subtopics as well.
19868 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
19870 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
19873 add edit and forward secondary marks.
19875 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
19877 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
19879 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
19881 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
19883 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
19885 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
19886 or the formatted article.
19888 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
19890 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
19891 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
19893 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
19895 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
19897 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
19899 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
19900 even unread articles.
19902 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
19904 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
19906 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
19908 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
19910 canceling articles in foreign groups.
19912 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
19915 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
19916 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
19918 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
19919 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
19921 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
19923 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
19925 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
19926 from a particular server? Hm.
19928 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
19929 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
19931 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
19933 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
19934 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
19936 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
19937 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
19939 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
19940 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
19941 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
19944 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
19945 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
19947 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
19949 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
19951 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
19953 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
19956 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
19959 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
19960 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
19962 command to show and edit group scores
19964 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
19967 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
19969 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
19971 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
19972 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
19975 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
19976 that are of that length.
19978 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
19980 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
19982 asynchronous posting under nntp.
19984 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
19986 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
19988 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
19990 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
19991 a score lower than this number.
19993 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
19995 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
19997 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
19998 so that each copy can be edited separately.
20000 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
20002 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
20003 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
20005 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
20008 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
20009 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
20010 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
20011 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
20013 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
20016 command to remove all topic stuff.
20018 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
20019 and splitting the resulting digests.
20021 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
20023 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
20025 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
20026 matches an alist -- before saving.
20028 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
20030 variable to activate each group before entering them
20031 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
20033 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
20034 starting Gnus first if necessary.
20036 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
20037 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
20039 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
20041 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
20042 of several groups at once.
20044 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
20045 matches some regexp(s).
20047 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
20049 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
20051 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
20053 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
20055 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
20057 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
20059 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
20061 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
20062 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
20063 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
20064 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
20066 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
20067 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
20069 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
20071 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
20072 recently cited text.
20074 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
20076 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
20079 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
20080 server and just read the articles in the server
20082 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
20083 value of nnoo variables.
20085 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
20087 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
20088 listed in each group info.
20090 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
20093 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
20094 should only be applied to some groups.
20096 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
20097 mail-copies-to: never.
20099 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
20100 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
20102 the slave dribble files should auto-save to the slave file names.
20104 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
20107 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
20110 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
20112 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
20115 group user-defined meta-parameters.
20119 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
20121 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
20122 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
20123 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
20124 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
20125 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
20127 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
20128 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
20135 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
20136 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
20138 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
20139 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
20141 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
20142 "Return the date the group was last read."
20143 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
20148 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
20149 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
20150 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
20151 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
20155 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
20156 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
20158 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
20161 They could be used like this:
20165 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
20166 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
20167 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
20169 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
20171 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
20174 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
20177 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
20178 affect the summary line format.
20182 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
20184 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
20185 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
20187 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
20190 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
20192 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
20194 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
20196 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
20198 - For other files, just find them normally.
20200 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
20201 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
20204 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
20205 tell him what you are doing.
20208 Currently, I get prompted:
20212 decend into sci.something ?
20216 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
20217 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
20218 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
20219 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
20222 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
20223 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
20224 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
20225 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
20228 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
20229 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
20235 more than n blank lines
20237 more than m identical lines
20238 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
20240 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
20244 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
20245 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
20246 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
20247 "same" subject for threading purposes.
20250 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
20251 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
20252 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
20253 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
20256 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
20259 soup - bowl of soup
20260 score below - dim light bulb
20261 score over - bright light bulb
20264 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
20269 show-list-of-articles-in-group
20270 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
20271 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
20272 if (articles-selected)
20273 start-reading-selected-articles;
20274 junk-unread-articles;
20279 else if (key-pressed = '.')
20280 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
20281 select-thread-under-cursor;
20283 select-article-under-cursor;
20287 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
20288 if (more-pages-in-article)
20290 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
20297 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
20298 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
20299 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
20302 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
20303 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
20304 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
20305 the wildcard expression).
20308 It would be nice if it also handled
20310 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
20312 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
20317 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
20318 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
20319 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
20320 article versions) variable.
20322 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
20324 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
20325 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
20329 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
20332 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
20333 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
20334 (message-sent-hook).
20336 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
20339 * Enhancements to Gnus:
20343 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
20344 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
20347 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
20348 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
20349 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
20352 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
20353 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
20357 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
20360 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
20364 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
20365 the nnmail duplicate checking.
20368 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
20369 value of the signature file.
20372 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
20373 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
20376 (setq message-tab-alist
20377 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
20378 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
20380 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
20384 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
20387 a command to import a buffer into a group.
20390 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
20393 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
20394 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
20397 a command to process mark all unread articles.
20400 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
20401 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
20402 do more gathering by subject.
20405 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
20406 article numerical order.
20409 (gnus-thread-total-score
20410 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
20414 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
20417 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
20418 in the summary buffer.
20421 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
20422 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
20425 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
20426 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
20427 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
20428 and/or newsgroup name.
20431 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
20434 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
20437 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
20440 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
20441 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
20442 will automatically get the process mark.
20445 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
20446 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
20447 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
20450 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
20454 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
20455 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
20458 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
20459 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
20463 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
20464 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
20467 be able to post via DejaNews.
20470 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
20473 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
20474 allow them to be displayed separately.
20477 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
20478 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
20481 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
20482 articles that match a certain From header.
20485 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
20486 saving living summary buffers.
20489 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
20490 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
20493 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
20494 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
20497 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
20498 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
20501 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
20502 (goto-char (point-min))
20503 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
20504 (replace-match "`" t t))
20505 (goto-char (point-min))
20506 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
20507 (replace-match "'" t t))
20508 (goto-char (point-min))
20509 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
20510 (replace-match "\"" t t))
20511 (goto-char (point-min))
20512 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
20513 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
20518 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
20520 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
20521 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
20522 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
20523 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
20527 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
20530 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
20531 numbers and match on the age of the article.
20535 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
20536 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
20537 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
20539 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
20540 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
20542 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
20543 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
20548 all commands that react to the process mark should push
20549 the current process mark set onto the stack.
20552 gnus-article-hide-pgp
20553 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
20555 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
20557 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
20558 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
20561 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
20562 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
20565 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
20569 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
20570 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
20573 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
20576 nndraft-request-group should tally auto-save files.
20579 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
20582 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
20586 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
20592 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
20595 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
20599 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
20600 X characters in the body.
20603 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
20606 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
20609 format spec to "tab" to a position.
20612 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
20615 command to display all dormant articles.
20618 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
20621 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
20622 to something someone else has said.
20625 Read Netscape discussion groups:
20626 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
20629 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
20630 the displayed version.
20633 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
20637 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
20640 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
20641 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
20642 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
20646 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
20647 in the head or body.
20650 Allow breaking lengthy @sc{nntp} commands.
20653 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
20656 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
20657 in a special, unique buffer.
20660 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
20663 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
20664 is less than a certain number of days old.
20667 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
20670 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
20673 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
20674 file, for instance.
20677 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
20678 in any other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the
20679 dummy root instead of the first article.
20682 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
20683 topics for displaying.
20686 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
20687 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
20690 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
20693 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
20694 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
20695 summary buffer for each article.
20698 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
20701 Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
20705 Introduce nnmail-home-directory.
20708 gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user
20712 The jingle is only played on the second invocation of Gnus.
20715 Bouncing articles should do MIME.
20718 Crossposted articles should "inherit" the % or @ mark from the other
20719 groups it has been crossposted to, or something. (Agent.)
20722 If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
20723 you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.
20726 A spec for the group line format to display the number of
20727 agent-downloaded articles in the group.
20730 Some nntp servers never respond when posting, so there should be a
20731 timeout for all commands.
20734 When stading on a topic line and `t'-ing, point goes to the last line.
20735 It should go somewhere else.
20738 I'm having trouble accessing a newsgroup with a "+" in its name with
20739 Gnus. There is a new newsgroup on msnews.microsoft.com named
20740 "microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time" that I'm trying to
20742 "nntp+msnews.microsoft.com:microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time"
20743 but it gives an error that it cant access the group.
20745 Is the "+" character illegal in newsgroup names? Is there any way in
20746 Gnus to work around this? (gnus 5.6.45 - XEmacs 20.4)
20753 Subject: Answer to your mails 01.01.1999-01.05.1999
20754 --text follows this line--
20755 Sorry I killfiled you...
20757 Under the subject "foo", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
20759 Under the subject "foo1", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
20764 Allow "orphan" scores in the Agent scoring.
20768 - Edit article's summary line.
20770 - Sort lines in buffer by subject
20772 --> the old subject line appears in Summary buffer, not the one that was
20778 Remove list identifiers from the subject in the summary when doing `^'
20782 Have the Agent write out articles, one by one, as it retrieves them,
20783 to avoid having to re-fetch them all if Emacs should crash while
20787 Be able to forward groups of messages as MIME digests.
20790 nnweb should include the "get whole article" article when getting articles.
20793 When I type W W c (gnus-article-hide-citation) in the summary
20794 buffer, the citations are revealed, but the [+] buttons don't turn
20795 into [-] buttons. (If I click on one of the [+] buttons, it does
20796 turn into a [-] button.)
20799 Perhaps there should be a command to "attach" a buffer of comments to
20800 a message? That is, `B WHATEVER', you're popped into a buffer, write
20801 something, end with `C-c C-c', and then the thing you've written gets
20802 to be the child of the message you're commenting.
20805 Handle external-body parts.
20808 Solve the halting problem.
20817 @section The Manual
20821 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
20822 either @code{texi2dvi}
20824 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
20825 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
20827 to get what you hold in your hands now.
20829 The following conventions have been used:
20834 This is a @samp{string}
20837 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
20840 This is a @file{file}
20843 This is a @code{symbol}
20847 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
20851 (setq flargnoze "yes")
20854 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
20857 (setq flumphel 'yes)
20860 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
20861 ever get them confused.
20865 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
20866 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
20867 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
20868 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
20869 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
20870 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
20871 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
20877 @node On Writing Manuals
20878 @section On Writing Manuals
20880 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
20881 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
20882 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
20883 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
20884 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
20885 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
20888 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
20889 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
20890 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
20893 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
20894 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
20899 @section Terminology
20901 @cindex terminology
20906 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
20907 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
20908 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
20909 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
20910 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
20914 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
20915 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
20916 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
20917 not posting, and replying is not following up.
20921 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
20925 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
20930 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
20931 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
20932 is all done by the backends.
20936 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
20937 default, way of getting news.
20941 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
20942 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
20947 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
20948 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
20952 A message that has been posted as news.
20955 @cindex mail message
20956 A message that has been mailed.
20960 A mail message or news article
20964 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
20969 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
20974 A line from the head of an article.
20978 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
20979 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
20983 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
20984 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
20985 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
20986 normal @sc{head} format.
20990 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
20991 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
20992 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
20993 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
20994 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
20995 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
20997 @item killed groups
20998 @cindex killed groups
20999 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
21000 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
21002 @item zombie groups
21003 @cindex zombie groups
21004 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
21007 @cindex active file
21008 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
21009 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
21010 is rather large, as you might surmise.
21013 @cindex bogus groups
21014 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
21015 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
21016 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
21019 @cindex activating groups
21020 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
21021 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
21022 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
21026 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
21028 @item select method
21029 @cindex select method
21030 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
21033 @item virtual server
21034 @cindex virtual server
21035 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
21036 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
21037 whole is a virtual server.
21041 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
21042 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
21045 @item ephemeral groups
21046 @cindex ephemeral groups
21047 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
21048 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
21049 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
21052 @cindex solid groups
21053 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
21054 group buffer are solid groups.
21056 @item sparse articles
21057 @cindex sparse articles
21058 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
21059 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
21063 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
21064 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
21068 @cindex thread root
21069 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
21070 articles in the thread.
21074 An article that has responses.
21078 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
21082 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
21083 specified by RFC 1153.
21089 @node Customization
21090 @section Customization
21091 @cindex general customization
21093 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
21094 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
21095 for some quite common situations.
21098 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
21099 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
21100 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
21101 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
21105 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
21106 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
21108 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
21109 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
21110 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
21114 @item gnus-read-active-file
21115 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
21116 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
21117 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
21118 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
21119 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
21121 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
21122 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
21123 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
21124 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
21128 @node Slow Terminal Connection
21129 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
21131 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
21132 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
21133 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
21137 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
21138 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
21139 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
21140 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
21141 horizontal and vertical recentering.
21143 @item gnus-visible-headers
21144 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
21145 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
21146 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
21147 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
21149 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
21151 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
21152 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
21153 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
21156 @item gnus-use-full-window
21157 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
21158 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
21159 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
21160 want to read them anyway.
21162 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
21163 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
21166 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
21167 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
21168 lines, which might save some time.
21172 @node Little Disk Space
21173 @subsection Little Disk Space
21176 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
21177 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
21181 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
21182 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
21183 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
21184 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
21187 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
21188 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
21189 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
21190 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
21193 @item gnus-save-killed-list
21194 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
21195 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
21196 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
21197 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
21203 @subsection Slow Machine
21204 @cindex slow machine
21206 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
21207 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
21209 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
21210 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
21212 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
21213 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
21214 summary buffer faster.
21218 @node Troubleshooting
21219 @section Troubleshooting
21220 @cindex troubleshooting
21222 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
21230 Make sure your computer is switched on.
21233 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
21234 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
21238 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
21239 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
21240 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
21241 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
21244 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
21248 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
21249 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
21250 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
21251 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
21252 something like that.
21255 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
21258 @cindex reporting bugs
21260 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
21262 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
21263 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
21264 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
21265 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
21267 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
21268 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
21269 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
21270 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
21273 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
21274 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
21275 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
21276 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
21277 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
21278 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
21280 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
21281 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
21282 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
21285 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
21286 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
21288 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
21289 @cindex ding mailing list
21290 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
21291 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
21295 @node Gnus Reference Guide
21296 @section Gnus Reference Guide
21298 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
21299 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
21300 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
21301 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
21304 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
21305 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
21306 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
21307 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
21308 and general methods of operation.
21311 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
21312 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
21313 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
21314 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
21315 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
21316 * Group Info:: The group info format.
21317 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
21318 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
21319 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
21323 @node Gnus Utility Functions
21324 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
21325 @cindex Gnus utility functions
21326 @cindex utility functions
21328 @cindex internal variables
21330 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
21331 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
21332 Below is a list of the most common ones.
21336 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
21337 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
21338 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
21340 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
21341 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
21342 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
21344 @item gnus-group-real-name
21345 @findex gnus-group-real-name
21346 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
21349 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
21350 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
21351 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
21352 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
21354 @item gnus-get-info
21355 @findex gnus-get-info
21356 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
21358 @item gnus-group-unread
21359 @findex gnus-group-unread
21360 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
21364 @findex gnus-active
21365 The active entry for @var{group}.
21367 @item gnus-set-active
21368 @findex gnus-set-active
21369 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
21371 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21372 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
21373 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
21376 @item gnus-continuum-version
21377 @findex gnus-continuum-version
21378 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
21379 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
21382 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
21383 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
21384 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
21386 @item gnus-news-group-p
21387 @findex gnus-news-group-p
21388 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
21390 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21391 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
21392 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
21394 @item gnus-server-to-method
21395 @findex gnus-server-to-method
21396 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
21398 @item gnus-server-equal
21399 @findex gnus-server-equal
21400 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
21402 @item gnus-group-native-p
21403 @findex gnus-group-native-p
21404 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
21406 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
21407 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
21408 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
21410 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
21411 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
21412 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
21414 @item group-group-find-parameter
21415 @findex group-group-find-parameter
21416 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
21417 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
21419 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
21420 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
21421 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
21423 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
21424 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
21425 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
21427 @item gnus-check-backend-function
21428 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
21429 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
21430 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
21433 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
21437 @item gnus-read-method
21438 @findex gnus-read-method
21439 Prompts the user for a select method.
21444 @node Backend Interface
21445 @subsection Backend Interface
21447 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
21448 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
21449 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
21450 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
21451 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
21452 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
21454 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
21455 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
21456 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
21457 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
21458 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
21459 been opened, the function should fail.
21461 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
21462 name. Take this example:
21466 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
21467 (nntp-port-number 4324))
21470 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
21471 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
21473 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
21474 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
21475 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
21477 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
21478 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
21479 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
21481 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
21482 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
21483 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
21484 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
21485 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
21486 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
21489 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
21490 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
21491 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
21492 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
21495 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
21498 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
21501 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
21502 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
21503 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
21504 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
21505 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
21506 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
21510 @node Required Backend Functions
21511 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
21515 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
21517 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
21518 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
21519 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
21520 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
21522 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
21523 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
21524 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
21525 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
21527 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
21528 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
21529 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
21530 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
21531 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
21532 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
21533 number, do maximum fetches.
21535 Here's an example HEAD:
21538 221 1056 Article retrieved.
21539 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
21540 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
21541 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
21542 Subject: Re: Something very droll
21543 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
21544 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
21546 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
21547 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
21548 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
21552 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
21553 these in the data buffer.
21555 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21559 head = error / valid-head
21560 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21561 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21562 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21563 header = <text> eol
21566 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21567 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21571 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21572 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21573 field = <text except TAB>
21576 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21580 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21582 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21583 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21585 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21586 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
21587 server. In fact, it should do so.
21589 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
21590 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
21593 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
21595 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
21596 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
21599 There should be no data returned.
21602 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
21604 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
21605 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
21606 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
21607 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
21609 There should be no data returned.
21612 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
21614 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
21615 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
21616 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
21617 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
21619 There should be no data returned.
21622 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
21624 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
21626 There should be no data returned.
21629 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
21631 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
21632 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
21633 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
21634 it would be nice if that were possible.
21636 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
21637 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
21638 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
21639 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
21640 into its article buffer.
21642 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
21643 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
21644 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
21645 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
21646 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
21647 on successful article retrieval.
21650 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
21652 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
21653 making @var{group} the current group.
21655 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
21658 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
21661 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
21664 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
21665 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
21666 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
21667 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
21668 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
21669 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
21670 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
21671 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
21674 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
21675 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
21676 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
21680 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21682 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
21683 a no-op on most backends.
21685 There should be no data returned.
21688 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
21690 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
21693 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
21696 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
21697 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
21700 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
21701 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
21704 active-file = *active-line
21705 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
21707 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
21710 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
21711 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
21712 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
21715 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
21717 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
21718 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
21719 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
21720 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
21721 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
21722 clear if the posting could not be completed.
21724 There should be no result data from this function.
21729 @node Optional Backend Functions
21730 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
21734 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
21736 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
21737 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
21738 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
21740 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
21741 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
21742 former is in the same format as the data from
21743 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
21744 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
21747 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
21751 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
21753 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
21754 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
21755 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
21756 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
21757 should return the (altered) group info.
21759 There should be no result data from this function.
21762 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
21764 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
21765 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
21766 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
21767 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
21768 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
21769 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
21770 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
21771 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
21773 There should be no result data from this function.
21776 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
21778 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
21779 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
21780 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
21781 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
21782 propagate the mark information to the server.
21784 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
21787 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
21790 Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. Action is
21791 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
21792 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
21793 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
21794 mentioned) marks. Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is a symbol.
21795 Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
21796 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
21797 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
21798 not limit itself to these.
21800 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
21801 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
21802 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
21803 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
21805 An example action list:
21808 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
21809 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
21810 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
21813 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
21814 mark on (currently not used for anything).
21816 There should be no result data from this function.
21818 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
21820 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
21821 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
21822 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
21823 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
21824 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
21826 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
21827 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
21828 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
21831 There should be no result data from this function.
21834 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
21836 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
21837 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
21838 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
21839 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
21840 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
21841 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
21842 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
21844 There should be no result data from this function.
21847 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
21849 The result data from this function should be a description of
21853 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
21855 description = <text>
21858 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
21860 The result data from this function should be the description of all
21861 groups available on the server.
21864 description-buffer = *description-line
21868 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
21870 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
21871 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
21872 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
21875 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21877 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
21879 There should be no return data.
21882 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
21884 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
21885 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
21886 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
21887 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
21888 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
21891 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
21894 There should be no result data returned.
21897 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
21900 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
21901 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
21903 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
21904 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
21905 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
21906 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
21907 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
21908 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
21910 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
21911 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
21914 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21915 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21917 There should be no data returned.
21920 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
21922 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
21923 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
21924 this function in short order.
21926 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21927 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21929 There should be no data returned.
21932 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
21934 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
21935 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
21937 There should be no data returned.
21940 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
21942 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
21943 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
21944 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
21946 There should be no data returned.
21949 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
21951 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
21952 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
21954 There should be no data returned.
21959 @node Error Messaging
21960 @subsubsection Error Messaging
21962 @findex nnheader-report
21963 @findex nnheader-get-report
21964 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
21965 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
21966 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
21967 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
21968 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
21969 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
21972 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
21974 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
21977 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
21978 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
21979 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
21980 takes one argument---the server symbol.
21982 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
21983 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
21984 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
21987 @node Writing New Backends
21988 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
21990 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
21991 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
21992 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
21993 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
21994 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
21997 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
21998 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
21999 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
22001 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
22002 package called @code{nnoo}.
22004 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
22005 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
22011 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
22012 parameters. For instance:
22015 (nnoo-declare nndir
22019 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
22020 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
22023 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
22024 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
22025 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
22027 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
22028 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
22029 a function in those backends.
22032 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
22033 "Where nndir will look for groups."
22034 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
22037 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
22038 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
22039 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
22041 @item nnoo-define-basics
22042 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
22046 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
22050 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
22051 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
22052 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
22054 @item nnoo-map-functions
22055 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
22056 functions from the parent backends.
22059 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
22060 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22061 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
22064 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
22065 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
22066 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
22067 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
22070 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
22071 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
22072 haven't already been defined.
22078 nnmh-request-newgroups)
22082 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
22083 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
22084 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
22089 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
22092 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
22093 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
22097 (require 'nnheader)
22101 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
22103 (nnoo-declare nndir
22106 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
22107 "Where nndir will look for groups."
22108 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
22110 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
22111 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
22114 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
22115 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
22116 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
22118 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
22119 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
22121 ;;; Interface functions.
22123 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
22125 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
22126 (setq nndir-directory
22127 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
22129 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
22130 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
22131 (push `(nndir-current-group
22132 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
22134 (push `(nndir-top-directory
22135 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
22137 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
22139 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
22140 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22141 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
22142 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
22143 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
22147 nnmh-status-message
22149 nnmh-request-newgroups))
22155 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
22156 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
22158 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
22159 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
22160 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
22161 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
22163 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
22164 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
22169 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
22172 The abilities can be:
22176 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
22178 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
22180 This backend supports both mail and news.
22182 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
22185 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
22186 articles and groups.
22188 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
22189 true for almost all backends.
22190 @item prompt-address
22191 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
22192 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
22193 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
22197 @node Mail-like Backends
22198 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
22200 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
22201 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
22202 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
22203 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
22206 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
22207 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
22208 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
22211 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
22212 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
22215 This function takes four parameters.
22219 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
22222 @item exit-function
22223 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
22225 @item temp-directory
22226 Where the temporary files should be stored.
22229 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
22230 performed for one group only.
22233 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
22234 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
22235 find the article number assigned to this article.
22237 The function also uses the following variables:
22238 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
22239 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
22240 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
22241 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
22245 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
22246 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
22250 @node Score File Syntax
22251 @subsection Score File Syntax
22253 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
22254 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
22255 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
22257 Here's a typical score file:
22261 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
22268 BNF definition of a score file:
22271 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
22272 element = rule / atom
22273 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
22274 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
22275 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
22276 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
22278 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
22279 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
22280 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
22281 date-header = "date"
22282 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22283 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22284 score = "nil" / <integer>
22285 date = "nil" / <natural number>
22286 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
22287 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
22288 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
22289 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
22290 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22291 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22292 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
22293 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
22294 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
22295 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
22296 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
22297 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
22298 exclude-files / read-only / touched
22299 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
22300 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
22301 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
22302 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
22303 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
22304 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
22305 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
22306 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
22307 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
22308 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
22309 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
22310 eval = "eval" space <form>
22311 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
22314 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
22317 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
22318 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
22319 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
22320 one looong line, then that's ok.
22322 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
22323 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
22327 @subsection Headers
22329 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
22330 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
22331 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
22332 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
22334 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
22335 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
22336 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
22337 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
22338 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
22339 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
22340 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
22342 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
22343 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
22344 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
22345 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
22346 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
22348 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
22349 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
22355 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
22356 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
22358 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
22359 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
22360 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
22361 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
22363 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
22367 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
22370 is transformed into
22373 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
22376 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
22377 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
22380 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
22383 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
22384 is slightly tricky:
22387 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
22393 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
22396 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
22402 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
22409 and is equal to the previous range.
22411 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
22412 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
22413 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
22417 range = simple-range / normal-range
22418 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
22419 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
22420 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
22421 number *[ " " contents ]
22424 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
22425 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
22426 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
22427 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
22428 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
22433 @subsection Group Info
22435 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
22436 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
22437 describes the group.
22439 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
22440 second is a more complex one:
22443 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
22445 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
22446 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
22448 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
22451 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
22452 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
22453 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
22454 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
22455 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
22456 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
22457 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
22458 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
22459 this section is about.
22461 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
22462 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
22463 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
22465 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
22468 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
22469 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
22470 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
22471 group = quote <string> quote
22472 ralevel = rank / level
22473 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22474 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
22475 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
22477 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
22478 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
22479 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
22480 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
22483 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
22484 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
22487 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
22488 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
22491 @item gnus-info-group
22492 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
22493 @findex gnus-info-group
22494 @findex gnus-info-set-group
22495 Get/set the group name.
22497 @item gnus-info-rank
22498 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
22499 @findex gnus-info-rank
22500 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
22501 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
22503 @item gnus-info-level
22504 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
22505 @findex gnus-info-level
22506 @findex gnus-info-set-level
22507 Get/set the group level.
22509 @item gnus-info-score
22510 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
22511 @findex gnus-info-score
22512 @findex gnus-info-set-score
22513 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
22515 @item gnus-info-read
22516 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
22517 @findex gnus-info-read
22518 @findex gnus-info-set-read
22519 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
22521 @item gnus-info-marks
22522 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
22523 @findex gnus-info-marks
22524 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
22525 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
22527 @item gnus-info-method
22528 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
22529 @findex gnus-info-method
22530 @findex gnus-info-set-method
22531 Get/set the group select method.
22533 @item gnus-info-params
22534 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
22535 @findex gnus-info-params
22536 @findex gnus-info-set-params
22537 Get/set the group parameters.
22540 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
22541 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
22543 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
22544 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
22545 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
22546 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
22549 @node Extended Interactive
22550 @subsection Extended Interactive
22551 @cindex interactive
22552 @findex gnus-interactive
22554 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
22555 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
22556 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22559 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22560 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22565 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22566 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22567 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22568 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22569 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22570 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22571 @code{interactive}.
22573 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22578 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22579 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22583 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22584 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22585 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
22588 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
22592 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
22596 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
22602 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
22603 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
22607 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
22608 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
22609 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
22611 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
22612 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
22613 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
22614 Gnus, that's very useful.
22616 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
22617 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
22618 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
22619 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
22620 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
22621 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
22622 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
22623 following function:
22626 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
22630 (,function ,@@args))
22634 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
22635 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
22636 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
22639 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
22640 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
22641 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
22643 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
22644 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
22645 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
22648 @node Various File Formats
22649 @subsection Various File Formats
22652 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
22653 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
22657 @node Active File Format
22658 @subsubsection Active File Format
22660 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
22661 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
22664 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
22667 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
22668 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
22669 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
22670 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
22671 no.general 1000 900 y
22674 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
22677 active = *group-line
22678 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
22679 group = <non-white-space string>
22681 high-number = <non-negative integer>
22682 low-number = <positive integer>
22683 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
22686 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
22687 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
22690 @node Newsgroups File Format
22691 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
22693 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
22694 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
22695 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
22698 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
22699 Here's the definition:
22703 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
22704 group = <non-white-space string>
22706 description = <string>
22711 @node Emacs for Heathens
22712 @section Emacs for Heathens
22714 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
22715 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
22716 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
22717 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
22718 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
22719 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
22720 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
22724 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
22725 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
22730 @subsection Keystrokes
22734 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
22737 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
22740 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
22741 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
22742 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
22743 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
22744 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
22745 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
22747 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
22748 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
22749 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
22750 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
22751 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
22752 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
22753 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
22755 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
22756 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
22757 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
22758 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
22759 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
22760 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
22761 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
22763 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
22764 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
22765 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
22766 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
22767 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
22773 @subsection Emacs Lisp
22775 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
22776 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
22777 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
22778 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
22780 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
22781 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
22782 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
22783 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
22784 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
22785 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
22786 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
22789 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
22790 write the following:
22793 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
22796 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
22797 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
22798 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
22801 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
22802 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
22803 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
22804 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
22805 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
22807 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
22808 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
22809 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
22813 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
22817 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
22820 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
22821 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
22824 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
22827 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
22828 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
22831 @include gnus-faq.texi