1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- -*- coding: iso-latin-1 -*-
4 @settitle Pterodactyl Gnus Manual
9 @c * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
14 @setchapternewpage odd
24 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
26 Copyright (C) 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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30 are preserved on all copies.
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45 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
51 @title Pterodactyl Gnus Manual
53 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
56 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
57 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97,98,99 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
60 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
61 are preserved on all copies.
63 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
64 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
65 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
66 permission notice identical to this one.
68 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
69 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
78 @top The Gnus Newsreader
82 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
83 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
84 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
87 This manual corresponds to Pterodactyl Gnus .
94 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
95 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
97 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
98 being accused of plagiarism:
100 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
101 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
102 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
103 even read news with it!
105 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
106 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
107 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
108 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
109 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
116 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
117 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
118 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
119 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
120 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
121 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
122 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
123 * Various:: General purpose settings.
124 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
125 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
126 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
127 * Key Index:: Key Index.
131 @chapter Starting Gnus
136 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
137 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
140 @findex gnus-other-frame
141 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
142 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
143 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
145 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
146 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
147 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
149 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
150 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
153 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
154 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
155 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
156 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
157 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
158 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
159 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
160 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
161 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
162 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
163 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
167 @node Finding the News
168 @section Finding the News
171 @vindex gnus-select-method
173 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
174 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
175 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
176 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
179 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
180 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
183 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
186 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
189 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
192 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
193 certainly be much faster.
195 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
197 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
198 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
199 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
200 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
201 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
202 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
204 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
205 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
206 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
207 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
209 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
210 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
211 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
212 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
213 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
214 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
215 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
216 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
217 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
220 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
222 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
223 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
224 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
225 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
226 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
227 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
229 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
231 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
232 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
233 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
234 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
235 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
236 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
239 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
240 would typically set this variable to
243 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
248 @section The First Time
249 @cindex first time usage
251 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
252 be subscribed by default.
254 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
255 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
256 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
257 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
260 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
261 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
262 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
264 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
265 help you with most common problems.
267 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
268 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
272 @node The Server is Down
273 @section The Server is Down
274 @cindex server errors
276 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
277 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
278 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
280 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
281 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
282 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
283 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
284 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
285 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
286 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
288 @findex gnus-no-server
289 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
291 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
292 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
293 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
294 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
295 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
296 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
301 @section Slave Gnusae
304 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
305 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
306 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
307 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
309 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
312 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
313 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
314 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
315 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
316 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
317 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
318 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
320 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
321 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
322 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
323 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
324 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
325 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
326 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
327 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
329 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
330 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
333 @node Fetching a Group
334 @section Fetching a Group
335 @cindex fetching a group
337 @findex gnus-fetch-group
338 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
339 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
340 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
341 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
342 It takes the group name as a parameter.
350 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
351 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
352 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
353 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
354 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
355 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
356 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
357 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
358 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
361 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
362 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
363 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
367 @node Checking New Groups
368 @subsection Checking New Groups
370 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
371 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
372 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
373 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
374 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
375 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
376 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
377 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
378 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
379 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
381 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
382 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
383 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
384 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
385 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
386 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
387 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
388 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
389 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
390 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
391 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
393 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
394 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
395 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
396 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
397 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
398 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
401 @node Subscription Methods
402 @subsection Subscription Methods
404 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
405 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
406 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
408 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
409 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
411 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
415 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
416 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
417 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
418 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
419 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
421 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
422 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
423 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
424 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
426 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
427 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
428 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
430 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
431 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
432 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
433 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
434 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
435 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
436 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
437 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
438 up. Or something like that.
440 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
441 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
442 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
443 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
444 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
446 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
447 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
450 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
451 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
452 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
453 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
454 topic parameter that looks like
460 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
465 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
466 A closely related variable is
467 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
468 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
469 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
470 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
473 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
474 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
475 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
476 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
479 @node Filtering New Groups
480 @subsection Filtering New Groups
482 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
483 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
484 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
487 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
490 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
491 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
492 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
493 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
494 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
495 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
496 subscribing these groups.
497 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
498 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
500 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
501 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
502 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
503 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
504 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
505 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
506 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
507 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
509 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
510 Yet another variable that meddles here is
511 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
512 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
513 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
514 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
515 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
516 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
517 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
518 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
520 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
521 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
524 @node Changing Servers
525 @section Changing Servers
526 @cindex changing servers
528 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
529 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
530 very flaky and you want to use another.
532 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
533 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
537 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
538 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
539 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
540 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
543 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
544 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
545 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
546 functions more than absolutely necessary.
548 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
549 @findex gnus-change-server
550 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
551 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
552 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
553 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
554 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
556 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
557 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
558 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
559 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
560 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
562 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
563 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
564 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
565 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
566 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
567 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
569 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
570 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
571 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
575 @section Startup Files
576 @cindex startup files
581 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
582 information is traditionally stored in this file.
584 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
585 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
586 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
587 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
588 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
589 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
590 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
592 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
593 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
594 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
595 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
596 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
597 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
599 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
600 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
601 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
602 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
603 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
604 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
605 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
606 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
607 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
608 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
610 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
611 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
612 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
613 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
614 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
615 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
616 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
617 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
618 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
619 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
620 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
621 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
623 @vindex gnus-startup-file
624 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
625 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
626 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
628 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
629 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
630 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
631 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
632 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
633 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
634 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
635 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
636 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
637 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
640 (defun turn-off-backup ()
641 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
643 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
644 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
647 @vindex gnus-init-file
648 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
649 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
650 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
651 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
652 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
653 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
654 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
655 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
656 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
665 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
666 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
667 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
668 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
669 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
672 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
673 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
676 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
677 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
678 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
680 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
681 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
682 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
683 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
684 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
685 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
687 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
688 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
689 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
692 @node The Active File
693 @section The Active File
695 @cindex ignored groups
697 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
698 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
699 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
701 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
702 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
703 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
704 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
705 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
706 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
707 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
710 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
711 @c if you set it to anything else.
713 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
715 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
716 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
717 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
719 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
720 you actually subscribe to.
722 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
723 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
724 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
725 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
727 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
728 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
729 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
730 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
731 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
732 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
734 Some news servers (Leafnode and old versions of INN, for instance) do
735 not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these servers, @code{nil}
736 is probably the most efficient value for this variable.
738 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
739 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
740 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
741 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
742 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
743 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
745 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
746 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
748 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
749 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
751 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
752 secondary select methods.
755 @node Startup Variables
756 @section Startup Variables
761 @vindex gnus-load-hook
762 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
763 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
764 times you start Gnus.
766 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
767 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
768 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
770 @item gnus-startup-hook
771 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
772 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
774 @item gnus-started-hook
775 @vindex gnus-started-hook
776 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
779 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
780 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
781 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
782 generating the group buffer.
784 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
785 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
786 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
787 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
788 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
789 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
790 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
791 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
793 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
794 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
795 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
796 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
797 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
798 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
800 @item gnus-no-groups-message
801 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
802 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
804 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
805 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
806 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
808 @item gnus-startup-jingle
809 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
810 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
811 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
816 @node The Group Buffer
817 @chapter The Group Buffer
820 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
821 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
822 long as Gnus is active.
828 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
829 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
830 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
831 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
832 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
833 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
834 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
835 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
836 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
837 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
838 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
839 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
840 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
841 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
842 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
843 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
844 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
848 @node Group Buffer Format
849 @section Group Buffer Format
852 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
853 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
854 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
858 @node Group Line Specification
859 @subsection Group Line Specification
860 @cindex group buffer format
862 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
863 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
865 Here's a couple of example group lines:
868 25: news.announce.newusers
869 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
874 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
875 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
876 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
877 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
879 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
880 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
881 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
882 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
883 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
884 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
886 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
888 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
889 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
890 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
891 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
894 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
895 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
896 instead of wasting time reading news.)
898 Here's a list of all available format characters:
903 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
906 Whether the group is subscribed.
909 Level of subscribedness.
912 Number of unread articles.
915 Number of dormant articles.
918 Number of ticked articles.
921 Number of read articles.
924 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
925 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
928 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
931 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
940 Newsgroup description.
943 @samp{m} if moderated.
946 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
955 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
959 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
962 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
963 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
964 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
965 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
966 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
969 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
971 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
975 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
979 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
980 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
981 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
982 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
983 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
984 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
989 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
990 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
991 group, or a bogus native group.
994 @node Group Modeline Specification
995 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
996 @cindex group modeline
998 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
999 The mode line can be changed by setting
1000 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1001 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1005 The native news server.
1007 The native select method.
1011 @node Group Highlighting
1012 @subsection Group Highlighting
1013 @cindex highlighting
1014 @cindex group highlighting
1016 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1017 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1018 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1019 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1020 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1022 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1026 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1
1027 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1028 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2
1029 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1030 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3
1031 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1032 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4
1033 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1034 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5
1035 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1037 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1038 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1039 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1040 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1041 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1042 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1045 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1047 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1054 The number of unread articles in the group.
1058 Whether the group is a mail group.
1060 The level of the group.
1062 The score of the group.
1064 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1066 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1067 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1069 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1070 topic being inserted.
1073 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1074 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1075 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1077 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1078 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1079 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1080 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1081 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1084 @node Group Maneuvering
1085 @section Group Maneuvering
1086 @cindex group movement
1088 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1089 expected, hopefully.
1095 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1096 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1097 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1103 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1104 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1105 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1109 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1110 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1114 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1115 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1119 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1120 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1121 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1125 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1126 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1127 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1130 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1136 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1137 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1138 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1143 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1144 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1145 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1149 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1150 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1151 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1154 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1155 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1156 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1157 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1161 @node Selecting a Group
1162 @section Selecting a Group
1163 @cindex group selection
1168 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1169 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1170 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1171 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1172 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1173 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1174 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1175 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1176 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1177 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1181 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1182 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1183 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1184 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1185 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1189 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1190 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1191 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1192 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1193 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1194 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1195 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1196 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1197 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1198 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1201 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1202 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1203 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1204 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1205 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1208 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1209 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1210 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1211 doing any processing of its contents
1212 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1213 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1214 manner will have no permanent effects.
1218 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1219 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1220 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1221 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1222 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1223 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1224 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1225 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1228 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1229 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1230 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1231 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1236 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1237 full summary buffer.
1240 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1243 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1248 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
1249 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
1250 Useful functions include:
1253 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
1254 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
1255 don't select the article.
1257 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
1258 Select the first unread article.
1260 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
1261 Select the highest-scored unread article.
1265 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1266 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1267 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1271 @node Subscription Commands
1272 @section Subscription Commands
1273 @cindex subscription
1281 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1282 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1283 Toggle subscription to the current group
1284 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1290 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1291 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1292 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1293 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1299 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1300 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1301 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1307 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1308 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1311 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1312 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1313 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1314 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1315 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1321 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1322 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1326 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1327 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1330 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1331 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1332 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1333 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1334 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1335 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1336 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1337 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1338 @file{.newsrc} file.
1342 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1352 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1353 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1354 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1355 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1356 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1357 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1362 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1363 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1364 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1368 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1369 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1370 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1372 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1373 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1374 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1375 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1376 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1377 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1384 @section Group Levels
1388 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1389 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1390 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1391 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1392 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1394 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1400 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1401 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1402 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1403 prompted for a level.
1406 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1407 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1408 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1409 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1410 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1411 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1412 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1413 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1414 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1415 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1416 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1417 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1418 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1419 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1420 reasons of efficiency.
1422 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1423 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1425 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1426 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1427 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1429 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1430 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1431 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1432 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1433 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1434 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1435 relevant valid ranges.
1437 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1438 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1439 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1440 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1441 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1442 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1445 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1446 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1447 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1450 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1451 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1452 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1453 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1456 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1457 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1458 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1459 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1461 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1462 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1463 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1464 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1465 to 5. The default is 6.
1469 @section Group Score
1474 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1475 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1476 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1479 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
1480 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
1481 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
1482 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
1483 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
1484 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
1485 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
1486 least significant part.))
1488 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1489 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1490 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1491 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1492 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1493 action after each summary exit, you can add
1494 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1495 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1496 slow things down somewhat.
1499 @node Marking Groups
1500 @section Marking Groups
1501 @cindex marking groups
1503 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1504 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1505 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1506 bidding on those groups.
1508 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1509 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1510 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1518 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1519 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1525 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1526 Remove the mark from the current group
1527 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1531 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1532 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1536 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1537 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1541 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1542 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1546 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1547 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1548 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1551 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1553 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1554 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1555 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1556 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1557 the command to be executed.
1560 @node Foreign Groups
1561 @section Foreign Groups
1562 @cindex foreign groups
1564 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1565 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1566 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1567 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1574 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1575 @cindex making groups
1576 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1577 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1578 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1582 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1583 @cindex renaming groups
1584 Rename the current group to something else
1585 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1586 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1592 @findex gnus-group-customize
1593 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1597 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1598 @cindex renaming groups
1599 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1600 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1604 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1605 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1606 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1610 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1611 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1612 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1616 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1618 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1619 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1624 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1625 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1629 @cindex (ding) archive
1630 @cindex archive group
1631 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1632 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1633 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1634 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1635 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1636 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1637 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1641 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1643 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1644 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1645 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1646 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1650 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1652 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1653 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1654 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1658 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1659 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1661 Make a group based on some file or other
1662 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1663 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1664 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1665 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1666 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
1667 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
1668 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
1672 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
1673 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
1674 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
1675 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
1679 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1684 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1685 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1686 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1687 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1688 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1689 @xref{Web Searches}.
1691 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
1692 to a particular group by using a match string like
1693 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
1696 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1697 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1698 This function will delete the current group
1699 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1700 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1701 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1702 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1703 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1707 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1708 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1709 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1713 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1714 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1715 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1718 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
1721 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1722 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1723 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1724 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1725 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
1726 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
1730 @node Group Parameters
1731 @section Group Parameters
1732 @cindex group parameters
1734 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
1735 Here's an example group parameter list:
1738 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
1742 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
1743 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
1744 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
1745 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
1747 The following group parameters can be used:
1752 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
1755 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
1758 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
1759 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
1760 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
1761 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
1762 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
1764 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1765 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1766 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1767 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1768 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1769 list address instead.
1773 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
1776 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
1779 It is totally ignored
1780 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
1781 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
1783 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
1784 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
1785 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
1786 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
1787 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
1789 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
1790 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
1791 sending the message.
1795 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
1796 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
1797 of whether it has any unread articles.
1799 @item broken-reply-to
1800 @cindex broken-reply-to
1801 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
1802 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
1803 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
1804 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
1805 broken behavior. So there!
1809 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
1810 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
1814 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
1815 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
1816 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
1821 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
1822 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
1823 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
1824 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
1825 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
1826 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
1827 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
1831 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
1832 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
1833 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
1836 @cindex total-expire
1837 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
1838 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
1839 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
1840 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
1845 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
1846 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
1847 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
1848 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
1849 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
1850 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
1853 @cindex score file group parameter
1854 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
1855 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
1856 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
1859 @cindex adapt file group parameter
1860 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
1861 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
1862 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
1865 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
1866 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
1867 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
1868 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
1871 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
1872 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
1876 Display all articles, both read and unread.
1879 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
1884 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
1885 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
1886 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
1890 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
1891 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
1892 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
1894 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
1895 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
1896 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
1897 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
1898 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
1899 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
1900 @code{eval}ed there.
1902 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
1903 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
1904 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
1905 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
1906 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
1909 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
1910 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
1911 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
1912 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
1913 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
1915 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
1916 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
1917 like this in the group parameters:
1922 (signature "Funky Signature"))
1927 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
1928 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
1932 @node Listing Groups
1933 @section Listing Groups
1934 @cindex group listing
1936 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
1944 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
1945 List all groups that have unread articles
1946 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
1947 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
1948 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
1949 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
1956 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
1957 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
1958 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
1959 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
1960 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
1961 unsubscribed groups).
1965 @findex gnus-group-list-level
1966 List all unread groups on a specific level
1967 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
1968 with no unread articles.
1972 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
1973 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
1974 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
1975 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
1980 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
1981 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
1985 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
1986 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
1987 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
1991 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
1992 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
1996 @findex gnus-group-list-active
1997 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
1998 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
1999 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2000 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2001 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2002 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2003 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2007 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2008 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2009 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2013 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2014 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2015 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2019 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2020 @cindex visible group parameter
2021 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2022 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2023 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2024 get the same effect.
2026 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2027 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2028 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2029 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2030 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2033 @node Sorting Groups
2034 @section Sorting Groups
2035 @cindex sorting groups
2037 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2038 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2039 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2040 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2041 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2042 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2047 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2048 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2049 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2051 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2052 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2053 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2055 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2056 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2057 Sort by group level.
2059 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2060 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2061 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2063 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2064 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2065 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2066 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2068 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2069 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2070 Sort by number of unread articles.
2072 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2073 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2074 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2079 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2080 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2084 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2085 some sorting criteria:
2089 @kindex G S a (Group)
2090 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2091 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2092 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2095 @kindex G S u (Group)
2096 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2097 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2098 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2101 @kindex G S l (Group)
2102 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2103 Sort the group buffer by group level
2104 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2107 @kindex G S v (Group)
2108 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2109 Sort the group buffer by group score
2110 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2113 @kindex G S r (Group)
2114 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2115 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2116 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2119 @kindex G S m (Group)
2120 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2121 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2122 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2126 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2127 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2129 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2130 commands will sort in reverse order.
2132 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2136 @kindex G P a (Group)
2137 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2138 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2139 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2142 @kindex G P u (Group)
2143 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2144 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
2145 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2148 @kindex G P l (Group)
2149 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2150 Sort the groups by group level
2151 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2154 @kindex G P v (Group)
2155 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2156 Sort the groups by group score
2157 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2160 @kindex G P r (Group)
2161 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2162 Sort the groups by group rank
2163 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2166 @kindex G P m (Group)
2167 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2168 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
2169 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2175 @node Group Maintenance
2176 @section Group Maintenance
2177 @cindex bogus groups
2182 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2183 Find bogus groups and delete them
2184 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2188 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2189 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2190 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2191 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2192 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2196 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2197 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2198 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2199 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2202 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2203 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2204 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2205 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2210 @node Browse Foreign Server
2211 @section Browse Foreign Server
2212 @cindex foreign servers
2213 @cindex browsing servers
2218 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2219 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2220 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2221 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2224 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2225 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2226 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2227 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2229 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2234 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2235 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2239 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2240 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2243 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2244 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2245 Enter the current group and display the first article
2246 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2249 @kindex RET (Browse)
2250 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2251 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2255 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2256 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2257 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2263 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2264 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2268 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2269 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2270 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2275 @section Exiting Gnus
2276 @cindex exiting Gnus
2278 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2283 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2284 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2285 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2286 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2290 @findex gnus-group-exit
2291 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2292 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2296 @findex gnus-group-quit
2297 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2298 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2301 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2302 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2303 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2304 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2305 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2310 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2311 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2312 trying to customize meta-variables.
2317 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2318 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2319 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2325 @section Group Topics
2328 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2329 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2330 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2331 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2332 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2333 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2344 2: alt.religion.emacs
2347 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2349 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2350 13: comp.sources.unix
2353 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2355 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2356 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2357 is a toggling command.)
2359 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2360 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2361 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2362 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2365 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2366 the hook for the group mode:
2369 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2373 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2374 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2375 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2376 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2377 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2381 @node Topic Variables
2382 @subsection Topic Variables
2383 @cindex topic variables
2385 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2386 really neat, I think.
2388 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2389 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2390 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2403 Number of groups in the topic.
2405 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2407 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2410 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2411 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2412 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2415 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2416 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2418 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2419 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2420 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2423 @node Topic Commands
2424 @subsection Topic Commands
2425 @cindex topic commands
2427 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2428 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2429 definitions slightly.
2435 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2436 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2437 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2441 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2442 Move the current group to some other topic
2443 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2444 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2448 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
2449 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
2453 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2454 Copy the current group to some other topic
2455 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2456 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2460 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2461 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2462 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
2463 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
2464 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
2465 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
2466 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
2469 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2470 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2474 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2475 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2476 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2480 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2481 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2482 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2486 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2487 Toggle hiding empty topics
2488 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2492 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2493 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2494 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2497 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2498 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2499 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2500 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2504 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2506 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2507 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2508 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2509 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2512 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
2513 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
2514 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2515 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
2519 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2521 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2522 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2523 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2524 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2525 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2526 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2529 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
2530 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
2531 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
2532 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
2536 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2537 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2538 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2542 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2543 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2544 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2549 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2550 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2553 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2554 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2555 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2559 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2560 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2561 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2565 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2566 @cindex group parameters
2567 @cindex topic parameters
2569 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2570 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2576 @subsection Topic Sorting
2577 @cindex topic sorting
2579 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2585 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2586 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2587 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2588 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2591 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2592 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2593 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2594 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2597 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2598 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2599 Sort the current topic by group level
2600 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2603 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2604 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2605 Sort the current topic by group score
2606 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2609 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2610 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2611 Sort the current topic by group rank
2612 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2615 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2616 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2617 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2618 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2622 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
2625 @node Topic Topology
2626 @subsection Topic Topology
2627 @cindex topic topology
2630 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2636 2: alt.religion.emacs
2639 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2641 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2642 13: comp.sources.unix
2645 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2646 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2647 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2652 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2653 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2657 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2658 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2659 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2660 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2661 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2662 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2664 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2665 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2666 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2669 @node Topic Parameters
2670 @subsection Topic Parameters
2671 @cindex topic parameters
2673 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2674 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2675 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2677 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2678 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2679 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2680 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2686 2: alt.religion.emacs
2690 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2692 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2693 13: comp.sources.unix
2697 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2698 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2699 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2700 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2701 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2702 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2704 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2705 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2706 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2707 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2708 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2710 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2711 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2712 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2713 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2714 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2715 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2716 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2717 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2720 @node Misc Group Stuff
2721 @section Misc Group Stuff
2724 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2725 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2726 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2727 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2734 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2735 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2736 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2740 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2741 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2742 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2746 @findex gnus-group-mail
2747 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2751 Variables for the group buffer:
2755 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2756 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2757 is called after the group buffer has been
2760 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2761 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2762 is called after the group buffer is
2763 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2766 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
2767 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2768 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
2769 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
2771 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2772 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2773 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2774 whether they are empty or not.
2779 @node Scanning New Messages
2780 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2781 @cindex new messages
2782 @cindex scanning new news
2788 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2789 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
2790 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2791 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2792 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2793 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
2798 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2799 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2800 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
2801 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2802 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
2803 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
2804 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
2806 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
2807 @cindex activating groups
2809 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
2810 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
2815 @findex gnus-group-restart
2816 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
2817 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
2818 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
2822 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
2823 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
2825 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
2826 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
2830 @node Group Information
2831 @subsection Group Information
2832 @cindex group information
2833 @cindex information on groups
2840 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
2841 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
2844 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
2845 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
2846 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
2847 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
2848 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
2849 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
2850 for fetching the file.
2852 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
2853 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
2857 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
2859 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
2860 @cindex describing groups
2861 @cindex group description
2862 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
2863 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
2864 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
2868 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
2869 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
2870 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
2877 @findex gnus-version
2878 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
2882 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
2883 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
2886 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
2889 @findex gnus-info-find-node
2890 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
2894 @node Group Timestamp
2895 @subsection Group Timestamp
2897 @cindex group timestamps
2899 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
2900 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
2901 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
2904 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
2907 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
2909 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
2910 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
2913 (setq gnus-group-line-format
2914 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
2917 This will result in lines looking like:
2920 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
2921 0: custom 19961002T012713
2924 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
2925 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
2929 (setq gnus-group-line-format
2930 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
2935 @subsection File Commands
2936 @cindex file commands
2942 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
2943 @vindex gnus-init-file
2944 @cindex reading init file
2945 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
2946 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
2950 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
2951 @cindex saving .newsrc
2952 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
2953 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
2954 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
2957 @c @kindex Z (Group)
2958 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
2959 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
2964 @node The Summary Buffer
2965 @chapter The Summary Buffer
2966 @cindex summary buffer
2968 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
2969 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
2971 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
2972 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
2974 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
2977 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
2978 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
2979 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
2980 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
2981 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
2982 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
2983 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
2984 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
2985 * Threading:: How threads are made.
2986 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
2987 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
2988 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
2989 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
2990 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
2991 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
2992 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
2993 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
2994 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
2995 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
2996 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
2997 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
2998 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
2999 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3000 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3001 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3002 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3003 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3004 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3005 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3009 @node Summary Buffer Format
3010 @section Summary Buffer Format
3011 @cindex summary buffer format
3017 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3018 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3019 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3020 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3023 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3024 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3025 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3026 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3027 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3028 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3029 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3030 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3031 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3032 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3033 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
3036 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3037 'mail-extract-address-components)
3040 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3041 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3042 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3043 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3046 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3047 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3049 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3050 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3051 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3052 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3053 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3055 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3057 The following format specification characters are understood:
3063 Subject string. List identifiers stripped, @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3065 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3066 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3067 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3069 Full @code{From} header.
3071 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3073 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3074 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3076 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3077 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3078 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3079 may be more thorough.
3081 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3084 Number of lines in the article.
3086 Number of characters in the article.
3088 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3090 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3091 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3093 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3094 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3096 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3097 for adopted articles.
3099 One space for each thread level.
3101 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3106 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3107 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3111 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3113 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3114 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3115 default level. If the difference between
3116 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3117 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3125 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3127 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3133 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3134 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3136 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3137 article has any children.
3143 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3144 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3145 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3146 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3147 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3148 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3151 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3152 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3153 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3154 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3155 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3156 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3158 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3159 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3161 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3164 @node To From Newsgroups
3165 @subsection To From Newsgroups
3169 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
3170 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
3171 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
3172 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
3173 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
3177 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
3178 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
3179 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
3183 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3184 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
3187 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
3188 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
3191 @findex gnus-extra-header
3192 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
3193 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
3194 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
3197 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
3201 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3202 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
3203 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
3204 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
3205 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
3206 headers are used instead.
3210 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
3211 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
3212 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
3213 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
3216 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3217 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
3218 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
3219 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
3221 In summary, you'd typically do something like the following:
3224 (setq gnus-extra-headers
3226 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
3227 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
3228 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
3229 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
3233 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
3234 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
3241 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
3242 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
3245 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3246 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3248 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3249 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
3250 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
3251 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3253 Here are the elements you can play with:
3259 Unprefixed group name.
3261 Current article number.
3263 Current article score.
3267 Number of unread articles in this group.
3269 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3272 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3273 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3274 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3275 and no unselected ones.
3277 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3278 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3280 Subject of the current article.
3282 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3284 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3286 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3288 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3290 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3292 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3296 @node Summary Highlighting
3297 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3301 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3302 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3303 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3304 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3305 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3307 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3308 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3309 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3310 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3312 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3313 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3314 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3315 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3317 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3318 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3319 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3320 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
3321 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
3322 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
3325 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3326 ((> score default) . bold))
3328 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3329 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
3333 @node Summary Maneuvering
3334 @section Summary Maneuvering
3335 @cindex summary movement
3337 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3338 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3340 None of these commands select articles.
3345 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3346 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3347 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3348 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3349 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3353 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3354 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3355 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3356 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3357 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3362 @kindex G j (Summary)
3363 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3364 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3365 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3368 @kindex G g (Summary)
3369 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3370 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3371 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3374 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3375 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3376 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3377 to the group buffer.
3379 Variables related to summary movement:
3383 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3384 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3385 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3386 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3387 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3388 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3389 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3390 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3391 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3392 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3393 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3394 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3395 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3396 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3398 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3399 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3400 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3401 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3402 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3403 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
3404 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
3406 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3408 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3409 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3410 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3411 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3412 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3414 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3415 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3416 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3417 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3418 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3419 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3420 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3421 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3424 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
3425 the given number of lines from the top.
3430 @node Choosing Articles
3431 @section Choosing Articles
3432 @cindex selecting articles
3435 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3436 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3440 @node Choosing Commands
3441 @subsection Choosing Commands
3443 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3444 and they all select and display an article.
3448 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3449 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3450 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3451 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3456 @kindex G n (Summary)
3457 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3458 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3459 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3464 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3465 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3466 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3471 @kindex G N (Summary)
3472 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3473 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3478 @kindex G P (Summary)
3479 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3480 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3483 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3484 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3485 Go to the next article with the same subject
3486 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3489 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3490 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3491 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3492 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3496 @kindex G f (Summary)
3498 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3499 Go to the first unread article
3500 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3504 @kindex G b (Summary)
3506 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3507 Go to the article with the highest score
3508 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3513 @kindex G l (Summary)
3514 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3515 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3518 @kindex G o (Summary)
3519 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3521 @cindex article history
3522 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3523 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3524 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3525 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3526 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3527 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3531 @node Choosing Variables
3532 @subsection Choosing Variables
3534 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3537 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3538 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3539 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3540 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3541 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3542 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3544 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3545 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3546 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3547 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3549 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3550 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3551 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3552 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3553 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3554 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3555 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3556 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3557 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3558 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3559 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3560 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3561 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3562 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3567 @node Paging the Article
3568 @section Scrolling the Article
3569 @cindex article scrolling
3574 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3575 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3576 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3577 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3578 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3581 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3582 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3583 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3586 @kindex RET (Summary)
3587 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3588 Scroll the current article one line forward
3589 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3592 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
3593 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
3594 Scroll the current article one line backward
3595 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
3599 @kindex A g (Summary)
3601 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3602 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3603 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3604 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3605 the way it came from the server.
3610 @kindex A < (Summary)
3611 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3612 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3613 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3618 @kindex A > (Summary)
3619 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3620 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3624 @kindex A s (Summary)
3626 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3627 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3628 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3632 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3633 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3638 @node Reply Followup and Post
3639 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3642 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3643 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3647 @node Summary Mail Commands
3648 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3650 @cindex composing mail
3652 Commands for composing a mail message:
3658 @kindex S r (Summary)
3660 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3661 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3662 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3663 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3664 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3669 @kindex S R (Summary)
3670 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3671 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3672 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3673 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3674 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3677 @kindex S w (Summary)
3678 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3679 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3680 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3681 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3682 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3685 @kindex S W (Summary)
3686 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3687 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3688 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3689 the process/prefix convention.
3692 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3693 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3694 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3695 Forward the current article to some other person
3696 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3697 headers of the forwarded article.
3702 @kindex S m (Summary)
3703 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3704 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3705 Send a mail to some other person
3706 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3709 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3710 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3711 @cindex bouncing mail
3712 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3713 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3714 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3715 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3716 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3717 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3718 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3719 very well fail, though.
3722 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3723 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3724 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3725 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3726 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3727 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3728 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3729 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3730 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3731 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3733 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3734 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3735 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3736 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3737 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3739 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3740 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3743 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3744 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3745 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3746 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3747 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3750 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3751 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3752 @cindex crossposting
3753 @cindex excessive crossposting
3754 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3755 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3757 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3758 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
3759 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3760 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3761 command understands the process/prefix convention
3762 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3766 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3769 @node Summary Post Commands
3770 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3772 @cindex composing news
3774 Commands for posting a news article:
3780 @kindex S p (Summary)
3781 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3782 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
3783 Post an article to the current group
3784 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3789 @kindex S f (Summary)
3790 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3791 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
3792 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3796 @kindex S F (Summary)
3798 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
3799 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3800 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3801 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3802 process/prefix convention.
3805 @kindex S n (Summary)
3806 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3807 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3808 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3811 @kindex S N (Summary)
3812 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
3813 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3814 message through mail and include the original message
3815 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3816 the process/prefix convention.
3819 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3820 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3821 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3822 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3823 headers of the forwarded article.
3826 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3827 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3829 @cindex making digests
3830 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3831 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3832 process/prefix convention.
3835 @kindex S u (Summary)
3836 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3837 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
3838 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3839 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3842 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3845 @node Canceling and Superseding
3846 @section Canceling Articles
3847 @cindex canceling articles
3848 @cindex superseding articles
3850 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3851 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3853 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3855 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3857 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
3858 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3859 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3860 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3861 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3862 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3864 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3865 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3868 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
3869 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
3870 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
3872 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3873 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3874 your original article.
3876 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3878 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3879 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3880 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3883 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3884 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3885 have posted almost the same article twice.
3887 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3888 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3889 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3890 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
3891 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3892 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3893 header by substituting one of those words for the word
3894 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
3895 you would do normally. The previous article will be
3896 canceled/superseded.
3898 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
3901 @node Marking Articles
3902 @section Marking Articles
3903 @cindex article marking
3904 @cindex article ticking
3907 There are several marks you can set on an article.
3909 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
3910 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
3911 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
3913 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
3916 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
3917 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
3918 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
3922 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
3926 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
3927 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
3928 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
3932 @node Unread Articles
3933 @subsection Unread Articles
3935 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
3940 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
3941 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
3943 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
3944 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
3945 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
3946 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
3947 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
3951 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3952 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
3954 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
3955 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
3956 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
3959 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
3960 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
3962 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
3967 @subsection Read Articles
3968 @cindex expirable mark
3970 All the following marks mark articles as read.
3975 @vindex gnus-del-mark
3976 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
3977 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
3980 @vindex gnus-read-mark
3981 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
3984 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
3985 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
3986 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
3989 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
3990 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
3993 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
3994 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
3997 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
3998 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4001 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4002 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4005 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4006 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4009 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4010 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4013 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4014 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4018 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4019 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4020 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4024 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4025 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4027 One more special mark, though:
4031 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4032 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4034 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4035 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4036 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4037 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4043 @subsection Other Marks
4044 @cindex process mark
4047 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4053 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4054 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4055 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4056 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4057 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
4060 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4061 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4062 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4063 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4066 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4067 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4068 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4071 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4072 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4073 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4074 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4077 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4078 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4079 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4080 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4081 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4084 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4085 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4086 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4087 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4088 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4089 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4093 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4094 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4095 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4097 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4098 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4099 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4103 @subsection Setting Marks
4104 @cindex setting marks
4106 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4111 @kindex M c (Summary)
4112 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4113 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4114 @cindex mark as unread
4115 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4116 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4122 @kindex M t (Summary)
4123 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4124 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4125 @xref{Article Caching}.
4130 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4131 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4132 Mark the current article as dormant
4133 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
4137 @kindex M d (Summary)
4139 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4140 Mark the current article as read
4141 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4145 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4146 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4147 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4152 @kindex M k (Summary)
4153 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4154 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4155 and then select the next unread article
4156 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4160 @kindex M K (Summary)
4161 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4162 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4163 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4164 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4167 @kindex M C (Summary)
4168 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4169 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4170 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4173 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4174 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4175 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4176 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4179 @kindex M H (Summary)
4180 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4181 Catchup the current group to point
4182 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4185 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4186 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4187 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4188 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4191 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4192 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4193 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4194 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4198 @kindex M e (Summary)
4200 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4201 Mark the current article as expirable
4202 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4205 @kindex M b (Summary)
4206 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4207 Set a bookmark in the current article
4208 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4211 @kindex M B (Summary)
4212 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4213 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4214 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4217 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4218 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4219 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4220 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4223 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4224 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4225 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4226 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4229 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4230 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4231 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4232 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4233 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4236 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4237 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4238 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4239 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4240 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4241 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4242 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4243 The default is @code{t}.
4246 @node Generic Marking Commands
4247 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
4249 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
4250 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
4251 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
4252 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
4253 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
4256 Multiply these five behaviours with five different marking commands, and
4257 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
4260 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
4261 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
4262 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
4263 to list in this manual.
4265 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
4266 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
4267 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
4268 article, you could say something like:
4271 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
4272 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
4273 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
4279 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
4280 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
4284 @node Setting Process Marks
4285 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4286 @cindex setting process marks
4293 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4294 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4295 Mark the current article with the process mark
4296 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4297 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4301 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4302 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4303 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4304 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4307 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4308 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4309 Remove the process mark from all articles
4310 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4313 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4314 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4315 Invert the list of process marked articles
4316 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4319 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4320 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4321 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
4322 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4325 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4326 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4327 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4330 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4331 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4332 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4333 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4336 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4337 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4338 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4339 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4342 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4343 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4344 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4345 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4348 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4349 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4350 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4353 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4354 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4355 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4356 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4359 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4360 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4361 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4364 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4365 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4366 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4367 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4370 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4371 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4372 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4373 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4376 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4377 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4378 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4379 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4382 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4383 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4384 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4385 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4394 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4395 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4396 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4399 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4400 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4401 additional articles.
4407 @kindex / / (Summary)
4408 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4409 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4410 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4413 @kindex / a (Summary)
4414 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4415 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4416 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4419 @kindex / x (Summary)
4420 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
4421 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
4422 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
4423 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4427 @kindex / u (Summary)
4429 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4430 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4431 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4432 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4433 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4436 @kindex / m (Summary)
4437 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4438 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
4439 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4442 @kindex / t (Summary)
4443 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4444 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4445 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4446 articles younger than that number of days.
4449 @kindex / n (Summary)
4450 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4451 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4452 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4453 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4456 @kindex / w (Summary)
4457 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4458 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4459 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4463 @kindex / v (Summary)
4464 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4465 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4466 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4470 @kindex M S (Summary)
4471 @kindex / E (Summary)
4472 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4473 Include all expunged articles in the limit
4474 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4477 @kindex / D (Summary)
4478 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4479 Include all dormant articles in the limit
4480 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4483 @kindex / * (Summary)
4484 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
4485 Include all cached articles in the limit
4486 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
4489 @kindex / d (Summary)
4490 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4491 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
4492 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4495 @kindex / M (Summary)
4496 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
4497 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
4500 @kindex / T (Summary)
4501 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4502 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
4505 @kindex / c (Summary)
4506 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4507 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
4508 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4511 @kindex / C (Summary)
4512 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4513 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4514 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4515 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4523 @cindex article threading
4525 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4526 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4527 hierarchical fashion.
4529 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4530 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4531 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4532 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
4533 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4534 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4535 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4537 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4541 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4544 A tree-like article structure.
4547 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4550 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4551 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4552 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
4553 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4554 called loose threads.
4556 @item thread gathering
4557 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4559 @item sparse threads
4560 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4561 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4567 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4568 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4572 @node Customizing Threading
4573 @subsection Customizing Threading
4574 @cindex customizing threading
4577 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4578 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4579 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4580 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4585 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4588 @cindex loose threads
4591 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4592 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4593 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4594 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4595 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4596 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4598 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4599 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4600 There are four possible values:
4605 @cindex adopting articles
4610 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4611 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4612 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4613 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4616 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4617 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4618 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4619 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4620 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4621 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4622 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4625 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4626 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4627 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4631 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4632 display them after one another.
4635 Don't gather loose threads.
4638 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4639 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4640 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4641 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4642 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4643 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4644 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4645 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4646 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4647 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4648 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4650 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4651 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4652 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4655 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4656 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4657 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4658 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4659 simplification is used.
4661 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4662 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4663 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4664 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4666 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4668 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4674 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4675 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4676 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4677 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4682 (mapconcat 'identity
4683 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4685 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4688 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4691 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4692 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4693 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4694 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4695 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4696 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4698 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4701 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4702 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4703 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4705 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4706 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4709 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4710 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4711 Remove excessive whitespace.
4714 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4717 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4718 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4719 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4720 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4721 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4722 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4723 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4724 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4726 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4727 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4728 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4729 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4730 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4731 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4732 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4733 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4734 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4738 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4739 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4740 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4741 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4743 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4744 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4745 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4748 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4752 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4753 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4759 @node Filling In Threads
4760 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
4763 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4764 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4765 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4766 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4767 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4768 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4769 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4770 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4771 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4772 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4773 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4774 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4776 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
4777 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
4778 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
4780 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4781 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4782 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4783 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4784 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4785 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4786 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4787 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4788 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4789 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4790 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4791 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4792 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4793 @code{nil} by default.
4798 @node More Threading
4799 @subsubsection More Threading
4802 @item gnus-show-threads
4803 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4804 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4805 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4806 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4807 slower and more awkward.
4809 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4810 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4811 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4814 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4815 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4816 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4817 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
4818 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
4819 threads are expunged.
4821 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4822 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4823 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4826 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4827 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4828 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4829 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4830 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4833 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4834 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4835 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4838 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
4839 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
4840 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
4841 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
4842 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
4843 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
4844 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to. Setting
4845 this variable to an alternate value
4846 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
4847 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
4848 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
4853 @node Low-Level Threading
4854 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
4858 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
4859 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
4860 Hook run before parsing any headers.
4862 @item gnus-alter-header-function
4863 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
4864 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
4865 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
4866 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
4867 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
4868 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
4869 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
4870 meaningful. Here's one example:
4873 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
4875 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
4876 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
4878 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
4880 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
4887 @node Thread Commands
4888 @subsection Thread Commands
4889 @cindex thread commands
4895 @kindex T k (Summary)
4896 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4897 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4898 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4899 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4900 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4905 @kindex T l (Summary)
4906 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4907 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4908 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4909 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4912 @kindex T i (Summary)
4913 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4914 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4915 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4918 @kindex T # (Summary)
4919 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4920 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4921 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4924 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4925 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4926 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4927 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4930 @kindex T T (Summary)
4931 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4932 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4935 @kindex T s (Summary)
4936 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4937 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4938 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4941 @kindex T h (Summary)
4942 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4943 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4946 @kindex T S (Summary)
4947 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4948 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4951 @kindex T H (Summary)
4952 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
4953 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
4956 @kindex T t (Summary)
4957 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
4958 Re-thread the current article's thread
4959 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
4960 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
4963 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
4964 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
4965 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
4966 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
4970 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
4971 understand the numeric prefix.
4976 @kindex T n (Summary)
4977 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
4978 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
4981 @kindex T p (Summary)
4982 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
4983 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
4986 @kindex T d (Summary)
4987 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
4988 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
4991 @kindex T u (Summary)
4992 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
4993 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
4996 @kindex T o (Summary)
4997 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
4998 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5001 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5002 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5003 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5004 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5005 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5006 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5007 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5008 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5009 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5010 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5011 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5012 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5019 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5020 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5021 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5022 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5023 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5024 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5025 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5026 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5027 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
5028 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
5029 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
5031 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5032 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5033 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5034 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5035 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5037 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5038 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5039 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
5041 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
5042 last function in the list. You should probably always include
5043 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5044 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5045 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5046 ascending article order.
5048 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
5049 by number, you could do something like:
5052 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5053 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5054 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5055 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
5058 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5059 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5060 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5061 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5062 which the articles arrived.
5064 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5068 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5070 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5071 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5074 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5075 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5076 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5077 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5080 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5081 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5082 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5083 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5084 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5085 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5086 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5087 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5088 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5089 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5090 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5091 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5092 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5094 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5098 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5099 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5100 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5105 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5106 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5107 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5108 @cindex article pre-fetch
5111 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5112 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5113 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5114 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5115 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5117 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5118 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5120 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5121 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5122 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5123 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5124 connection is blocked.
5126 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5127 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5128 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5129 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5131 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5132 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5133 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5134 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5137 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5140 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5141 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5142 happen automatically.
5144 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5145 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5146 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5147 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5148 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5149 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5150 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5152 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5153 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5154 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5155 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5156 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5157 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5158 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5159 data structure as the only parameter.
5161 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5164 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5165 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5166 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5167 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5170 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5173 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5174 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5175 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5177 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5178 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5179 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5180 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5184 Remove articles when they are read.
5187 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5190 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5192 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5193 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5194 @c from the next group.
5197 @node Article Caching
5198 @section Article Caching
5199 @cindex article caching
5202 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5203 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5204 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5205 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5206 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5208 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5210 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5211 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5212 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5213 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5214 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5215 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5216 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5217 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5219 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5220 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5221 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5222 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5223 as dormant, and don't worry.
5225 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5227 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5228 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5229 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5230 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5231 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5232 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5233 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5234 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5235 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5236 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5238 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5239 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5240 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5241 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5242 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5243 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5244 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5245 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5246 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5247 not then be downloaded by this command.
5249 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5250 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
5251 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
5252 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5253 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5254 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
5256 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
5257 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
5258 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
5259 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
5260 variables, the group is not cached.
5262 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5263 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5264 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5265 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5266 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5267 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5268 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5269 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5270 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5274 @node Persistent Articles
5275 @section Persistent Articles
5276 @cindex persistent articles
5278 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5279 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5280 useful in my opinion.
5282 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5283 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5284 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5285 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5286 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5287 the expiry going on at the news server.
5289 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5290 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5291 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5297 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5298 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5301 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5302 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5303 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5304 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5308 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5310 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5311 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5312 interested in persistent articles:
5315 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5319 @node Article Backlog
5320 @section Article Backlog
5322 @cindex article backlog
5324 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5325 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5326 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5327 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5328 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5329 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5330 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5331 increase memory usage some.
5333 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5334 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5335 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5336 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5337 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5338 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5339 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5341 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5344 @node Saving Articles
5345 @section Saving Articles
5346 @cindex saving articles
5348 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5349 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5350 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5351 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5352 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5354 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5355 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5356 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5358 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5359 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5360 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5361 deleted before saving.
5367 @kindex O o (Summary)
5369 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5370 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5371 Save the current article using the default article saver
5372 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5375 @kindex O m (Summary)
5376 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5377 Save the current article in mail format
5378 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5381 @kindex O r (Summary)
5382 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5383 Save the current article in rmail format
5384 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5387 @kindex O f (Summary)
5388 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5389 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5390 Save the current article in plain file format
5391 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5394 @kindex O F (Summary)
5395 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5396 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5397 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5400 @kindex O b (Summary)
5401 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5402 Save the current article body in plain file format
5403 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5406 @kindex O h (Summary)
5407 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5408 Save the current article in mh folder format
5409 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5412 @kindex O v (Summary)
5413 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5414 Save the current article in a VM folder
5415 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5418 @kindex O p (Summary)
5419 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5420 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5421 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5424 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5425 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5426 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5427 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5428 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5429 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5430 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5431 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5432 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5433 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5434 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5435 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5439 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5440 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5441 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
5442 functions below, or you can create your own.
5446 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5447 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5448 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5449 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5450 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5451 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5452 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5454 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5455 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5456 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5457 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5458 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5459 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5461 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5462 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5463 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5464 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5465 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5466 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5467 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5469 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5470 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5471 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5472 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5473 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5475 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5476 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5477 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5478 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5479 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5482 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5483 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5484 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5485 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5486 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5488 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5489 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5490 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5491 reader to use this setting.
5494 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5495 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5496 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5497 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5500 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5501 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5502 available functions that generate names:
5506 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5507 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5508 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5510 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5511 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5512 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5514 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5515 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5516 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5518 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5519 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5520 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5523 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5524 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5525 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5526 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5527 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5531 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5532 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5533 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5534 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5537 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5538 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5539 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5540 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5541 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5542 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5543 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5544 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5545 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5547 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5548 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5549 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5550 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5552 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5553 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5554 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5557 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5558 lots of mail groups called things like
5559 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5560 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5561 following will do just that:
5564 (defun my-save-name (group)
5565 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5566 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5568 (setq gnus-split-methods
5569 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5574 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5575 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5576 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5577 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5578 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5579 all the files in the top level directory
5580 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5581 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5582 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5583 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5585 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5586 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5587 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5588 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5589 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5592 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5596 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5597 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5600 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5601 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5602 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5603 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5606 @node Decoding Articles
5607 @section Decoding Articles
5608 @cindex decoding articles
5610 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5611 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5614 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5615 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5616 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5617 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5618 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5619 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5623 @cindex article series
5624 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5625 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5626 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5627 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5628 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5630 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5631 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5632 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5634 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5635 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5636 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5638 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5639 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5640 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5643 @node Uuencoded Articles
5644 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5646 @cindex uuencoded articles
5651 @kindex X u (Summary)
5652 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5653 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5654 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5657 @kindex X U (Summary)
5658 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5659 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5660 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5663 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5664 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5665 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5668 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5669 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5670 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5671 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5675 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5676 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5677 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5678 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5679 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5681 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5682 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5683 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5684 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5687 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5688 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5689 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5690 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5691 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5692 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5696 @node Shell Archives
5697 @subsection Shell Archives
5699 @cindex shell archives
5700 @cindex shared articles
5702 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5703 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5704 some commands to deal with these:
5709 @kindex X s (Summary)
5710 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5711 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5714 @kindex X S (Summary)
5715 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5716 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5719 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5720 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5721 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5724 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5725 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5726 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5727 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5731 @node PostScript Files
5732 @subsection PostScript Files
5738 @kindex X p (Summary)
5739 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5740 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5743 @kindex X P (Summary)
5744 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5745 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5746 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5749 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5750 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5751 View the current PostScript series
5752 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5755 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5756 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5757 View and save the current PostScript series
5758 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5763 @subsection Other Files
5767 @kindex X o (Summary)
5768 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5769 Save the current series
5770 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5773 @kindex X b (Summary)
5774 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5775 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5776 doesn't really work yet.
5780 @node Decoding Variables
5781 @subsection Decoding Variables
5783 Adjective, not verb.
5786 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5787 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5788 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5792 @node Rule Variables
5793 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5794 @cindex rule variables
5796 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5797 variables are of the form
5800 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5807 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5808 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5810 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5811 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5814 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5815 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
5818 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5819 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5820 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5821 user and default view rules.
5823 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5824 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5825 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5830 @node Other Decode Variables
5831 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5834 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5836 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5837 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
5838 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5839 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5840 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5844 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5845 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5848 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5849 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5850 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5853 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5854 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5855 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5856 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5857 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5860 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5861 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5862 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5864 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5865 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5866 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5867 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5868 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5871 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5872 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5873 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5875 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5876 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5877 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5878 looking for files to display.
5880 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5881 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5882 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5885 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5886 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5887 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5890 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5891 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5892 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5895 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5896 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5897 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5900 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5901 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5902 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
5903 decoded articles as unread.
5905 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5906 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5907 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5908 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5910 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5911 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5912 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
5914 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5915 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5917 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5918 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5919 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5920 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5922 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5923 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5924 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5925 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5926 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5927 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5928 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5929 simply dropped them.
5934 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5935 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5939 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5940 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5941 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5942 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5943 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
5944 for you when you post the article.
5946 @item gnus-uu-post-length
5947 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
5948 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
5949 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
5951 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
5952 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
5953 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
5954 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
5955 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
5956 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
5957 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
5959 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5960 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5961 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
5962 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
5963 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
5964 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
5965 Default is @code{t}.
5971 @subsection Viewing Files
5972 @cindex viewing files
5973 @cindex pseudo-articles
5975 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
5976 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
5977 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
5978 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
5979 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
5980 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
5981 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
5983 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
5984 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
5985 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
5986 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
5988 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
5989 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
5990 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
5992 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
5993 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
5994 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
5995 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
5996 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
5998 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
5999 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6000 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6001 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6002 a list of parameters to that command.
6004 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6005 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6006 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6008 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6009 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6010 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6013 @node Article Treatment
6014 @section Article Treatment
6016 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6017 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6018 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6019 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6020 these articles easier.
6023 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6024 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6025 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6026 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6027 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6028 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6029 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6030 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
6034 @node Article Highlighting
6035 @subsection Article Highlighting
6036 @cindex highlighting
6038 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6039 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6044 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6045 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6046 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6047 Do much highlighting of the current article
6048 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6049 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6052 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6053 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6054 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6055 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6056 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6057 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
6058 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
6059 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6060 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6061 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6062 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6063 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6066 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6067 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6068 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6070 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6073 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6075 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6076 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6077 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6079 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6080 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6081 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6083 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6084 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6085 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6087 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6088 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6089 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6090 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6091 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6092 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6094 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6095 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6096 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6098 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6099 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6100 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6102 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6103 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6104 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6105 that it's a citation.
6107 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6108 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6109 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6111 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6112 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6113 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6115 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6116 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6117 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6118 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6124 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6125 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6126 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6127 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6128 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6129 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6130 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6131 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6136 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
6139 @node Article Fontisizing
6140 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6142 @cindex article emphasis
6144 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6145 @kindex W e (Summary)
6146 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6147 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
6148 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6149 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6151 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
6152 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6153 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
6154 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6155 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6156 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6157 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6158 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6162 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6163 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6164 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6173 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6174 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6175 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6176 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6177 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6178 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6179 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6180 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6181 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6182 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6183 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6184 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6185 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6187 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6188 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6189 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6193 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6196 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
6198 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
6199 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
6200 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
6201 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
6203 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
6206 @node Article Hiding
6207 @subsection Article Hiding
6208 @cindex article hiding
6210 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6211 too much cruft in most articles.
6216 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6217 @findex gnus-article-hide
6218 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
6219 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
6220 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
6223 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6224 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6225 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6229 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6230 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6231 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6232 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6235 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6236 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6237 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6241 @kindex W W l (Summary)
6242 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
6243 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
6244 Hide list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. Theese
6245 are strings some list servers add to the beginning of all @code{Subject}
6246 headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}.
6250 @item gnus-list-identifiers
6251 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
6252 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
6253 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
6258 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6259 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6260 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6261 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6262 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6263 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
6264 articles that have signatures in them do:
6266 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
6268 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
6270 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
6271 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
6273 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6276 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
6281 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6282 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6283 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6284 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6287 @kindex W W B (Summary)
6288 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
6291 @cindex stripping advertisments
6292 @cindex advertisments
6293 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
6294 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
6295 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
6296 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
6297 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
6298 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
6299 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
6300 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
6301 signature should be removed.
6304 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6305 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6306 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6307 customizing the hiding:
6311 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6312 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6313 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6314 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6315 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6316 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6317 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6322 Starting point of the hidden text.
6324 Ending point of the hidden text.
6326 Number of characters in the hidden region.
6328 Number of lines of hidden text.
6331 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6332 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6333 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6338 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
6339 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
6341 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
6342 following two variables:
6345 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6346 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6347 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6348 50), hide the cited text.
6350 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6351 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6352 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6357 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6358 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6359 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6360 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6361 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6362 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6366 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6367 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6368 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6370 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6371 citation customization.
6373 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
6377 @node Article Washing
6378 @subsection Article Washing
6380 @cindex article washing
6382 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6383 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6385 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6386 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6392 @kindex W l (Summary)
6393 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6394 Remove page breaks from the current article
6395 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
6399 @kindex W r (Summary)
6400 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6401 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6402 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6403 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6404 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6405 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6407 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6408 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6409 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6410 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6413 @kindex W t (Summary)
6414 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6415 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6416 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6419 @kindex W v (Summary)
6420 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6421 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6422 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6425 @kindex W o (Summary)
6426 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6427 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6430 @kindex W d (Summary)
6431 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6432 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
6434 @cindex M******** sm*rtq**t*s
6436 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s according to
6437 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
6438 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
6439 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
6443 @kindex W w (Summary)
6444 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6445 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
6447 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6451 @kindex W Q (Summary)
6452 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
6453 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
6456 @kindex W C (Summary)
6457 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
6458 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
6459 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
6462 @kindex W c (Summary)
6463 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6464 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
6465 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
6466 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
6467 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6470 @kindex W q (Summary)
6471 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6472 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6473 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6474 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6475 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6476 readable to me. Note that the this is usually done automatically by
6477 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
6478 header that says that this encoding has been done.
6481 @kindex W f (Summary)
6483 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6484 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6485 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6486 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6489 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6490 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6491 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6492 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6493 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6494 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6495 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6496 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6497 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6498 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6499 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6500 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6501 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6502 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6506 @kindex W b (Summary)
6507 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6508 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6509 @xref{Article Buttons}.
6512 @kindex W B (Summary)
6513 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6514 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6515 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6518 @kindex W W H (Summary)
6519 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
6520 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
6521 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
6524 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6525 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6526 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6527 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6530 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6531 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6532 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6533 lines with a single empty line.
6534 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6537 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6538 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6539 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6540 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6543 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6544 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6545 Do all the three commands above
6546 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6549 @kindex W E A (Summary)
6550 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
6551 Remove all blank lines
6552 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
6555 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6556 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6557 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6558 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6561 @kindex W E e (Summary)
6562 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
6563 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
6564 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
6568 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
6571 @node Article Buttons
6572 @subsection Article Buttons
6575 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6576 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6577 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6578 button on these references.
6580 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6581 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6582 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6587 @item gnus-button-alist
6588 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6589 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6592 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6598 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6599 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6600 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6603 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6604 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6605 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6608 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6609 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6610 avoid false matches.
6613 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6616 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6617 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6621 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6624 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6627 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6628 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6629 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6630 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6631 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6634 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6637 @var{header} is a regular expression.
6639 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6640 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6641 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6642 default values of the variables above.
6644 @item gnus-article-button-face
6645 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6646 Face used on buttons.
6648 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6649 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6650 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6654 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
6658 @subsection Article Date
6660 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6661 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6662 when the article was sent.
6667 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6668 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6669 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6670 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6673 @kindex W T i (Summary)
6674 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
6676 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
6677 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
6680 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6681 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6682 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6685 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6686 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6687 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6688 @findex format-time-string
6689 Display the date using a user-defined format
6690 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6691 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6692 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6693 for a list of possible format specs.
6696 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6697 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6698 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6699 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6700 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6701 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
6704 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
6707 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
6708 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
6711 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
6712 into wonderful absurdities.
6714 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
6717 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6720 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6721 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6725 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6726 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6727 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6728 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6729 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6730 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6731 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6735 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
6736 preferred format automatically.
6739 @node Article Signature
6740 @subsection Article Signature
6742 @cindex article signature
6744 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6745 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6746 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6747 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6748 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6749 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6750 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6751 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6752 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6755 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6756 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6757 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6758 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6759 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6760 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6761 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6762 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6765 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6768 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6769 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6770 signature when displaying articles.
6774 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6777 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6780 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6781 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6783 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6784 in question is not a signature.
6787 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6788 listed above. Here's an example:
6791 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6792 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6795 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6796 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6797 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6798 signature after all.
6801 @node Article Miscellania
6802 @subsection Article Miscellania
6806 @kindex A t (Summary)
6807 @findex gnus-article-babel
6808 Translate the article from one language to another
6809 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
6815 @section @sc{mime} Commands
6816 @cindex MIME decoding
6818 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
6819 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
6825 @kindex K b (Summary)
6826 View the @sc{mime} part.
6829 @kindex K o (Summary)
6830 Save the @sc{mime} part.
6833 @kindex K c (Summary)
6834 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
6837 @kindex K e (Summary)
6838 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
6841 @kindex K i (Summary)
6842 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
6845 @kindex K | (Summary)
6846 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
6849 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
6854 @kindex K b (Summary)
6855 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in from of them.
6858 @kindex K m (Summary)
6859 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
6860 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
6861 be viewed in a more pleasant manner.
6864 @kindex X m (Summary)
6865 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
6866 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
6867 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
6868 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6871 @kindex M-t (Summary)
6872 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
6873 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
6874 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
6877 @kindex W M w (Summary)
6878 Decode RFC2047-encoded words in the article headers
6879 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
6882 @kindex W M c (Summary)
6883 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
6884 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
6886 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
6887 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
6888 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
6889 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
6890 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
6891 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
6894 @kindex W M v (Summary)
6895 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
6896 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
6903 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
6904 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
6905 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
6906 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
6909 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
6912 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
6916 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
6917 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
6918 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
6919 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
6920 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
6922 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
6923 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
6924 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
6925 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
6926 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
6927 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
6928 save all jpegs into some directory).
6930 Here's an example function the does the latter:
6933 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
6934 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
6936 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
6937 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
6938 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
6939 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
6940 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
6943 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
6944 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
6945 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
6954 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
6955 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
6956 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
6957 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
6958 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
6959 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
6960 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
6962 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
6963 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
6964 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match group names) and
6965 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
6967 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
6968 aren't. These blitely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
6969 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
6970 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
6971 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
6972 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
6973 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
6974 something some agents insist on having in there.
6977 @node Article Commands
6978 @section Article Commands
6985 @kindex A P (Summary)
6986 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6987 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6988 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6989 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6990 run just before printing the buffer.
6995 @node Summary Sorting
6996 @section Summary Sorting
6997 @cindex summary sorting
6999 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
7000 can't really see why you'd want that.
7005 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
7006 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
7007 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
7010 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
7011 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
7012 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
7015 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
7016 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
7017 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
7020 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
7021 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
7022 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
7025 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
7026 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
7027 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
7030 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
7031 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
7032 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
7035 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
7036 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
7037 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
7040 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
7041 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
7042 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
7043 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
7044 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
7048 @node Finding the Parent
7049 @section Finding the Parent
7050 @cindex parent articles
7051 @cindex referring articles
7056 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
7057 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
7058 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
7059 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
7060 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
7061 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
7062 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
7063 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
7064 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
7066 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
7067 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
7068 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
7069 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
7070 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
7074 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
7075 @kindex A R (Summary)
7076 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
7077 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
7080 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
7081 @kindex A T (Summary)
7082 Display the full thread where the current article appears
7083 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
7084 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
7085 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
7086 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
7087 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
7088 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
7090 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
7091 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
7092 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
7093 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
7094 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
7095 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
7098 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
7099 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
7101 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
7102 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
7103 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
7104 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
7105 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
7106 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
7107 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
7110 The current select method will be used when fetching by
7111 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
7112 by giving this command a prefix.
7114 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
7115 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
7116 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
7117 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
7118 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
7119 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
7122 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
7123 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
7124 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
7127 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
7128 then ask Deja if that fails:
7131 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
7133 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
7136 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
7137 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
7138 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
7139 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
7140 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
7141 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
7144 @node Alternative Approaches
7145 @section Alternative Approaches
7147 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
7148 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
7151 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
7152 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
7157 @subsection Pick and Read
7158 @cindex pick and read
7160 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
7161 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
7162 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
7163 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
7165 @findex gnus-pick-mode
7166 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
7167 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
7168 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
7169 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
7170 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
7172 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
7177 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
7178 Pick the article or thread on the current line
7179 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7180 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
7181 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
7182 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
7183 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
7184 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
7187 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
7188 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
7189 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
7190 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
7194 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
7195 Unpick the thread or article
7196 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
7197 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
7198 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
7199 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
7200 the thread or article at that line.
7204 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
7205 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
7206 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
7207 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
7208 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
7209 will still be visible when you are reading.
7213 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
7214 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
7215 which is mapped to the same function
7216 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
7218 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
7221 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
7224 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
7225 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
7227 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
7228 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
7229 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
7231 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
7232 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
7233 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
7234 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
7235 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
7236 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
7237 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
7241 @subsection Binary Groups
7242 @cindex binary groups
7244 @findex gnus-binary-mode
7245 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
7246 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
7247 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
7248 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
7249 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
7250 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
7253 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
7254 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
7255 command, when you have turned on this mode
7256 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
7258 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
7259 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
7263 @section Tree Display
7266 @vindex gnus-use-trees
7267 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
7268 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
7269 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
7272 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
7275 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
7276 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
7277 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
7279 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7280 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7281 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
7282 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
7283 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
7285 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
7286 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
7287 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
7288 default is @code{modeline}.
7290 @item gnus-tree-line-format
7291 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
7292 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
7293 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
7294 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
7295 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
7296 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
7302 The name of the poster.
7304 The @code{From} header.
7306 The number of the article.
7308 The opening bracket.
7310 The closing bracket.
7315 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7317 Variables related to the display are:
7320 @item gnus-tree-brackets
7321 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
7322 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
7323 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
7324 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
7325 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
7327 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7328 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7329 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
7330 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
7334 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
7335 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
7336 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
7337 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
7338 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
7339 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
7340 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
7341 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
7342 other windows displayed next to it.
7344 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
7345 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
7346 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7347 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
7348 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
7349 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
7350 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7354 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7357 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7367 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7371 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7372 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7374 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7376 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7381 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7382 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7383 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7386 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7387 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7388 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7389 (gnus-add-configuration
7393 (summary 0.75 point)
7398 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7401 @node Mail Group Commands
7402 @section Mail Group Commands
7403 @cindex mail group commands
7405 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7406 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7408 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7409 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7414 @kindex B e (Summary)
7415 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7416 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7417 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7420 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7421 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7422 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7423 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7424 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7425 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7428 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7429 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7430 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7431 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7432 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7433 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7436 @kindex B m (Summary)
7438 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7439 Move the article from one mail group to another
7440 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7443 @kindex B c (Summary)
7445 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7446 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7447 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7448 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7451 @kindex B B (Summary)
7452 @cindex crosspost mail
7453 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7454 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7455 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7456 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7457 be properly updated.
7460 @kindex B i (Summary)
7461 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7462 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7463 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7464 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7467 @kindex B r (Summary)
7468 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7469 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
7470 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7471 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7472 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7476 @kindex B w (Summary)
7478 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7479 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7480 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7481 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7482 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7483 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7486 @kindex B q (Summary)
7487 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7488 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7489 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7490 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7493 @kindex B t (Summary)
7494 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
7495 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
7496 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
7499 @kindex B p (Summary)
7500 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7501 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7502 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7503 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7504 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7505 article from your news server (or rather, from
7506 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7507 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7508 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7509 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7510 just not have arrived yet.
7514 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7515 @cindex moving articles
7516 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7517 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7518 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7519 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7520 suggestions you find reasonable.
7523 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7524 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7525 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7526 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7530 @node Various Summary Stuff
7531 @section Various Summary Stuff
7534 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7535 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7536 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7537 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7541 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7542 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7543 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7545 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7546 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7547 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7548 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7549 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7550 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7553 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7554 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7555 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7556 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7557 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7559 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7560 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
7561 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
7564 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7565 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7566 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7567 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7568 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7569 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7570 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7571 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7572 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7573 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7578 @node Summary Group Information
7579 @subsection Summary Group Information
7584 @kindex H f (Summary)
7585 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7586 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7587 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7588 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7589 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7590 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7591 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7592 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7593 be used for fetching the file.
7596 @kindex H d (Summary)
7597 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7598 Give a brief description of the current group
7599 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7600 rereading the description from the server.
7603 @kindex H h (Summary)
7604 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7605 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7606 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7609 @kindex H i (Summary)
7610 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7611 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7615 @node Searching for Articles
7616 @subsection Searching for Articles
7621 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7622 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7623 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7624 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7627 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7628 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7629 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7630 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7634 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7635 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7636 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7637 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7641 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7642 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7643 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7644 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7647 @node Summary Generation Commands
7648 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7653 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7654 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7655 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7658 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7659 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7660 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7661 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7666 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7667 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7673 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7674 @kindex A D (Summary)
7675 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7676 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7677 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7678 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7679 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7680 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7681 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7682 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7686 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7687 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7688 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7689 several documents into one biiig group
7690 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7691 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7692 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7693 command understands the process/prefix convention
7694 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7697 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7698 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7699 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7700 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7701 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7702 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7706 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7707 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7708 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7711 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
7712 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
7713 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7714 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
7717 @kindex M-C-g (Summary)
7718 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
7719 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7720 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
7725 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7726 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7727 @cindex summary exit
7728 @cindex exiting groups
7730 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7731 group and return you to the group buffer.
7737 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7739 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7740 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7741 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7742 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7743 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7744 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7745 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7746 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7747 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7748 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7749 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7753 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7755 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7756 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7757 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7761 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7763 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7764 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7765 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7766 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7769 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7770 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7771 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7772 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7775 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7776 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7777 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7778 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7781 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7782 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7783 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7784 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7785 all articles, both read and unread.
7789 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7790 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7791 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7792 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7793 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7794 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7795 articles, both read and unread.
7798 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7799 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7800 Exit the group and go to the next group
7801 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7804 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7805 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7806 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7807 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7810 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7811 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7812 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7813 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7814 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7815 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7818 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7819 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7822 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7823 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7824 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7825 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7826 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7827 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7828 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7829 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7830 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7831 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7832 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7833 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7835 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7837 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7838 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7839 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7840 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7841 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7842 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7843 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7844 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7845 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7848 @node Crosspost Handling
7849 @section Crosspost Handling
7853 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7854 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7855 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7856 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7857 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7858 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7861 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7862 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7863 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7864 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7865 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7867 @cindex cross-posting
7870 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7871 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7872 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7873 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7874 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7875 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7876 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7877 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7878 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7879 the cross reference mechanism.
7881 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7882 @cindex overview.fmt
7883 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7884 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7885 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7886 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7887 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7888 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7891 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7892 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7893 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7898 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7901 @node Duplicate Suppression
7902 @section Duplicate Suppression
7904 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7905 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7906 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7907 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7912 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7913 is evil and not very common.
7916 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7917 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7920 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7921 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7924 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7927 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7928 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7930 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7931 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7932 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7933 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7934 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7935 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7936 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7939 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7940 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7941 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7942 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7943 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7947 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7948 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7949 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7951 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7952 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7953 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7954 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7955 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7956 session are suppressed.
7958 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7959 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7960 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7961 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7963 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7964 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7965 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7966 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7969 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7970 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7971 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7972 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7973 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7974 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7975 to you to figure out, I think.
7978 @node The Article Buffer
7979 @chapter The Article Buffer
7980 @cindex article buffer
7982 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7983 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7984 tell Gnus otherwise.
7987 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7988 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7989 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7990 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7991 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7995 @node Hiding Headers
7996 @section Hiding Headers
7997 @cindex hiding headers
7998 @cindex deleting headers
8000 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
8001 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
8003 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
8004 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
8005 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
8006 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
8007 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
8008 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
8009 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
8010 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
8011 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
8013 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
8017 @item gnus-visible-headers
8018 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
8019 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
8020 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
8021 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
8023 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
8024 the article and the subject, you'd say:
8027 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
8030 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8033 @item gnus-ignored-headers
8034 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
8035 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
8036 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
8037 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
8038 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
8040 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
8041 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
8044 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
8047 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
8050 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
8051 variable will have no effect.
8055 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
8056 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
8057 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
8058 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
8059 the headers are to be displayed.
8061 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
8062 and then the subject, you might say something like:
8065 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
8068 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
8069 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
8071 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8072 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
8073 You can hide further boring headers by setting
8074 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-header} to @code{head}. What this function
8075 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
8076 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
8077 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
8080 These conditions are:
8083 Remove all empty headers.
8085 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
8086 @code{Newsgroups} header.
8088 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
8091 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
8094 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
8097 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
8099 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
8102 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
8105 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
8106 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
8109 This is also the default value for this variable.
8113 @section Using @sc{mime}
8116 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
8117 while people stand around yawning.
8119 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
8120 while all newsreaders die of fear.
8122 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
8123 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
8124 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
8126 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
8127 @findex gnus-display-mime
8128 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
8129 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
8130 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
8131 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
8133 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
8137 @findex gnus-article-press-button
8139 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
8140 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
8141 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
8143 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
8144 @item M-RET (Article)
8146 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
8147 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
8149 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
8151 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
8152 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
8154 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
8156 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
8157 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
8159 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
8161 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
8162 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}.
8164 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
8166 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
8169 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
8170 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
8173 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
8174 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
8175 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
8176 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
8177 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
8178 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
8179 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
8180 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
8181 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
8183 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
8185 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
8188 @node Customizing Articles
8189 @section Customizing Articles
8190 @cindex article customization
8192 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
8193 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
8194 called automatically when you select the articles.
8196 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
8197 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
8198 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
8199 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
8201 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
8202 for sensible values.
8206 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
8209 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
8212 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
8215 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
8218 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
8222 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
8223 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
8224 regexps in the list.
8227 A list where the first element is not a string:
8229 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
8230 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
8231 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
8235 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
8240 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
8241 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
8242 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
8243 considered to contain just a single part.
8245 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
8246 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
8247 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
8248 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
8249 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
8250 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
8251 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
8253 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
8254 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
8255 group. Values in brackets are suggested sensible values. Others are possible
8256 but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
8259 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
8260 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
8261 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
8262 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
8263 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
8264 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
8265 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
8266 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
8267 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
8268 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
8269 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
8270 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
8271 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
8272 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
8273 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
8274 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
8275 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
8276 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
8277 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
8278 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
8279 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
8280 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
8281 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
8282 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
8283 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
8284 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
8285 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
8286 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
8287 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
8288 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
8289 @item gnus-treat-translate
8292 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
8293 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
8294 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
8295 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
8296 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
8300 @node Article Keymap
8301 @section Article Keymap
8303 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
8304 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
8305 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
8306 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
8309 A few additional keystrokes are available:
8314 @kindex SPACE (Article)
8315 @findex gnus-article-next-page
8316 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
8319 @kindex DEL (Article)
8320 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
8321 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
8324 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
8325 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
8326 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
8327 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
8328 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
8331 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
8332 @findex gnus-article-mail
8333 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
8334 given a prefix, include the mail.
8338 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
8339 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
8340 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
8344 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
8345 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
8346 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
8349 @kindex TAB (Article)
8350 @findex gnus-article-next-button
8351 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
8352 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
8355 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
8356 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
8357 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
8363 @section Misc Article
8367 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
8368 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
8369 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
8370 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
8373 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
8374 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
8376 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
8377 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
8379 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
8380 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
8381 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
8382 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
8383 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
8384 the contents of the article buffer.
8386 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
8387 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
8388 Hook called in article mode buffers.
8390 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8391 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8392 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
8393 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
8395 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
8396 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
8397 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
8398 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
8399 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with one
8404 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
8405 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
8408 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
8411 @vindex gnus-break-pages
8413 @item gnus-break-pages
8414 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
8415 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
8416 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
8417 paging will not be done.
8419 @item gnus-page-delimiter
8420 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
8421 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
8426 @node Composing Messages
8427 @chapter Composing Messages
8428 @cindex composing messages
8431 @cindex sending mail
8436 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
8437 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
8438 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
8439 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
8440 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
8441 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
8442 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
8445 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
8446 * Post:: Posting and following up.
8447 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
8448 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
8449 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
8450 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
8451 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
8452 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
8455 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
8456 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
8462 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
8465 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
8466 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
8467 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
8468 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
8470 @item gnus-add-to-list
8471 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
8472 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
8473 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
8481 Variables for composing news articles:
8484 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8485 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8486 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
8487 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
8488 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
8489 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
8490 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
8491 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
8492 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
8495 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8496 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8497 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
8498 file. It is 1000 by default.
8503 @node Posting Server
8504 @section Posting Server
8506 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8507 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8509 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8511 @vindex gnus-post-method
8513 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
8514 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8515 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8516 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8517 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8520 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8523 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8524 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8525 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8526 the ``current'' server for posting.
8528 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8529 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8531 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8532 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8535 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
8536 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
8537 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
8542 @section Mail and Post
8544 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8548 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8549 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8550 @cindex mailing lists
8552 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8553 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8554 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8555 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8556 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8557 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8558 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8559 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8560 still a pain, though.
8564 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8565 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8566 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8569 @findex ispell-message
8571 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8575 @node Archived Messages
8576 @section Archived Messages
8577 @cindex archived messages
8578 @cindex sent messages
8580 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8581 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8582 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8583 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8586 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8587 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
8588 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8592 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8593 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8594 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8595 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8598 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8599 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8600 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8601 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8604 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8605 '(nnfolder "archive"
8606 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8607 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8608 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8611 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8613 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8614 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8615 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8617 This variable can be used to do the following:
8621 Messages will be saved in that group.
8622 @item a list of strings
8623 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8624 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8625 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8627 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8632 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8634 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8637 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8639 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8642 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8644 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8645 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8646 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8647 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8652 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8653 '((if (message-news-p)
8658 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8659 messages in one file per month:
8662 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8663 '((if (message-news-p)
8665 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
8668 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8669 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8671 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8672 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8673 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8674 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8675 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8676 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8677 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8678 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8679 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8680 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8682 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8683 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8684 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8685 this will disable archiving.
8688 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8689 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8690 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8691 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8692 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8695 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8696 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8697 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8700 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8701 but the latter is the preferred method.
8705 @node Posting Styles
8706 @section Posting Styles
8707 @cindex posting styles
8710 All them variables, they make my head swim.
8712 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8713 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8714 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8717 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8718 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8719 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8720 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8721 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8726 (signature "Peace and happiness")
8727 (organization "What me?"))
8729 (signature "Death to everybody"))
8730 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8731 (organization "Emacs is it")))
8734 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8735 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8736 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8737 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8738 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8739 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8740 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8741 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8743 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8744 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8745 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header that
8746 match the next element in the match, and compare that to the last header
8747 in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function will be called
8748 with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8749 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8750 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8753 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8754 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} . @var{value})} pair. The
8755 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
8756 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
8757 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
8758 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
8759 article. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated,
8760 and the result is thrown away.
8762 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
8763 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
8764 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
8765 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
8766 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
8767 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
8769 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
8770 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
8771 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
8773 @findex message-mail-p
8774 @findex message-news-p
8776 So here's a new example:
8779 (setq gnus-posting-styles
8781 (signature-file "~/.signature")
8783 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8784 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
8786 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8787 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8788 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
8790 (signature my-news-signature))
8791 ((header "From.*To" "larsi.*org")
8792 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
8793 ((posting-from-work-p)
8794 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
8795 (address "user@@bar.foo")
8796 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
8797 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
8799 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
8807 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8808 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8809 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8810 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8811 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8813 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8814 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8815 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8816 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8817 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8821 @vindex nndraft-directory
8822 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8823 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8824 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8825 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8826 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8827 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8829 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8830 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8833 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8834 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8835 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8836 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8837 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8838 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8839 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8840 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8841 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8842 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8843 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8844 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8845 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8846 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8848 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8849 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8850 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8852 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8854 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8855 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8856 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8858 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8861 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8862 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8863 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8864 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8865 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8866 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8867 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8870 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8871 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8872 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8875 @node Rejected Articles
8876 @section Rejected Articles
8877 @cindex rejected articles
8879 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8880 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8881 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8882 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8884 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8885 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8886 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8887 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8888 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8890 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8891 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8892 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8895 @node Select Methods
8896 @chapter Select Methods
8897 @cindex foreign groups
8898 @cindex select methods
8900 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8901 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8902 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8903 personal mail group.
8905 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8906 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8907 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8908 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8909 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8910 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8912 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8913 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8915 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8918 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8919 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8920 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8921 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8922 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8924 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8927 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8928 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8929 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8930 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
8931 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8932 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8933 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8937 @node The Server Buffer
8938 @section The Server Buffer
8940 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8941 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8942 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8943 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8944 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8945 backend represents a virtual server.
8947 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8948 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8949 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8950 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8952 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8953 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8954 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8955 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8956 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8957 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8958 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8960 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8961 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8964 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8965 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8966 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8967 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8968 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8969 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8970 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8973 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8974 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8977 @node Server Buffer Format
8978 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8979 @cindex server buffer format
8981 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8982 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8983 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8984 variable, with some simple extensions:
8989 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8992 The name of this server.
8995 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8998 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
9001 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
9002 The mode line can also be customized by using the
9003 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
9004 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
9014 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
9017 @node Server Commands
9018 @subsection Server Commands
9019 @cindex server commands
9025 @findex gnus-server-add-server
9026 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
9030 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
9031 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
9034 @kindex SPACE (Server)
9035 @findex gnus-server-read-server
9036 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
9040 @findex gnus-server-exit
9041 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
9045 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
9046 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
9050 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
9051 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
9055 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
9056 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
9060 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
9061 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
9065 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
9066 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
9067 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
9072 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
9073 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
9074 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
9075 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
9080 @node Example Methods
9081 @subsection Example Methods
9083 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
9086 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
9089 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
9095 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
9096 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
9099 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
9100 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
9102 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
9103 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
9107 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
9110 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
9111 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
9113 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
9114 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
9115 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
9119 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
9122 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
9125 Here's the method for a public spool:
9129 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
9130 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
9133 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
9134 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
9135 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
9136 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
9137 should probably look something like this:
9141 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
9142 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9143 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9144 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9145 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
9148 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
9149 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
9150 server that would look something like this:
9154 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
9155 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
9156 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
9157 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
9158 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
9159 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
9162 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
9163 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
9164 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
9165 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
9168 @node Creating a Virtual Server
9169 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
9171 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
9172 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
9174 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
9175 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
9176 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
9178 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
9180 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
9181 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
9182 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
9183 will contain the following:
9193 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
9194 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
9195 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
9198 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
9199 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
9200 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
9203 @node Server Variables
9204 @subsection Server Variables
9206 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
9207 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
9208 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
9209 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
9210 won't change the "derived" variables.
9212 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
9213 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
9214 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
9215 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
9216 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
9217 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
9218 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
9219 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
9220 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
9224 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
9225 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
9226 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
9230 @node Servers and Methods
9231 @subsection Servers and Methods
9233 Wherever you would normally use a select method
9234 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
9235 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
9236 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
9240 @node Unavailable Servers
9241 @subsection Unavailable Servers
9243 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
9244 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
9245 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
9246 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
9247 actually the case or not.
9249 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
9250 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
9251 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
9252 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
9253 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
9254 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
9255 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
9256 it will regard that server as ``down''.
9258 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
9259 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
9261 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
9262 with the following commands:
9268 @findex gnus-server-open-server
9269 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
9270 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
9274 @findex gnus-server-close-server
9275 Close the connection (if any) to the server
9276 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
9280 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
9281 Mark the current server as unreachable
9282 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
9285 @kindex M-o (Server)
9286 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
9287 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
9288 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
9291 @kindex M-c (Server)
9292 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
9293 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
9294 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
9298 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
9299 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
9300 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
9306 @section Getting News
9307 @cindex reading news
9308 @cindex news backends
9310 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
9311 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
9312 or it can read from a local spool.
9315 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
9316 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
9321 @subsection @sc{nntp}
9324 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
9325 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
9326 server as the, uhm, address.
9328 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
9329 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
9330 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
9331 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9333 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
9334 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
9335 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
9337 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
9342 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
9343 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
9344 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
9346 @cindex authentification
9347 @cindex nntp authentification
9348 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9349 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
9350 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
9351 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
9352 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
9353 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
9354 present in this hook.
9356 @item nntp-authinfo-function
9357 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
9358 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
9359 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
9360 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
9361 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
9362 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
9363 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
9364 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
9365 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
9366 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
9367 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
9371 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
9374 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
9375 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
9376 @samp{default} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a valid
9377 @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is the only way the
9378 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
9383 Here's an example file:
9386 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
9387 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
9390 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
9391 have to be first, for instance.
9393 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
9394 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
9395 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
9396 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
9397 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
9398 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
9399 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
9401 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
9402 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
9408 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
9409 previously mentioned.
9411 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
9413 @item nntp-server-action-alist
9414 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
9415 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
9416 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
9417 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
9420 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
9424 You probably don't want to do that, though.
9426 The default value is
9429 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
9430 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
9433 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
9434 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
9436 @item nntp-maximum-request
9437 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
9438 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
9439 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
9440 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
9441 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
9442 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
9443 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
9445 @item nntp-connection-timeout
9446 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
9447 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
9448 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
9449 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
9450 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
9451 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
9452 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
9453 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
9454 no timeouts are done.
9456 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
9457 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
9458 @c @cindex PPP connections
9459 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
9460 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
9461 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
9462 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
9463 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
9464 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
9465 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
9466 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
9467 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
9468 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
9470 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
9471 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
9472 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
9473 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
9476 @item nntp-server-hook
9477 @vindex nntp-server-hook
9478 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
9481 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
9482 @findex nntp-open-telnet
9483 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
9484 @item nntp-open-connection-function
9485 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
9486 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
9487 functions are supplied:
9490 @item nntp-open-network-stream
9491 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
9494 @item nntp-open-rlogin
9495 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
9496 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
9499 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
9503 @item nntp-rlogin-program
9504 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
9505 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
9506 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
9508 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
9509 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
9510 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
9512 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9513 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9514 User name on the remote system.
9518 @item nntp-open-telnet
9519 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
9520 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
9522 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
9525 @item nntp-telnet-command
9526 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
9527 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
9529 @item nntp-telnet-switches
9530 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
9531 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
9533 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
9534 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
9535 User name for log in on the remote system.
9537 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
9538 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
9539 Password to use when logging in.
9541 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
9542 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
9543 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
9546 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9547 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9548 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
9549 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
9551 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9552 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9553 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
9554 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
9555 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
9559 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
9560 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
9561 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
9562 you must have SSLay installed
9563 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
9564 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
9565 define a server as follows:
9568 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
9570 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
9572 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
9573 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
9574 (nntp-port-number "snews")
9575 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
9580 @item nntp-end-of-line
9581 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
9582 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
9583 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
9584 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
9586 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9587 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9588 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
9592 @vindex nntp-address
9593 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
9595 @item nntp-port-number
9596 @vindex nntp-port-number
9597 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
9600 @item nntp-buggy-select
9601 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
9602 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
9604 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
9605 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
9606 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
9607 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
9610 @item nntp-xover-commands
9611 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
9614 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
9615 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
9619 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9620 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9621 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9622 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9623 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9624 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9625 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9626 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9627 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9628 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9629 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9631 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9632 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9633 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9635 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9636 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9637 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9638 server closes connection.
9640 @item nntp-record-commands
9641 @vindex nntp-record-commands
9642 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
9643 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
9644 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
9645 that doesn't seem to work.
9651 @subsection News Spool
9655 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9656 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9657 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9660 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9661 anything else) as the address.
9663 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9664 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9665 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9666 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9670 @item nnspool-inews-program
9671 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9672 Program used to post an article.
9674 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9675 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9676 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9678 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9679 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9680 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9681 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9683 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9684 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9685 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9686 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9688 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9689 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9690 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9692 @item nnspool-active-file
9693 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9694 The path to the active file.
9696 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9697 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9698 The path to the group descriptions file.
9700 @item nnspool-history-file
9701 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9702 The path to the news history file.
9704 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9705 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9706 The path to the active date file.
9708 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9709 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9710 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9713 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9714 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9716 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9717 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9718 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9724 @section Getting Mail
9725 @cindex reading mail
9728 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9732 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
9733 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9734 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9735 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
9736 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9737 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9738 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
9739 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9740 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9741 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9742 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9743 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9744 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9748 @node Mail in a Newsreader
9749 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
9751 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
9752 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
9755 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
9756 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
9758 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
9759 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
9760 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
9761 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
9763 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
9765 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
9768 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
9769 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
9770 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
9771 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
9774 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
9775 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
9776 they want to treat a message.
9778 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
9779 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
9780 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
9781 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
9782 archived somewhere else.
9784 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
9785 These are transported via NNTP, and are therefore news. But we may need
9786 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
9787 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
9788 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
9790 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
9791 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
9792 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
9794 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
9795 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
9798 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
9799 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
9800 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
9801 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
9802 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
9804 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
9805 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
9806 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
9807 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
9808 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
9809 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
9813 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9814 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9816 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9817 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9818 and things will happen automatically.
9820 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9821 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9824 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9825 '((nnml "private")))
9828 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9829 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9830 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9831 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9832 like any other group.
9834 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9837 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9838 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9839 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9843 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9844 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9845 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9848 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9849 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9850 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9853 @node Splitting Mail
9854 @subsection Splitting Mail
9855 @cindex splitting mail
9856 @cindex mail splitting
9858 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9859 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9860 to be split into groups.
9863 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9864 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9865 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9869 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9870 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9871 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9872 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9873 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9874 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9875 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9878 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9881 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9882 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9883 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9884 mail belongs in that group.
9886 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9887 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9888 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9889 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9890 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9891 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9893 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9894 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9895 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9896 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9897 thinks should carry this mail message.
9899 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9900 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9901 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9902 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9904 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9905 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9906 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9907 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9908 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9910 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9913 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9914 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9915 links. If that's the case for you, set
9916 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9917 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9919 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9920 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9921 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9922 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9924 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9925 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9926 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9927 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9928 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9929 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9930 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9931 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9936 @subsection Mail Sources
9938 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
9939 POP mail server, or from a procmail directory, for instance.
9942 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
9943 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
9944 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
9948 @node Mail Source Specifiers
9949 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
9956 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
9957 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
9962 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
9965 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
9966 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
9967 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
9970 The following mail source types are available:
9974 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
9980 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
9981 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
9984 An example file mail source:
9987 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
9990 Or using the default path:
9996 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
9997 use POP or IMAP or the like to fetch the mail. You can not you ange-ftp
9998 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
10001 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
10005 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
10008 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
10012 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
10015 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
10017 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
10020 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
10024 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
10025 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
10031 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
10035 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
10039 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
10040 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
10041 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
10042 predicate are considered.
10046 Script run before/after fetching mail.
10050 An example directory mail source:
10053 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
10058 Get mail from a POP server.
10064 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
10065 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
10068 The port number of the POP server. The default is @samp{pop3}.
10071 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
10075 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
10079 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This is should be
10080 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
10083 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
10086 The valid format specifier characters are:
10090 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
10091 included in this string.
10094 The name of the server.
10097 The port number of the server.
10100 The user name to use.
10103 The password to use.
10106 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
10107 corresponding keywords.
10110 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
10111 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
10114 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
10115 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
10118 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
10119 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
10122 @item :authentication
10123 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
10124 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
10129 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
10130 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
10132 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
10133 default user name, and default fetcher:
10139 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
10142 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
10143 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
10146 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
10149 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
10153 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox currently only
10154 supported by qmail, where each file in a special directory contains
10161 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
10162 @samp{~/Maildir/new}.
10164 If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
10165 them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
10166 @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the following example.
10170 An example maildir mail source:
10173 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/cur")
10177 Get mail from a IMAP server. If you don't want to use IMAP as intended,
10178 as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for some reason or
10179 other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server and fetches
10180 articles from a given IMAP mailbox.
10186 The name of the IMAP server. The default is taken from the
10187 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
10190 The port number of the IMAP server. The default is @samp{143}, or
10191 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
10194 The user name to give to the IMAP server. The default is the login
10198 The password to give to the IMAP server. If not specified, the user is
10202 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
10203 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
10204 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
10206 @item :authenticator
10207 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
10208 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this means
10209 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
10213 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
10214 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
10217 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default,
10218 @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people,
10219 but if you sometimes peek in your mailbox with a IMAP client and mark
10220 some articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to
10221 @samp{nil}. Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter
10222 what. For a complete list of predicates, see RFC2060 §6.4.4.
10225 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
10226 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
10227 would simply mark them as read. Theese are the two most likely choices,
10228 but more flags are defined in RFC2060 §2.3.2.
10231 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
10232 after finishing the fetch.
10236 An example IMAP mail source:
10239 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :stream kerberos4)
10245 @node Mail Source Customization
10246 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
10248 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
10249 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
10253 @item mail-source-crash-box
10254 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
10255 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
10256 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
10258 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
10259 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
10260 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
10262 @item mail-source-directory
10263 @vindex mail-source-directory
10264 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
10265 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
10266 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
10269 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
10270 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
10271 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
10276 @node Fetching Mail
10277 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
10279 @vindex mail-sources
10280 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
10281 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
10282 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
10283 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
10285 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
10286 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
10289 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
10290 mail server, you'd say something like:
10295 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
10296 :password "secret")))
10299 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
10303 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
10304 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
10307 :password "secret")))
10311 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
10312 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
10313 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
10314 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
10315 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
10316 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
10320 @node Mail Backend Variables
10321 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
10323 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
10327 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
10328 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
10329 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
10330 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
10332 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
10333 @item nnmail-split-hook
10334 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
10335 @findex RFC1522 decoding
10336 @findex RFC2047 decoding
10337 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
10338 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
10339 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
10340 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
10341 in the buffer will show up in any files.
10342 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
10345 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
10346 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
10347 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
10348 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
10349 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
10350 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
10351 starting to handle the new mail) and
10352 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
10353 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
10354 default file modes the new mail files get:
10357 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
10358 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
10360 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
10361 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
10364 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
10365 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
10366 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
10367 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
10368 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
10369 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
10370 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
10372 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
10373 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
10374 @findex delete-file
10375 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
10377 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
10378 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
10379 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
10380 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
10381 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
10386 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
10387 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
10388 @cindex mail splitting
10389 @cindex fancy mail splitting
10391 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
10392 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
10393 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
10394 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
10395 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
10396 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
10398 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
10401 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
10402 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
10403 ;; from real errors.
10404 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
10406 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
10407 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
10408 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
10409 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
10410 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
10411 ;; Other mailing lists...
10412 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
10413 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
10414 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
10415 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
10416 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
10417 ;; message was really cross-posted.
10418 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
10419 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
10421 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
10422 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
10426 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
10427 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
10428 the five possible split syntaxes:
10433 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
10434 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
10438 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @var{[- restrict [- restrict [@dots{}]]]}
10439 @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the first element of which is a
10440 string, then store the message as specified by @var{split}, if header
10441 @var{field} (a regexp) contains @var{value} (also a regexp). If
10442 @var{restrict} (yet another regexp) matches some string after
10443 @var{field} and before the end of the matched @var{value}, the
10444 @var{split} is ignored. If none of the @var{restrict} clauses match,
10445 @var{split} is processed.
10448 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
10449 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
10450 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
10451 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
10454 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
10455 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
10458 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
10459 this message. Use with extreme caution.
10462 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
10463 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
10464 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
10465 function should return a @var{split}.
10468 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
10469 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
10470 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
10474 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
10478 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
10479 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
10480 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
10481 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
10482 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
10484 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
10485 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
10486 are expanded as specified by the variable
10487 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
10488 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
10491 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
10492 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
10493 when all this splitting is performed.
10495 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
10496 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
10497 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
10500 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
10503 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
10504 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
10506 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
10507 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
10508 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
10509 groupings 1 through 9.
10512 @node Group Mail Splitting
10513 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
10514 @cindex mail splitting
10515 @cindex group mail splitting
10517 @findex gnus-group-split
10518 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
10519 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
10520 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
10521 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
10522 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
10523 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
10524 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
10525 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
10527 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
10528 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
10529 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
10530 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
10532 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
10533 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
10534 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
10535 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
10536 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
10537 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
10538 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
10540 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
10541 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
10542 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
10543 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
10544 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
10545 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
10546 @code{gnus-group-split}.
10548 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
10549 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
10550 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
10551 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
10552 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
10553 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
10554 that group is used as the catch-all group. Note that, in this case,
10555 there's no cross-posting, as a @code{|} fancy split encloses the
10556 @code{&} split and the catch-all group.
10558 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
10563 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
10564 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
10566 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
10567 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
10568 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
10569 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
10571 ((split-spec . catch-all))
10574 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
10575 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
10576 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
10579 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
10580 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
10581 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
10585 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
10586 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
10587 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
10591 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
10594 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
10595 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
10596 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
10597 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} may be the name
10598 of a group to be used as the default catch-all group. If
10599 @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
10600 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
10601 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
10602 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
10604 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
10605 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
10606 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
10607 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
10608 used to select @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
10609 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
10610 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
10611 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
10612 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
10614 @findex gnus-group-split-update
10615 However, if you change group parameters, you have to update
10616 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
10617 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
10618 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
10619 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
10622 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
10625 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
10626 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
10627 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
10628 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional),
10629 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
10632 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
10633 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
10634 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
10635 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
10637 @node Incorporating Old Mail
10638 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
10640 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
10641 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
10642 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
10645 Doing so can be quite easy.
10647 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
10648 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
10649 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
10650 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
10651 your @code{nnml} groups.
10657 Go to the group buffer.
10660 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
10661 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10664 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
10667 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
10668 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
10671 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
10672 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
10675 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
10676 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
10677 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
10678 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
10679 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
10681 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
10682 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
10683 using the new mail backend.
10686 @node Expiring Mail
10687 @subsection Expiring Mail
10688 @cindex article expiry
10690 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
10691 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
10692 different approach to mail reading.
10694 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
10695 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
10696 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
10697 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
10698 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
10699 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
10702 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
10703 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
10704 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
10705 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
10706 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
10707 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
10708 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
10709 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
10711 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10712 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
10713 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
10714 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
10715 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
10716 column in the summary buffer.
10718 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
10719 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
10720 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
10721 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
10724 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
10726 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
10727 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
10728 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
10731 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
10732 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
10733 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
10734 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
10735 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
10737 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
10738 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
10741 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
10742 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
10745 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
10746 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
10748 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
10749 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
10750 don't really mix very well.
10752 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
10753 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
10754 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
10755 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
10758 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
10759 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
10760 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
10761 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
10764 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10766 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
10768 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
10770 ((string= group "mail.junk")
10772 ((string= group "important")
10778 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
10779 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
10781 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
10782 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
10783 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
10786 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
10787 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
10789 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
10790 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
10791 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
10792 easier for procmail users.
10794 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
10795 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
10796 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
10797 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
10798 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
10799 caution. Even more dangerous is the
10800 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
10801 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
10802 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
10803 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
10804 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
10805 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
10806 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
10809 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
10811 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
10812 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
10813 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
10814 auto-expire turned on.
10818 @subsection Washing Mail
10819 @cindex mail washing
10820 @cindex list server brain damage
10821 @cindex incoming mail treatment
10823 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
10824 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
10825 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
10826 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
10827 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
10828 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
10830 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
10831 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
10832 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
10835 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
10836 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
10837 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
10838 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
10841 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10842 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10843 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
10844 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
10845 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
10848 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10849 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10850 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
10851 Emacs running on MS machines.
10855 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10856 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10857 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
10858 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
10861 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10862 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10863 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
10864 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
10866 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10867 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10868 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
10869 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
10870 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
10871 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
10872 also be a list of regexp.
10874 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
10875 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
10878 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
10879 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
10882 This can also be done non-destructively with
10883 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
10885 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
10886 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
10887 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
10889 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
10890 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
10892 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
10893 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
10894 @code{References} headers.
10898 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10899 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10900 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
10904 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
10905 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
10906 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
10913 @subsection Duplicates
10915 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
10916 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
10917 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
10918 @cindex duplicate mails
10919 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
10920 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
10921 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
10922 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
10923 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
10924 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
10925 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
10926 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
10927 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
10928 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
10929 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
10930 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
10931 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
10933 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
10934 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
10935 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
10936 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
10938 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
10941 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
10942 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
10946 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
10947 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
10948 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
10949 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
10950 (any mail "mail.misc")
10957 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10958 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
10963 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
10964 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
10965 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
10966 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
10967 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
10970 @node Not Reading Mail
10971 @subsection Not Reading Mail
10973 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
10974 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
10975 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
10977 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
10978 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
10979 mail, which should help.
10981 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10982 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10983 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10984 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10985 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10986 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
10987 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
10988 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
10989 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
10990 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
10991 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
10993 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
10994 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
10998 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
10999 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
11001 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
11002 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
11003 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
11005 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
11006 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
11007 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
11008 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
11011 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
11012 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
11013 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
11014 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
11015 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
11016 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
11020 @node Unix Mail Box
11021 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
11023 @cindex unix mail box
11025 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
11026 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
11027 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
11028 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
11029 which group it belongs in.
11031 Virtual server settings:
11034 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
11035 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
11036 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
11038 @item nnmbox-active-file
11039 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
11040 The name of the active file for the mail box.
11042 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
11043 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
11044 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
11050 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
11054 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
11055 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
11056 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
11057 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
11058 article to say which group it belongs in.
11060 Virtual server settings:
11063 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
11064 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
11065 The name of the rmail mbox file.
11067 @item nnbabyl-active-file
11068 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
11069 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
11071 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
11072 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
11073 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
11078 @subsubsection Mail Spool
11080 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
11082 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
11083 format. It should be used with some caution.
11085 @vindex nnml-directory
11086 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
11087 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
11088 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
11089 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
11091 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
11094 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
11095 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
11096 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
11097 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
11098 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
11099 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
11100 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
11101 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
11103 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
11104 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
11105 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
11106 backend when it comes to reading mail.
11108 Virtual server settings:
11111 @item nnml-directory
11112 @vindex nnml-directory
11113 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
11115 @item nnml-active-file
11116 @vindex nnml-active-file
11117 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
11119 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
11120 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
11121 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
11124 @item nnml-get-new-mail
11125 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
11126 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
11128 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
11129 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
11130 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
11132 @item nnml-nov-file-name
11133 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
11134 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
11136 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
11137 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
11138 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
11142 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
11143 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
11144 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
11145 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
11146 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
11147 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
11148 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
11153 @subsubsection MH Spool
11155 @cindex mh-e mail spool
11157 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
11158 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
11159 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
11160 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
11162 Virtual server settings:
11165 @item nnmh-directory
11166 @vindex nnmh-directory
11167 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
11169 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
11170 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
11171 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
11174 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
11175 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
11176 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
11177 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
11178 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
11179 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
11180 to set this variable to @code{t}.
11185 @subsubsection Mail Folders
11187 @cindex mbox folders
11188 @cindex mail folders
11190 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
11191 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
11192 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
11195 Virtual server settings:
11198 @item nnfolder-directory
11199 @vindex nnfolder-directory
11200 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
11202 @item nnfolder-active-file
11203 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
11204 The name of the active file.
11206 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
11207 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
11208 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
11210 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
11211 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
11212 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
11214 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
11215 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
11216 @cindex backup files
11217 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
11218 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
11219 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
11220 your @file{.emacs} file:
11223 (defun turn-off-backup ()
11224 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
11226 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
11229 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
11230 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
11231 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
11232 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
11233 extract some information from it before removing it.
11238 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
11239 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
11240 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
11241 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
11242 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
11243 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
11246 @node Comparing Mail Backends
11247 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
11249 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
11250 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
11251 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
11252 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
11253 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
11255 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
11256 typically done by NNTP these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
11257 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
11258 articles lay (the machine which today we call an NNTP server), and
11259 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
11260 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
11261 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
11262 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
11265 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
11266 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
11267 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
11268 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
11273 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
11274 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
11275 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
11276 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
11277 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
11278 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
11279 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
11280 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
11281 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
11282 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
11283 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
11284 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
11285 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
11290 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
11291 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
11292 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
11293 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
11294 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
11295 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
11296 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
11297 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
11298 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
11299 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
11300 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
11301 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
11302 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
11303 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
11305 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
11306 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
11311 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
11312 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
11313 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
11314 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
11315 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
11316 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
11317 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
11318 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
11319 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
11320 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
11321 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
11322 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
11323 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
11324 provided by the active file and overviews.
11326 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
11327 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
11328 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
11329 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
11330 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
11333 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
11334 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
11339 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
11340 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
11341 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
11342 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
11343 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
11344 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
11345 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
11349 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
11350 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
11351 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
11352 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
11353 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
11354 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
11355 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
11356 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
11357 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
11359 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
11360 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
11361 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
11362 friendly mail backend all over.
11367 @node Browsing the Web
11368 @section Browsing the Web
11370 @cindex browsing the web
11374 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
11375 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
11376 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
11377 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
11378 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
11379 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
11380 even know what a news group is.
11382 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
11383 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
11384 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
11385 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
11386 you mad in the end.
11388 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
11391 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
11392 interfaces to these sources.
11395 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
11396 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
11397 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
11400 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
11401 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
11402 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
11403 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
11404 though, you should be ok.
11406 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
11407 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
11408 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
11409 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
11410 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
11414 @subsection Web Searches
11418 @cindex InReference
11419 @cindex Usenet searches
11420 @cindex searching the Usenet
11422 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
11423 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
11424 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
11425 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
11426 searches without having to use a browser.
11428 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
11429 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
11430 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
11431 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
11432 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
11434 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
11435 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
11436 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
11437 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
11438 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
11439 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
11440 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
11441 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
11442 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
11443 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
11446 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
11447 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
11448 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
11449 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
11450 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
11451 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
11453 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
11454 to use @code{nnweb}.
11456 Virtual server variables:
11461 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
11462 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
11466 @vindex nnweb-search
11467 The search string to feed to the search engine.
11469 @item nnweb-max-hits
11470 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
11471 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
11474 @item nnweb-type-definition
11475 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
11476 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
11477 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
11482 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
11486 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
11489 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
11492 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
11496 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
11503 @subsection Slashdot
11507 Slashdot (@file{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
11508 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
11509 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
11511 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
11512 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
11515 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
11516 '((nnslashdot "")))
11519 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
11520 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
11521 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
11522 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
11523 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
11526 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
11527 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
11528 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
11529 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
11530 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
11531 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
11534 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
11537 @item nnslashdot-threaded
11538 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
11539 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
11540 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
11541 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
11542 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
11543 but much, much slower than untreaded.
11545 @item nnslashdot-login-name
11546 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
11547 The login name to use when posting.
11549 @item nnslashdot-password
11550 @vindex nnslashdot-password
11551 The password to use when posting.
11553 @item nnslashdot-directory
11554 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
11555 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default value is
11556 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
11558 @item nnslashdot-active-url
11559 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
11560 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
11561 news articles and comments. The default is
11562 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
11564 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
11565 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
11566 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
11568 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
11570 @item nnslashdot-article-url
11571 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
11572 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
11574 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
11576 @item nnslashdot-threshold
11577 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
11578 The score threshold. The default is -1.
11580 @item nnslashdot-group-number
11581 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
11582 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
11583 updated. The default is 0.
11590 @subsection Ultimate
11592 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
11594 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@file{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
11595 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
11596 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
11597 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
11599 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
11600 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
11601 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
11602 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
11603 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
11604 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
11605 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
11607 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
11610 @item nnultimate-directory
11611 @vindex nnultimate-directory
11612 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
11613 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
11617 @node Other Sources
11618 @section Other Sources
11620 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
11621 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
11625 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
11626 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
11627 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
11628 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
11629 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
11630 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a IMAP client.
11634 @node Directory Groups
11635 @subsection Directory Groups
11637 @cindex directory groups
11639 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
11640 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
11643 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
11644 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
11645 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
11646 backend to read directories. Big deal.
11648 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
11649 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
11650 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
11651 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
11652 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
11654 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
11656 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
11657 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
11658 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
11659 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
11662 @node Anything Groups
11663 @subsection Anything Groups
11666 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
11667 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
11668 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
11671 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
11672 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
11673 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
11674 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
11675 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
11676 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
11677 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
11678 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
11679 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
11680 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
11683 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
11684 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
11685 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
11686 in the article buffer, just as usual.
11688 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
11689 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
11690 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
11691 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
11693 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
11694 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
11695 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
11696 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
11697 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
11698 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
11699 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
11700 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
11705 @item nneething-map-file-directory
11706 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
11707 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
11708 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
11710 @item nneething-exclude-files
11711 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
11712 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
11713 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
11715 @item nneething-include-files
11716 @vindex nneething-include-files
11717 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
11718 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
11720 @item nneething-map-file
11721 @vindex nneething-map-file
11722 Name of the map files.
11726 @node Document Groups
11727 @subsection Document Groups
11729 @cindex documentation group
11732 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
11733 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
11740 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
11745 The standard Unix mbox file.
11747 @cindex MMDF mail box
11749 The MMDF mail box format.
11752 Several news articles appended into a file.
11755 @cindex rnews batch files
11756 The rnews batch transport format.
11757 @cindex forwarded messages
11760 Forwarded articles.
11763 Netscape mail boxes.
11766 MIME multipart messages.
11768 @item standard-digest
11769 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
11772 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
11775 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
11776 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
11777 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
11780 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
11781 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
11782 group. And that's it.
11784 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
11785 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
11786 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
11787 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
11788 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
11789 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
11790 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
11791 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
11792 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
11793 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
11795 Virtual server variables:
11798 @item nndoc-article-type
11799 @vindex nndoc-article-type
11800 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
11801 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
11802 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
11803 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
11805 @item nndoc-post-type
11806 @vindex nndoc-post-type
11807 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
11808 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
11813 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
11817 @node Document Server Internals
11818 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
11820 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
11821 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
11822 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
11823 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
11825 First, here's an example document type definition:
11829 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
11830 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
11833 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
11834 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
11835 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
11836 types can be defined with very few settings:
11839 @item first-article
11840 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
11841 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
11844 @item article-begin
11845 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
11846 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
11848 @item head-begin-function
11849 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
11852 @item nndoc-head-begin
11853 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
11856 @item nndoc-head-end
11857 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
11858 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
11860 @item body-begin-function
11861 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
11865 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
11868 @item body-end-function
11869 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
11873 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
11876 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
11877 regexp will be totally ignored.
11881 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
11882 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
11883 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
11884 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
11885 something that's palatable for Gnus:
11888 @item prepare-body-function
11889 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
11890 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
11891 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
11893 @item article-transform-function
11894 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
11895 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
11896 body of the article.
11898 @item generate-head-function
11899 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
11900 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
11901 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
11902 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
11906 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
11911 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
11912 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
11913 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
11914 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
11915 (head-end . "^ ?$")
11916 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
11917 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
11918 (subtype digest guess))
11921 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
11922 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
11923 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
11924 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
11925 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
11927 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
11928 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
11929 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
11930 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
11931 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
11932 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
11933 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
11934 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
11935 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
11936 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
11944 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
11945 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
11946 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
11948 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
11949 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
11950 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
11953 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
11954 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
11955 that interested in doing things properly.
11957 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
11958 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
11961 First some terminology:
11966 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
11967 get news and/or mail from.
11970 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
11971 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
11974 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
11978 @item message packets
11979 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
11980 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
11981 default, where @var{x} is a number.
11983 @item response packets
11984 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
11985 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
11986 default, where @var{x} is a number.
11996 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
11997 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
11998 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
11999 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
12002 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
12005 You put the packet in your home directory.
12008 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
12009 the native or secondary server.
12012 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
12013 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
12016 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
12020 You transfer this packet to the server.
12023 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
12026 You then repeat until you die.
12030 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
12031 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
12034 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
12035 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
12036 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
12040 @node SOUP Commands
12041 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
12043 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
12047 @kindex G s b (Group)
12048 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
12049 Pack all unread articles in the current group
12050 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
12051 process/prefix convention.
12054 @kindex G s w (Group)
12055 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
12056 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
12059 @kindex G s s (Group)
12060 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
12061 Send all replies from the replies packet
12062 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
12065 @kindex G s p (Group)
12066 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
12067 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
12070 @kindex G s r (Group)
12071 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
12072 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
12075 @kindex O s (Summary)
12076 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
12077 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
12078 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
12079 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
12084 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
12089 @item gnus-soup-directory
12090 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
12091 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
12092 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
12094 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
12095 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
12096 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
12097 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
12099 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
12100 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
12101 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
12102 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
12104 @item gnus-soup-packer
12105 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
12106 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
12107 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
12109 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
12110 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
12111 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
12112 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
12114 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
12115 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
12116 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
12118 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
12119 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
12120 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
12121 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
12127 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
12130 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
12131 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
12132 you can read them at leisure.
12134 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
12138 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
12139 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
12140 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
12141 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
12143 @item nnsoup-directory
12144 @vindex nnsoup-directory
12145 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
12146 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
12148 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
12149 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
12150 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
12151 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
12153 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
12154 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
12155 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
12156 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
12157 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
12159 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
12160 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
12161 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
12162 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
12164 @item nnsoup-active-file
12165 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
12166 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
12167 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
12168 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
12169 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
12171 @item nnsoup-packer
12172 @vindex nnsoup-packer
12173 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
12174 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
12176 @item nnsoup-unpacker
12177 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
12178 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
12179 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
12181 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
12182 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
12183 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
12186 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
12187 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
12188 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
12191 @item nnsoup-always-save
12192 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
12193 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
12199 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
12201 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
12202 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
12203 more for that to happen.
12205 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
12206 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
12207 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
12210 In specific, this is what it does:
12213 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
12214 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
12217 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
12218 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
12219 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
12222 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
12223 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
12224 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
12227 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
12228 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
12229 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
12231 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
12237 @item nngateway-address
12238 @vindex nngateway-address
12239 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
12241 @item nngateway-header-transformation
12242 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
12243 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
12244 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
12245 transformation should be called, and defaults to
12246 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
12247 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
12250 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
12251 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
12252 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
12255 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
12258 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
12261 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
12264 The following pre-defined functions exist:
12266 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
12269 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
12270 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
12271 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
12273 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
12275 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
12276 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
12277 @code{nngateway-address}.
12282 (setq gnus-post-method
12283 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
12284 (nngateway-header-transformation
12285 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
12293 So, to use this, simply say something like:
12296 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
12306 IMAP is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...), think of
12307 it as a modernized NNTP. Connecting to a IMAP server is much similar to
12308 connecting to a news server, you just specify the network address of the
12311 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
12316 @item nnimap-address
12317 @vindex nnimap-address
12319 The address of the remote IMAP server. Defaults to the virtual server
12320 name if not specified.
12322 @item nnimap-server-port
12323 @vindex nnimap-server-port
12324 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
12326 @item nnimap-list-pattern
12327 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
12328 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups
12329 to. This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
12330 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via IMAP,
12331 you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in @file{~/Mail/*}
12334 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
12335 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
12336 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
12342 ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*" ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))
12345 @item nnimap-stream
12346 @vindex nnimap-stream
12347 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
12348 will use the most secure stream your server is capable of.
12352 @dfn{kerberos4:} Uses the `imtest' program.
12354 @dfn{ssl:} Uses OpenSSL or SSLeay.
12356 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
12359 @item nnimap-authenticator
12360 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
12362 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap will
12363 use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
12367 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication.
12369 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
12371 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
12373 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
12376 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
12378 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
12379 Unlike Parmenides the IMAP designers has decided that things that
12380 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, IMAP has this
12381 concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually delete
12382 them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what nnimap
12383 does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or similair).
12385 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
12386 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
12387 running in circles yet?
12389 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
12390 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
12393 The possible options are:
12398 The default behaviour, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
12401 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing the
12402 articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other IMAP clients may allow
12403 you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command manually,
12404 @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
12406 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
12413 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
12414 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
12415 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
12420 @node Splitting in IMAP
12421 @subsubsection Splitting in IMAP
12422 @cindex splitting imap mail
12424 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
12425 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many IMAP
12426 server has server side splitting and those that have splitting seem to
12427 use some non-standard protocol. This means that IMAP support for Gnus
12428 has to do it's own splitting.
12432 There are three variables of interest:
12436 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
12437 @cindex splitting, crosspost
12439 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
12441 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
12442 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
12444 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
12446 @item nnimap-split-inbox
12447 @cindex splitting, inbox
12449 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
12451 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of IMAP mailboxes
12452 to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is disabled!
12455 (setq nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
12458 No nnmail equivalent.
12460 @item nnimap-split-rule
12461 @cindex Splitting, rules
12462 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
12464 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
12467 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
12468 sublist gives the name of the IMAP mailbox to move articles matching the
12469 regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that? Neither did I, we
12473 (setq nnimap-split-rule
12474 '(("INBOX.nnimap" "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
12475 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
12476 ("INBOX.private" "")))
12479 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
12480 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
12481 into INBOX.spam and everything else in INBOX.private.
12483 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
12484 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
12488 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
12491 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12492 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
12493 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
12494 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
12496 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
12497 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
12498 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
12499 of your inbox. (This might might affect performance if you keep lots of
12500 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
12501 them every time you fetch new mail.)
12503 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
12504 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
12505 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
12507 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
12509 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
12513 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
12514 @subsubsection Editing IMAP ACLs
12515 @cindex editing imap acls
12516 @cindex Access Control Lists
12517 @cindex Editing IMAP ACLs
12519 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
12521 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in IMAP for limiting
12522 (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all IMAP
12523 servers support this, this function will give an error if it doesn't.
12525 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
12526 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
12527 editing window with detailed instructions.
12529 Some possible uses:
12533 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
12534 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
12535 follow the list without subscribing to it.
12537 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
12538 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
12539 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the IMAP mailbox
12543 @node Expunging mailboxes
12544 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
12548 @cindex Manual expunging
12550 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
12552 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-close},
12553 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
12554 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
12556 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
12561 @node Combined Groups
12562 @section Combined Groups
12564 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
12568 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
12569 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
12573 @node Virtual Groups
12574 @subsection Virtual Groups
12576 @cindex virtual groups
12577 @cindex merging groups
12579 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
12582 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
12583 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
12584 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
12586 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
12587 regexp to match component groups.
12589 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
12590 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
12591 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
12592 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
12593 the virtual group.)
12595 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
12596 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
12599 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
12602 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
12603 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
12605 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
12606 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
12607 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
12608 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
12611 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
12614 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
12615 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
12616 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
12618 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
12619 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
12620 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
12621 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
12622 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
12624 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
12625 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
12626 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
12628 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
12629 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
12630 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
12631 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
12632 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
12633 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
12634 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
12635 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
12636 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
12637 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
12638 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
12640 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
12641 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
12642 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
12643 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
12644 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
12645 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
12646 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
12648 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
12649 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
12653 @node Kibozed Groups
12654 @subsection Kibozed Groups
12658 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
12659 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
12660 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
12661 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
12663 @kindex G k (Group)
12664 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
12667 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
12668 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
12669 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
12670 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
12672 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
12673 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
12674 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
12676 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
12677 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
12678 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
12679 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
12680 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
12681 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
12682 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
12683 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
12685 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
12686 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
12687 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
12688 Stranger things have happened.
12690 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
12691 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
12693 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
12694 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
12695 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
12696 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
12697 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
12698 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
12700 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
12701 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
12704 @node Gnus Unplugged
12705 @section Gnus Unplugged
12710 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
12712 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
12713 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
12714 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
12715 read news. Believe it or not.
12717 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
12718 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
12719 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
12720 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
12721 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
12723 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
12724 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
12725 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
12726 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
12727 reading news on a machine.
12729 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
12733 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
12734 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
12738 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
12739 @file{.gnus.el} file:
12746 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
12748 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
12751 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
12752 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
12753 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
12754 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
12755 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
12756 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
12757 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
12758 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
12759 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
12764 @subsection Agent Basics
12766 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
12768 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
12769 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
12770 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
12771 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
12773 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
12774 connected to the net continuously.
12776 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
12777 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
12779 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
12784 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
12785 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
12786 already fetched while in this mode.
12789 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
12790 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
12791 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
12794 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
12795 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
12796 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
12797 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
12800 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
12801 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
12802 then you read the news offline.
12805 And then you go to step 2.
12808 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
12814 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
12815 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
12816 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
12817 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
12818 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
12819 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
12822 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
12829 @node Agent Categories
12830 @subsection Agent Categories
12832 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
12833 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
12834 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
12835 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
12836 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
12837 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
12838 you're interested in the articles anyway.
12840 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
12841 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
12842 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
12843 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
12844 managing categories.
12847 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
12848 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
12849 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
12853 @node Category Syntax
12854 @subsubsection Category Syntax
12856 A category consists of two things.
12860 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
12861 are eligible for downloading; and
12864 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
12865 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
12866 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
12869 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
12870 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
12871 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
12872 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
12874 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
12875 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
12876 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as descibed below.
12878 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
12879 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
12880 operators sprinkled in between.
12882 Perhaps some examples are in order.
12884 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
12885 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
12891 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
12892 short (for some value of ``short'').
12894 Here's a more complex predicate:
12903 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
12904 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
12907 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
12908 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
12909 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
12911 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
12912 you want to do, you can write your own.
12916 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
12917 lines; default 100.
12920 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
12921 lines; default 200.
12924 True iff the article has a download score less than
12925 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
12928 True iff the article has a download score greater than
12929 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
12932 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
12933 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
12934 checksum and sees whether articles match.
12943 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
12944 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
12945 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
12948 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
12949 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
12950 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
12951 something along the lines of the following:
12954 (defun my-article-old-p ()
12955 "Say whether an article is old."
12956 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
12957 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
12960 with the predicate then defined as:
12963 (not my-article-old-p)
12966 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
12967 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
12968 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
12969 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
12972 (defvar gnus-category-predicate-alist
12973 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
12974 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
12977 and simply specify your predicate as:
12983 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
12984 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
12985 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
12986 just don't give a damm.
12989 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
12990 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
12991 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
12992 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
12993 parameters like so:
12996 (agent-predicate . short)
12999 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category
13000 default. Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this,
13001 the @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair
13004 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
13007 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
13010 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
13011 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
13012 predicate is assumed to be a list.
13015 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
13016 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
13017 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
13018 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
13019 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
13020 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
13022 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
13023 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
13024 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
13025 if it's to be specific to that group.
13027 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
13034 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
13035 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
13041 Category specification
13045 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
13051 Group Parameter specification
13054 (agent-score ("from"
13055 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
13060 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
13066 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
13073 Category specification
13076 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
13082 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
13086 Group Parameter specification
13089 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
13092 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
13097 Use @code{normal} score files
13099 If you dont want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
13100 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
13101 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
13102 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
13104 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
13105 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
13106 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
13107 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
13111 Category Specification
13118 Group Parameter specification
13121 (agent-score . file)
13126 @node The Category Buffer
13127 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
13129 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
13130 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
13131 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
13133 The following commands are available in this buffer:
13137 @kindex q (Category)
13138 @findex gnus-category-exit
13139 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
13142 @kindex k (Category)
13143 @findex gnus-category-kill
13144 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
13147 @kindex c (Category)
13148 @findex gnus-category-copy
13149 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
13152 @kindex a (Category)
13153 @findex gnus-category-add
13154 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
13157 @kindex p (Category)
13158 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
13159 Edit the predicate of the current category
13160 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
13163 @kindex g (Category)
13164 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
13165 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
13166 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
13169 @kindex s (Category)
13170 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
13171 Edit the download score rule of the current category
13172 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
13175 @kindex l (Category)
13176 @findex gnus-category-list
13177 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
13181 @node Category Variables
13182 @subsubsection Category Variables
13185 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
13186 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
13187 Hook run in category buffers.
13189 @item gnus-category-line-format
13190 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
13191 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
13192 Variables}). Valid elements are:
13196 The name of the category.
13199 The number of groups in the category.
13202 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
13203 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
13204 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
13206 @item gnus-agent-short-article
13207 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
13208 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
13210 @item gnus-agent-long-article
13211 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
13212 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
13214 @item gnus-agent-low-score
13215 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
13216 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
13219 @item gnus-agent-high-score
13220 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
13221 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
13227 @node Agent Commands
13228 @subsection Agent Commands
13230 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
13231 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
13232 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
13236 * Group Agent Commands::
13237 * Summary Agent Commands::
13238 * Server Agent Commands::
13241 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
13242 following incantation:
13244 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
13246 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
13251 @node Group Agent Commands
13252 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
13256 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
13257 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
13258 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
13259 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
13262 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
13263 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
13264 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
13267 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
13268 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
13269 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
13270 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
13273 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
13274 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
13275 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
13276 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
13279 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
13280 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
13281 Add the current group to an Agent category
13282 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
13283 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13286 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
13287 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
13288 Remove the current group from its category, if any
13289 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
13290 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13295 @node Summary Agent Commands
13296 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
13300 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
13301 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
13302 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
13305 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
13306 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
13307 Remove the downloading mark from the article
13308 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
13311 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
13312 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
13313 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
13316 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
13317 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
13318 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
13323 @node Server Agent Commands
13324 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
13328 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
13329 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
13330 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
13331 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
13334 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
13335 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
13336 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
13337 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
13343 @subsection Agent Expiry
13345 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
13346 @findex gnus-agent-expire
13347 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
13348 @cindex Agent expiry
13349 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
13352 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
13353 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
13354 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
13355 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
13356 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
13357 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
13359 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
13360 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
13361 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
13362 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
13363 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
13366 @node Outgoing Messages
13367 @subsection Outgoing Messages
13369 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
13370 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
13371 after posting, and edit them at will.
13373 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
13374 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
13375 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
13376 messages in the draft group.
13380 @node Agent Variables
13381 @subsection Agent Variables
13384 @item gnus-agent-directory
13385 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
13386 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
13387 @file{~/News/agent/}.
13389 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
13390 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
13391 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
13392 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
13393 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
13396 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
13397 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
13398 Hook run when connecting to the network.
13400 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
13401 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
13402 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
13407 @node Example Setup
13408 @subsection Example Setup
13410 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
13411 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
13412 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
13415 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
13416 ;;; from your ISP's server.
13417 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
13419 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
13420 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
13421 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
13423 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
13424 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
13426 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
13430 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
13431 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
13434 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
13435 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
13436 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
13437 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
13438 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
13441 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
13442 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
13443 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
13444 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
13445 back all the killed groups.)
13447 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
13448 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
13449 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
13452 @node Batching Agents
13453 @subsection Batching Agents
13455 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
13456 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
13457 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
13461 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
13465 @node Agent Caveats
13466 @subsection Agent Caveats
13468 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
13469 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
13473 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
13478 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
13479 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
13485 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
13486 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
13493 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
13494 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
13495 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
13498 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
13499 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
13500 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
13501 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
13502 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
13504 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
13505 before generating the summary buffer.
13507 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
13508 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
13509 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
13511 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
13512 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
13513 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
13514 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
13517 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
13518 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
13519 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
13520 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
13521 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
13522 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
13523 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
13524 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
13525 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
13526 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
13527 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
13528 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
13529 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
13530 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
13531 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
13532 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
13536 @node Summary Score Commands
13537 @section Summary Score Commands
13538 @cindex score commands
13540 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
13541 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
13542 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
13543 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
13544 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
13546 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
13547 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
13548 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
13549 score file the current one.
13551 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
13556 @kindex V s (Summary)
13557 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
13558 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
13561 @kindex V S (Summary)
13562 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
13563 Display the score of the current article
13564 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
13567 @kindex V t (Summary)
13568 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
13569 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
13570 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
13573 @kindex V R (Summary)
13574 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
13575 Run the current summary through the scoring process
13576 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
13577 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
13578 effect you're having.
13581 @kindex V c (Summary)
13582 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
13583 Make a different score file the current
13584 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
13587 @kindex V e (Summary)
13588 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
13589 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
13590 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
13594 @kindex V f (Summary)
13595 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
13596 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
13597 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
13600 @kindex V F (Summary)
13601 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
13602 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
13603 after editing score files.
13606 @kindex V C (Summary)
13607 @findex gnus-score-customize
13608 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
13609 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
13613 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
13618 @kindex V m (Summary)
13619 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
13620 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
13621 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
13624 @kindex V x (Summary)
13625 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
13626 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
13627 expunge all articles below this score
13628 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
13631 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
13632 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
13635 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
13636 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
13640 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
13641 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
13643 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
13644 keys are available:
13648 Score on the author name.
13651 Score on the subject line.
13654 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
13657 Score on the @code{References} line.
13663 Score on the number of lines.
13666 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
13669 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
13670 the followups to this author.
13684 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
13685 what headers you are scoring on.
13697 Substring matching.
13700 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
13729 Greater than number.
13734 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
13735 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
13736 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
13740 Temporary score entry.
13743 Permanent score entry.
13746 Immediately scoring.
13751 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
13752 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
13753 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
13754 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
13756 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
13757 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
13758 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
13759 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
13760 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
13762 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
13763 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
13764 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
13765 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
13766 current score file.
13768 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
13769 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
13770 pretend they are keymaps or not.
13773 @node Group Score Commands
13774 @section Group Score Commands
13775 @cindex group score commands
13777 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
13782 @kindex W f (Group)
13783 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
13784 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
13785 all the time. This command will flush the cache
13786 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
13790 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
13792 @findex gnus-batch-score
13793 @cindex batch scoring
13795 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
13799 @node Score Variables
13800 @section Score Variables
13801 @cindex score variables
13805 @item gnus-use-scoring
13806 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
13807 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
13808 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
13810 @item gnus-kill-killed
13811 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
13812 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
13813 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
13814 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
13815 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
13816 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
13817 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
13819 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
13820 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
13821 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
13822 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
13823 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
13825 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
13826 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
13827 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
13828 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
13830 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
13831 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
13832 @cindex score cache
13833 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
13834 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
13835 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
13836 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
13837 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
13838 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
13841 @item gnus-save-score
13842 @vindex gnus-save-score
13843 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
13844 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
13845 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
13847 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
13848 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
13849 across group visits.
13851 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
13852 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
13853 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
13854 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
13855 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
13856 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
13857 manually entered data.
13859 @item gnus-summary-default-score
13860 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
13861 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
13863 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
13864 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
13865 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
13866 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
13867 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
13868 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
13870 @item gnus-score-over-mark
13871 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
13872 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
13873 default. Default is @samp{+}.
13875 @item gnus-score-below-mark
13876 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
13877 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
13878 default. Default is @samp{-}.
13880 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
13881 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
13882 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
13883 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
13885 Predefined functions available are:
13888 @item gnus-score-find-single
13889 @findex gnus-score-find-single
13890 Only apply the group's own score file.
13892 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
13893 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
13894 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
13895 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
13896 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
13897 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
13898 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
13899 then a regexp match is done.
13901 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
13902 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
13904 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
13905 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
13906 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
13907 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
13909 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
13910 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
13911 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
13912 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
13913 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
13916 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
13917 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
13918 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
13919 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
13920 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
13921 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
13924 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
13925 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
13926 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
13927 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
13928 are expired. It's 7 by default.
13930 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
13931 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
13932 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
13933 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
13934 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
13935 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
13936 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
13939 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
13940 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
13941 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
13943 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
13944 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
13945 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
13946 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
13947 threading---according to the current value of
13948 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
13949 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
13950 simplified in this manner.
13955 @node Score File Format
13956 @section Score File Format
13957 @cindex score file format
13959 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
13960 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
13961 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
13963 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
13967 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
13969 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
13971 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
13973 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
13978 (mark-and-expunge -10)
13982 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
13983 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
13984 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
13985 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
13989 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
13990 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
13992 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
13993 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
13994 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
13996 Six keys are supported by this alist:
14001 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
14002 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
14003 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
14004 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
14005 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
14006 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
14007 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
14008 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
14009 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
14010 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
14011 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
14012 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
14013 to articles that matches these score entries.
14015 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
14016 score entry has one to four elements.
14020 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
14021 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
14025 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
14026 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
14027 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
14028 is successful. If this element is not present, the
14029 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
14030 instead. This is 1000 by default.
14033 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
14034 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
14035 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
14036 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
14037 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
14040 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
14041 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
14042 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
14043 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
14046 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
14047 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
14048 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
14049 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
14050 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
14051 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
14052 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
14053 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
14054 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
14055 instead, if you feel like.
14058 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
14059 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
14061 These predicates are true if
14064 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
14067 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
14068 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
14075 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
14076 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
14077 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
14078 it's not. I think.)
14080 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
14081 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
14082 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
14083 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
14086 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
14087 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
14088 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
14089 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
14090 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
14091 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
14092 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
14096 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
14097 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
14098 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
14099 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
14100 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
14101 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
14102 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
14103 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
14106 @item Head, Body, All
14107 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
14111 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
14112 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
14113 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
14114 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
14115 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
14116 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
14117 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
14121 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
14122 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
14123 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
14124 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
14125 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
14126 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
14127 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
14128 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
14129 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
14130 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
14131 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
14135 @cindex Score File Atoms
14137 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
14138 lower than this number will be marked as read.
14141 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
14142 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
14144 @item mark-and-expunge
14145 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
14146 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
14149 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
14150 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
14151 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
14152 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
14153 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
14156 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
14157 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
14160 @item exclude-files
14161 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
14162 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
14166 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
14167 ignored when handling global score files.
14170 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
14171 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
14172 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
14173 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
14176 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
14177 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
14178 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
14179 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
14181 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
14185 (mark-and-expunge -100)
14188 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
14189 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
14190 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
14191 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
14192 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
14194 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
14195 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
14196 ordinary scoring rules.
14199 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
14200 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
14201 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
14202 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
14203 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
14204 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
14205 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
14206 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
14207 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
14208 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
14209 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
14213 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
14214 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
14215 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
14216 file for a number of groups.
14219 @cindex local variables
14220 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
14221 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
14222 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
14223 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
14224 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
14228 @node Score File Editing
14229 @section Score File Editing
14231 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
14232 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
14233 with a mode for that.
14235 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
14236 additional commands:
14241 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
14242 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
14243 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
14244 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
14247 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
14248 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
14249 Insert the current date in numerical format
14250 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
14251 you were wondering.
14254 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
14255 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
14256 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
14257 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
14258 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
14263 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
14265 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
14266 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
14268 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
14269 e} to begin editing score files.
14272 @node Adaptive Scoring
14273 @section Adaptive Scoring
14274 @cindex adaptive scoring
14276 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
14277 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
14278 stupidity, to be precise.
14280 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
14281 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
14282 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
14283 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
14284 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
14285 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
14286 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
14287 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
14288 variable to @code{(word line)}.
14290 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
14291 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
14292 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
14293 might look something like this:
14296 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
14297 '((gnus-unread-mark)
14298 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
14299 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
14300 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
14301 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
14302 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
14303 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
14304 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
14305 (gnus-ancient-mark)
14306 (gnus-low-score-mark)
14307 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
14310 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
14311 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
14312 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
14313 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
14314 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
14315 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
14318 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
14319 will be applied to each article.
14321 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
14322 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
14323 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
14324 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
14326 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
14327 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
14328 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
14329 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
14331 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
14332 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
14333 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
14334 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
14336 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
14337 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
14338 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
14339 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
14340 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
14341 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
14343 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
14344 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
14345 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
14346 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
14347 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
14348 aspirins afterwards.)
14350 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
14351 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
14352 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
14354 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
14355 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
14356 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
14358 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
14359 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
14360 let you use different rules in different groups.
14362 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
14363 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
14364 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
14367 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
14368 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
14369 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
14370 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
14371 the length of the match is less than
14372 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
14373 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
14376 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
14377 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
14378 headers. If you adapt on words, the
14379 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
14380 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
14383 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
14384 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
14385 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
14386 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
14387 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
14390 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
14391 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
14392 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
14393 score with 30 points.
14395 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
14396 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
14397 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
14398 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
14399 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
14401 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
14402 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
14403 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
14404 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
14406 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
14407 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
14408 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
14409 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
14411 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
14412 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
14413 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
14414 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
14415 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
14417 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
14418 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
14419 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
14421 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
14422 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
14423 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
14424 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
14427 @node Home Score File
14428 @section Home Score File
14430 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
14431 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
14432 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
14433 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
14435 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
14436 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
14437 could perhaps use the same home score file.
14439 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
14440 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
14445 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
14449 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
14450 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
14454 A list. The elements in this list can be:
14458 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
14459 group name, the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
14462 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
14463 the home score file.
14466 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
14469 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
14474 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
14477 (setq gnus-home-score-file
14478 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
14481 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
14482 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
14484 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
14486 (setq gnus-home-score-file
14487 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
14490 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
14491 Other functions include
14494 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
14495 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
14496 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
14497 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
14501 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
14502 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
14503 their own home score files:
14506 (setq gnus-home-score-file
14507 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
14508 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
14509 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
14510 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
14513 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
14514 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
14515 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
14516 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
14517 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
14519 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
14520 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
14521 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
14522 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
14523 precedence over this variable.
14526 @node Followups To Yourself
14527 @section Followups To Yourself
14529 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
14530 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
14531 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
14532 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
14533 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
14534 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
14538 @item gnus-score-followup-article
14539 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
14540 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
14543 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
14544 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
14545 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
14549 @vindex message-sent-hook
14550 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
14551 @code{message-sent-hook}.
14553 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
14554 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
14558 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
14559 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
14562 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
14563 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
14568 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
14572 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
14573 is system-dependent.
14577 @section Scoring Tips
14578 @cindex scoring tips
14584 @cindex scoring crossposts
14585 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
14586 the @code{Xref} header.
14588 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
14591 @item Multiple crossposts
14592 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
14593 more than, say, 3 groups:
14595 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
14598 @item Matching on the body
14599 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
14600 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
14601 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
14602 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
14603 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
14604 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
14605 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
14608 @item Marking as read
14609 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
14610 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
14611 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
14615 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
14617 @item Negated character classes
14618 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
14619 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
14620 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
14624 @node Reverse Scoring
14625 @section Reverse Scoring
14626 @cindex reverse scoring
14628 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
14629 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
14630 like this in your score file:
14634 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
14639 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
14640 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
14643 @node Global Score Files
14644 @section Global Score Files
14645 @cindex global score files
14647 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
14648 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
14649 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
14651 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
14652 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
14653 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
14655 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
14656 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
14657 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
14658 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
14659 files are applicable to which group.
14661 Say you want to use the score file
14662 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
14663 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
14666 (setq gnus-global-score-files
14667 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
14668 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
14671 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
14672 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
14673 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
14674 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
14675 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
14677 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
14678 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
14680 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
14681 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
14682 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
14683 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
14684 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
14685 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
14687 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
14693 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
14695 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
14697 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
14699 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
14700 lowered out of existence.
14702 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
14703 articles completely.
14706 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
14707 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
14708 old articles for a long time.
14711 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
14712 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
14713 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
14714 holding our breath yet?
14718 @section Kill Files
14721 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
14722 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
14723 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
14725 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
14726 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
14727 files into score files.
14729 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
14730 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
14731 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
14732 that isn't a very good idea.
14734 Normal kill files look like this:
14737 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14738 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
14742 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
14743 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
14745 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
14746 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
14749 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
14754 @kindex M-k (Summary)
14755 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
14756 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
14759 @kindex M-K (Summary)
14760 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
14761 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
14764 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
14769 @kindex M-k (Group)
14770 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
14771 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
14774 @kindex M-K (Group)
14775 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
14776 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
14779 Kill file variables:
14782 @item gnus-kill-file-name
14783 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
14784 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
14785 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
14786 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
14787 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
14788 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
14790 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
14791 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
14792 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
14793 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
14796 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
14797 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
14798 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
14799 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
14800 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
14801 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
14802 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
14803 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
14804 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
14806 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
14807 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
14808 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
14813 @node Converting Kill Files
14814 @section Converting Kill Files
14816 @cindex converting kill files
14818 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
14819 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
14820 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
14823 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
14824 You can fetch it from
14825 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
14827 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
14828 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
14829 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
14837 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
14838 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
14839 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
14841 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
14842 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
14843 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
14844 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
14845 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
14846 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
14847 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
14848 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
14852 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
14853 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
14854 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
14855 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
14859 @node Using GroupLens
14860 @subsection Using GroupLens
14862 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
14864 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
14865 better bit in town at the moment.
14867 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
14871 @item gnus-use-grouplens
14872 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
14873 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
14874 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
14876 @item grouplens-pseudonym
14877 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
14878 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
14879 with the Better Bit Bureau.
14881 @item grouplens-newsgroups
14882 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
14883 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
14887 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
14888 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
14889 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
14890 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
14891 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
14892 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
14895 @node Rating Articles
14896 @subsection Rating Articles
14898 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
14899 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
14900 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
14901 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
14904 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
14909 @kindex r (GroupLens)
14910 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
14911 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
14914 @kindex k (GroupLens)
14915 @findex grouplens-score-thread
14916 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
14917 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
14918 threads in rec.humor.
14922 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
14923 the score of the article you're reading.
14928 @kindex n (GroupLens)
14929 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
14930 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
14933 @kindex , (GroupLens)
14934 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
14935 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
14939 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
14940 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
14943 @node Displaying Predictions
14944 @subsection Displaying Predictions
14946 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
14947 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
14948 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
14949 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
14950 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
14952 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
14953 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
14954 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
14955 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
14956 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
14957 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
14958 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
14959 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
14960 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
14961 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
14962 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
14963 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
14964 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
14966 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
14967 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
14968 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
14969 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
14971 The following are valid values for that variable.
14974 @item prediction-spot
14975 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
14978 @item confidence-interval
14979 A numeric confidence interval.
14981 @item prediction-bar
14982 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
14984 @item confidence-bar
14985 Numerical confidence.
14987 @item confidence-spot
14988 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
14990 @item prediction-num
14991 Plain-old numeric value.
14993 @item confidence-plus-minus
14994 Prediction +/- confidence.
14999 @node GroupLens Variables
15000 @subsection GroupLens Variables
15004 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
15005 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
15006 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
15007 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
15010 @item grouplens-bbb-host
15011 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
15014 @item grouplens-bbb-port
15015 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
15017 @item grouplens-score-offset
15018 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
15019 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
15022 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
15023 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
15024 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
15029 @node Advanced Scoring
15030 @section Advanced Scoring
15032 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
15033 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
15034 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
15035 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
15036 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
15038 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
15042 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
15043 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
15044 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
15048 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
15049 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
15051 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
15052 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
15053 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
15054 non-@code{nil} value.
15056 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
15057 operator, and various match operators.
15064 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
15065 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
15066 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
15071 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
15072 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
15073 then this operator will return @code{false}.
15078 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
15079 logical negation of the value of its argument.
15083 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
15084 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
15085 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
15086 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
15087 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
15088 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
15089 the ancestry you want to go.
15091 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
15092 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
15093 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
15094 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
15095 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
15098 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
15099 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
15101 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
15102 when he's talking about Gnus:
15106 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
15107 ("subject" "Gnus"))
15113 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
15117 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
15124 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
15125 really don't want to read what he's written:
15129 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
15130 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
15134 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
15135 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
15136 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
15143 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
15144 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
15145 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
15146 ("body" "white.*socks"))
15150 The possibilities are endless.
15153 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
15154 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
15156 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
15157 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
15158 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
15159 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
15160 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
15161 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
15162 @samp{subject}) first.
15164 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
15165 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
15176 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
15177 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
15183 ("subject" "Gnus")))
15190 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
15191 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
15196 @section Score Decays
15197 @cindex score decays
15200 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
15201 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
15202 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
15203 use them in any sensible way.
15205 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
15206 @findex gnus-decay-score
15207 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
15208 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
15209 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
15210 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
15211 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
15212 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
15213 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
15214 definition of that function:
15217 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
15219 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
15220 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
15223 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
15225 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
15227 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
15230 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
15231 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
15232 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
15233 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
15237 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
15240 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
15243 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
15247 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
15248 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
15249 the new score, which should be an integer.
15251 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
15252 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
15259 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
15260 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
15261 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
15262 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
15263 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
15264 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
15265 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
15266 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
15267 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
15268 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
15269 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
15270 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
15271 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
15272 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
15273 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
15274 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
15275 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
15276 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
15280 @node Process/Prefix
15281 @section Process/Prefix
15282 @cindex process/prefix convention
15284 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
15285 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
15287 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
15288 command to be performed on.
15292 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
15293 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
15294 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
15295 with the current one.
15297 @vindex transient-mark-mode
15298 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
15299 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
15301 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
15302 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
15305 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
15306 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
15308 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
15311 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
15312 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
15313 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
15314 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15316 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
15317 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
15318 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
15319 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
15320 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
15321 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
15322 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
15323 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
15327 @section Interactive
15328 @cindex interaction
15332 @item gnus-novice-user
15333 @vindex gnus-novice-user
15334 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
15335 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
15336 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
15337 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
15340 @item gnus-expert-user
15341 @vindex gnus-expert-user
15342 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
15343 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
15344 matter how strange.
15346 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
15347 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
15348 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
15349 is @code{t} by default.
15351 @item gnus-interactive-exit
15352 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
15353 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
15358 @node Symbolic Prefixes
15359 @section Symbolic Prefixes
15360 @cindex symbolic prefixes
15362 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
15363 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
15364 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
15365 rule of 900 to the current article.
15367 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
15368 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
15369 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
15370 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
15371 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
15372 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
15373 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
15375 @kindex M-i (Summary)
15376 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
15377 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
15378 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
15379 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
15380 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
15381 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
15382 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
15383 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
15385 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
15386 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
15387 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
15389 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
15393 @node Formatting Variables
15394 @section Formatting Variables
15395 @cindex formatting variables
15397 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
15398 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
15399 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
15400 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
15401 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
15404 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
15405 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
15406 lots of percentages everywhere.
15409 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
15410 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
15411 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
15412 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
15413 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
15416 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
15417 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
15418 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
15419 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
15420 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
15421 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
15422 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
15423 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
15425 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
15426 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
15428 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
15429 @findex gnus-update-format
15430 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
15431 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
15432 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
15433 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
15437 @node Formatting Basics
15438 @subsection Formatting Basics
15440 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
15441 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
15442 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
15444 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
15445 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
15446 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
15447 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
15448 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
15451 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
15452 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
15453 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
15454 less than 4 characters wide.
15457 @node Mode Line Formatting
15458 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
15460 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
15461 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
15462 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
15463 with the following two differences:
15468 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
15471 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
15472 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
15473 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
15474 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
15475 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
15476 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
15477 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
15482 @node Advanced Formatting
15483 @subsection Advanced Formatting
15485 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
15486 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
15487 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
15488 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
15490 These are the valid modifiers:
15495 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
15499 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
15504 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
15507 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
15512 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
15515 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
15518 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
15521 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
15525 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
15526 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
15527 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
15528 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
15529 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
15530 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
15531 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
15533 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
15534 last operation, padding.
15536 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
15537 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
15538 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
15539 @xref{Compilation}.
15542 @node User-Defined Specs
15543 @subsection User-Defined Specs
15545 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
15546 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
15547 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
15548 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
15549 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
15550 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
15551 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
15552 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
15553 should protect against that.
15555 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
15556 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
15557 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
15558 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
15562 @node Formatting Fonts
15563 @subsection Formatting Fonts
15565 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
15566 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
15567 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
15568 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
15571 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
15572 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
15573 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
15574 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
15575 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
15576 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
15578 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
15579 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say
15580 @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
15581 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
15582 symbols naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
15583 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
15584 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
15585 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
15587 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
15590 ;; Create three face types.
15591 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
15592 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
15594 ;; We want the article count to be in
15595 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
15596 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
15597 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
15599 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
15600 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
15602 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
15603 (setq gnus-group-line-format
15604 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
15607 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
15608 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
15610 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
15611 mode-line variables.
15614 @node Windows Configuration
15615 @section Windows Configuration
15616 @cindex windows configuration
15618 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
15620 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
15621 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
15622 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
15623 @code{t} by default.
15625 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
15626 glitches. Use at your own peril.
15628 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
15629 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
15630 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
15633 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
15634 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
15635 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
15639 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
15640 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
15641 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
15642 possible names is listed below.
15644 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
15645 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
15648 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
15652 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
15653 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
15654 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
15655 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
15656 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
15657 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
15658 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
15659 size spec per split.
15661 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
15662 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
15663 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
15664 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
15665 present) gets focus.
15667 Here's a more complicated example:
15670 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
15671 (summary 0.25 point)
15672 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
15676 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
15677 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
15678 occupy, not a percentage.
15680 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
15681 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
15682 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
15683 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
15684 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
15687 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
15690 (article (horizontal 1.0
15695 (summary 0.25 point)
15700 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
15701 @code{horizontal} thingie?
15703 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
15704 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
15705 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
15706 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
15707 the screen is to be given to this strip.
15709 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
15710 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
15711 lines from the splits.
15713 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
15717 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
15718 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
15719 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
15720 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
15721 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
15722 size = number | frame-params
15723 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
15726 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
15727 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
15728 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
15729 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
15731 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
15732 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
15733 @cindex window height
15734 @cindex window width
15735 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
15736 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
15737 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
15738 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
15739 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
15740 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
15742 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
15743 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
15744 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
15745 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
15747 @findex gnus-configure-frame
15748 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
15749 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
15750 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
15751 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
15752 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
15753 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
15754 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
15755 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
15756 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
15757 configuration list.
15760 (gnus-configure-frame
15764 (article 0.3 point))
15772 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
15773 @code{frame} split:
15776 (gnus-configure-frame
15779 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
15781 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
15782 (user-position . t)
15783 (left . -1) (top . 1))
15788 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
15789 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
15790 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
15791 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
15792 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
15793 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
15794 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
15795 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
15797 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
15798 be found in its default value.
15800 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
15801 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
15802 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
15806 (message (horizontal 1.0
15807 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
15809 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
15814 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
15815 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
15816 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
15819 (message (frame 1.0
15820 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
15821 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
15822 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
15823 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
15824 (name . "Message"))
15825 (message 1.0 point))))
15828 @findex gnus-add-configuration
15829 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
15830 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
15831 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
15832 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
15835 (gnus-add-configuration
15836 '(article (vertical 1.0
15838 (summary .25 point)
15842 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
15843 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
15844 Gnus has been loaded.
15846 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
15847 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
15848 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
15849 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
15850 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
15852 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
15853 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
15854 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
15858 @node Faces and Fonts
15859 @section Faces and Fonts
15864 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
15865 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
15866 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
15871 @section Compilation
15872 @cindex compilation
15873 @cindex byte-compilation
15875 @findex gnus-compile
15877 Remember all those line format specification variables?
15878 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
15879 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
15880 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
15881 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
15882 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
15885 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
15886 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
15887 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
15888 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
15889 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
15890 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
15891 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
15895 @section Mode Lines
15898 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
15899 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
15900 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
15901 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
15902 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
15903 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
15904 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
15907 @cindex display-time
15909 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
15910 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
15911 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
15912 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
15913 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
15914 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
15915 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
15916 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
15919 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
15921 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
15922 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
15924 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
15925 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
15926 (length display-time-string)))))
15929 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
15930 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
15931 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
15932 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
15933 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
15936 @node Highlighting and Menus
15937 @section Highlighting and Menus
15939 @cindex highlighting
15942 @vindex gnus-visual
15943 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
15944 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
15945 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
15948 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
15949 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
15952 @item group-highlight
15953 Do highlights in the group buffer.
15954 @item summary-highlight
15955 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
15956 @item article-highlight
15957 Do highlights in the article buffer.
15959 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
15961 Create menus in the group buffer.
15963 Create menus in the summary buffers.
15965 Create menus in the article buffer.
15967 Create menus in the browse buffer.
15969 Create menus in the server buffer.
15971 Create menus in the score buffers.
15973 Create menus in all buffers.
15976 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
15977 buffers, you could say something like:
15980 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
15983 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
15986 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
15989 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
15990 in all Gnus buffers.
15992 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
15995 @item gnus-mouse-face
15996 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
15997 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
15998 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
16002 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
16006 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
16007 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
16008 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
16010 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
16011 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
16012 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
16014 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
16015 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
16016 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
16018 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
16019 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
16020 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
16022 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
16023 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
16024 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
16026 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
16027 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
16028 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
16039 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
16040 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
16041 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
16042 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
16043 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
16047 @vindex gnus-carpal
16048 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
16049 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
16050 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
16055 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
16056 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
16057 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
16059 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
16060 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
16061 Face used on buttons.
16063 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
16064 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
16065 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
16067 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
16068 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
16069 Buttons in the group buffer.
16071 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
16072 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
16073 Buttons in the summary buffer.
16075 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
16076 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
16077 Buttons in the server buffer.
16079 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
16080 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
16081 Buttons in the browse buffer.
16084 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
16085 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
16086 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
16094 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
16095 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
16096 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
16097 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
16098 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
16100 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
16101 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
16102 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
16104 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
16105 been idle for thirty minutes:
16108 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
16111 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
16115 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
16118 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
16119 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
16120 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
16122 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
16123 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
16124 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
16125 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
16127 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
16128 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
16129 @var{idle} minutes.
16131 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
16132 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
16135 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
16136 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
16137 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
16139 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
16140 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
16141 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
16142 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
16144 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
16145 your @file{.gnus} file:
16147 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
16149 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
16152 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
16153 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
16154 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
16155 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
16156 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
16157 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
16158 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
16159 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
16160 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
16161 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
16162 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
16164 @findex gnus-demon-init
16165 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
16166 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
16167 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
16168 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
16169 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
16171 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
16172 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
16173 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
16182 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
16183 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
16185 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
16186 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
16187 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
16188 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
16191 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
16192 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
16193 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
16194 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
16196 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
16197 this will make spam disappear.
16199 There are some variables to customize, of course:
16202 @item gnus-use-nocem
16203 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
16204 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
16207 @item gnus-nocem-groups
16208 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
16209 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
16210 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
16211 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
16213 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
16214 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
16215 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
16216 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
16217 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
16218 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
16219 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
16221 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
16224 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
16225 @cindex Chris Lewis
16226 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
16227 usenet abuse than anybody else.
16230 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
16231 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
16232 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
16234 @item jem@@xpat.com;
16236 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
16239 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
16240 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
16241 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
16244 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
16245 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
16246 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
16247 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
16248 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
16249 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
16250 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
16251 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
16252 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
16253 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
16255 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
16256 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
16259 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
16262 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
16263 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
16266 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
16269 The specs are applied left-to-right.
16272 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
16273 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
16275 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
16276 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
16277 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
16278 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
16280 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
16281 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
16284 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
16286 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
16294 This might be dangerous, though.
16296 @item gnus-nocem-directory
16297 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
16298 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
16299 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
16301 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
16302 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
16303 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
16304 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
16305 might then see old spam.
16309 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
16310 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
16311 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
16312 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
16319 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
16320 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
16321 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
16323 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
16324 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
16325 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
16326 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
16327 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
16328 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
16329 @code{undo} function.
16331 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
16332 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
16333 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
16334 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
16335 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
16336 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
16337 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
16338 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
16339 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
16340 never be totally undoable.
16342 @findex gnus-undo-mode
16343 @vindex gnus-use-undo
16345 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
16346 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
16347 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
16348 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
16353 @section Moderation
16356 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
16357 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
16358 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
16361 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
16365 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
16368 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
16370 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
16375 You split your incoming mail by matching on
16376 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
16377 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
16380 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
16381 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
16384 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
16385 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
16389 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
16392 (setq gnus-moderated-list
16393 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
16397 @node XEmacs Enhancements
16398 @section XEmacs Enhancements
16401 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
16405 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
16406 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
16407 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
16408 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
16418 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
16419 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
16420 over your shoulder as you read news.
16423 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
16424 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
16425 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
16426 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
16427 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
16432 @subsubsection Picon Basics
16434 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
16440 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
16441 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
16442 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
16443 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
16444 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
16445 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
16446 @code{GIF} formats.
16449 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
16450 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
16451 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
16452 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
16453 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
16455 @vindex gnus-picons-database
16456 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
16457 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
16458 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
16459 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
16460 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
16463 @node Picon Requirements
16464 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
16466 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
16467 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
16470 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
16471 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
16472 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
16474 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
16475 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
16476 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
16477 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
16478 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
16482 @subsubsection Easy Picons
16484 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
16485 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
16488 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
16489 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
16492 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
16493 containing the Picons databases.
16495 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
16498 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
16499 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
16504 @subsubsection Hard Picons
16509 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
16510 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
16511 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
16512 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
16513 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
16518 @item gnus-picons-database
16519 @vindex gnus-picons-database
16520 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
16521 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
16522 subdirectories. This is only useful if
16523 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
16524 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
16526 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
16527 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
16528 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
16529 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
16530 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
16531 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
16532 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
16534 @item gnus-picons-display-where
16535 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
16536 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
16537 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
16538 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
16539 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
16540 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
16541 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
16543 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
16544 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
16545 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
16550 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
16551 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
16553 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
16554 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
16557 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
16559 @item gnus-article-display-picons
16560 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
16561 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
16562 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
16564 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
16565 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
16566 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
16572 @node Picon Useless Configuration
16573 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
16578 The following variables offer further control over how things are
16579 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
16580 don't need to worry about.
16584 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
16585 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
16586 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
16587 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
16589 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
16590 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
16591 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
16592 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
16594 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
16595 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
16596 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
16597 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
16598 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
16600 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
16601 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
16602 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
16603 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
16604 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
16605 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
16606 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
16608 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
16609 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
16610 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
16611 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
16613 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
16614 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
16615 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
16616 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
16617 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
16618 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
16619 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
16621 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
16622 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
16623 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
16624 Defaults to @code{nil}.
16626 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
16627 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
16628 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
16629 Defaults to @code{t}.
16631 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
16632 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
16633 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
16634 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
16636 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
16637 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
16638 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
16640 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
16641 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
16642 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
16643 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
16645 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
16646 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the defailt.
16648 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
16649 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
16650 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
16651 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
16652 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
16653 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
16654 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
16655 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
16663 @subsection Smileys
16669 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
16670 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
16672 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
16673 @file{.gnus.el} file:
16676 (setq gnus-treat-display-smiley t)
16679 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
16680 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
16681 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
16682 text and maps that to file names.
16684 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
16685 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
16686 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
16687 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
16688 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
16689 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
16691 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
16692 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
16694 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
16695 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
16696 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
16698 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
16699 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
16703 @item smiley-data-directory
16704 @vindex smiley-data-directory
16705 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
16707 @item smiley-flesh-color
16708 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
16709 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
16711 @item smiley-features-color
16712 @vindex smiley-features-color
16713 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
16715 @item smiley-tongue-color
16716 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
16717 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
16719 @item smiley-circle-color
16720 @vindex smiley-circle-color
16721 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
16723 @item smiley-mouse-face
16724 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
16725 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
16731 @subsection Toolbar
16738 @item gnus-use-toolbar
16739 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
16740 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
16741 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
16742 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
16744 @item gnus-group-toolbar
16745 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
16746 The toolbar in the group buffer.
16748 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
16749 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
16750 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
16752 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
16753 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
16754 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
16760 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
16763 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
16764 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
16765 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
16766 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
16767 unusual directory structure.
16769 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
16770 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
16771 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
16772 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
16774 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
16775 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
16776 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
16777 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
16778 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
16779 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
16781 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
16782 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
16783 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
16794 @node Fuzzy Matching
16795 @section Fuzzy Matching
16796 @cindex fuzzy matching
16798 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
16799 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
16801 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
16802 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
16803 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
16805 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
16806 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
16807 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
16808 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
16809 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
16812 @node Thwarting Email Spam
16813 @section Thwarting Email Spam
16817 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
16819 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
16820 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
16821 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
16822 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
16823 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
16824 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
16825 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
16826 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
16829 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
16830 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
16831 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
16832 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
16833 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
16834 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
16838 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
16839 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
16841 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
16842 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
16843 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
16844 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
16845 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
16846 part of the mail address.)
16849 (setq message-default-news-headers
16850 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
16853 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
16854 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
16859 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
16860 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
16861 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
16867 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
16868 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
16869 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
16870 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
16872 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
16873 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
16874 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
16875 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
16876 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
16877 your fancy split rule in this way:
16882 (to "larsi" "misc")
16886 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
16887 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
16888 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
16889 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
16890 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
16892 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
16893 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
16894 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
16895 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
16896 cosmic balance somewhat.
16898 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
16899 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
16900 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
16901 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
16904 @node Various Various
16905 @section Various Various
16911 @item gnus-home-directory
16912 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
16913 defaults to @file{~/}.
16915 @item gnus-directory
16916 @vindex gnus-directory
16917 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
16918 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
16919 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
16921 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
16922 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
16923 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
16924 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
16926 @item gnus-default-directory
16927 @vindex gnus-default-directory
16928 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
16929 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
16930 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
16931 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16932 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
16933 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
16936 @vindex gnus-verbose
16937 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
16938 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
16939 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
16940 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
16941 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
16943 @item gnus-verbose-backends
16944 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
16945 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
16946 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
16948 @item nnheader-max-head-length
16949 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
16950 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
16951 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
16952 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
16953 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
16954 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
16955 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
16956 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
16957 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
16959 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
16960 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
16961 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
16962 read when doing the operation described above.
16964 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
16965 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
16967 @cindex invalid characters in file names
16968 @cindex characters in file names
16969 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
16970 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
16971 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
16974 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
16978 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
16979 Windows (phooey) systems.
16981 @item gnus-hidden-properties
16982 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
16983 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
16984 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
16985 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
16987 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
16988 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
16989 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
16990 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
16991 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
16993 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
16994 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
16995 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
17004 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
17005 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
17007 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
17009 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
17015 Not because of victories @*
17018 but for the common sunshine,@*
17020 the largess of the spring.
17024 but for the day's work done@*
17025 as well as I was able;@*
17026 not for a seat upon the dais@*
17027 but at the common table.@*
17032 @chapter Appendices
17035 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
17036 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
17037 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
17038 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
17039 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
17040 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
17041 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
17049 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
17050 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
17052 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
17053 can point your (feh!) web browser to
17054 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
17055 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
17056 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
17058 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
17059 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
17060 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
17061 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
17062 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
17063 appropriate name, don't you think?)
17065 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
17066 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
17067 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
17068 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
17070 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
17071 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
17072 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
17074 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
17075 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
17077 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
17078 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
17080 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37
17081 releases. If was released as ``Gnus 5.6 on March 8th 1998.
17083 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
17084 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
17085 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
17086 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
17087 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
17091 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
17092 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
17093 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
17094 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
17095 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
17096 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
17097 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
17098 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
17105 What's the point of Gnus?
17107 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
17108 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
17109 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
17110 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
17111 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
17112 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
17113 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
17114 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
17115 keep track of millions of people who post?
17117 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
17118 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
17119 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
17120 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
17121 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
17122 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
17123 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
17124 every one of you to explore and invent.
17126 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
17127 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
17130 @node Compatibility
17131 @subsection Compatibility
17133 @cindex compatibility
17134 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
17135 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
17136 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
17141 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
17145 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
17148 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
17151 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
17152 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
17153 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
17154 important variables have their values copied into their global
17155 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
17156 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
17158 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
17159 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
17160 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
17161 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
17162 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
17166 @cindex highlighting
17167 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
17168 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
17169 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
17170 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
17171 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
17172 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
17175 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
17176 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
17177 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
17178 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
17180 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
17181 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
17182 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
17183 to stop doing it the old way.
17185 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
17187 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
17189 @cindex reporting bugs
17191 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
17192 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
17193 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
17195 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
17196 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
17197 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
17198 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
17203 @subsection Conformity
17205 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
17206 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
17213 There are no known breaches of this standard.
17217 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
17219 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
17220 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
17221 We do have some breaches to this one.
17227 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
17228 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
17229 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
17230 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
17231 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
17236 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
17237 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
17238 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
17239 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
17243 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
17244 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
17249 @subsection Emacsen
17255 Gnus should work on :
17263 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
17267 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
17268 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
17271 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
17272 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
17273 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
17277 @node Gnus Development
17278 @subsection Gnus Development
17280 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
17281 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
17282 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
17283 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
17284 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
17285 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
17286 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
17287 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
17289 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
17290 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
17291 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
17292 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
17293 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
17296 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
17297 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
17298 In particular, @code{nnmail-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
17299 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
17300 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
17302 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
17303 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
17304 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
17305 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
17306 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
17307 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
17308 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
17309 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
17310 usually keep up with these rapid changes, whille people on the newsgroup
17311 can't be assumed to do so.
17316 @subsection Contributors
17317 @cindex contributors
17319 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
17320 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
17321 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
17322 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
17323 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
17324 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
17325 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
17326 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
17327 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
17328 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
17330 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
17336 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
17339 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
17340 well as numerous other things).
17343 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
17346 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
17349 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el and many other things
17350 connected with @sc{mime} and other types of en/decoding.
17353 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
17354 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
17357 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
17360 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
17361 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
17364 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
17367 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
17370 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
17373 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
17376 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
17377 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
17380 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
17383 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
17386 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
17389 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
17393 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
17396 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
17399 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
17402 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
17403 well as autoconf support.
17407 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
17408 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
17410 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
17419 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
17423 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
17433 Alexei V. Barantsev,
17448 Massimo Campostrini,
17453 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
17454 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
17458 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
17461 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
17467 Michael Welsh Duggan,
17472 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
17476 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
17484 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
17486 Michelangelo Grigni,
17490 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
17492 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
17494 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
17501 François Felix Ingrand,
17502 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
17503 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
17505 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
17516 Peter Skov Knudsen,
17517 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
17519 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
17520 Thor Kristoffersen,
17523 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
17541 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
17542 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
17549 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
17554 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
17558 John McClary Prevost,
17564 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
17569 Christian von Roques,
17572 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
17579 Philippe Schnoebelen,
17581 Randal L. Schwartz,
17596 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
17601 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
17617 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
17622 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
17623 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
17624 (550kB and counting).
17626 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
17629 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
17630 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
17634 @subsection New Features
17635 @cindex new features
17638 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
17639 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
17640 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
17641 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
17644 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
17645 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
17646 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
17650 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
17652 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
17657 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
17658 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
17661 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
17662 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
17665 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
17668 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
17669 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
17670 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
17673 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
17674 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
17675 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
17676 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
17679 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
17680 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
17683 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
17684 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
17685 (@pxref{The Active File}).
17688 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
17689 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
17692 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
17693 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
17694 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
17697 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
17698 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
17699 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
17702 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
17703 the @file{.emacs} file.
17706 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
17707 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17710 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
17711 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
17714 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
17715 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
17718 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
17719 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
17722 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
17723 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
17726 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
17729 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
17730 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
17733 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
17734 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
17737 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
17738 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
17741 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
17744 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
17745 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
17748 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
17752 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
17756 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
17757 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
17760 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
17766 @node September Gnus
17767 @subsubsection September Gnus
17772 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
17777 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
17778 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
17782 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
17783 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
17787 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
17791 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
17792 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
17795 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
17799 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
17802 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
17805 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
17808 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
17812 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
17813 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
17816 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
17820 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
17824 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
17828 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
17832 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
17835 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
17836 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
17839 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
17843 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
17844 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
17847 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
17850 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
17851 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
17852 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
17855 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
17859 The Gnus cache is much faster.
17862 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
17866 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
17867 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
17870 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
17871 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
17874 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
17875 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17878 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
17879 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
17880 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
17883 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
17884 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
17887 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
17890 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
17893 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
17896 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
17899 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
17900 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
17903 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
17907 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
17912 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
17915 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
17919 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
17922 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
17926 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
17929 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
17932 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
17933 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
17936 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
17937 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
17941 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
17942 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
17945 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
17949 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
17950 buffer to allow easier treatment.
17953 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
17956 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
17960 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
17964 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
17965 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
17968 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
17972 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
17973 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
17976 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
17977 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
17980 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
17984 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
17987 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
17990 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
17996 @subsubsection Red Gnus
17998 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
18006 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
18009 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
18010 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
18013 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
18014 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
18018 Article washing status can be displayed in the
18019 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
18022 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
18025 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
18026 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
18029 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
18033 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
18034 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
18038 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
18039 Server Internals}).
18042 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
18046 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
18049 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
18050 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
18053 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
18054 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
18055 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
18058 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
18059 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
18062 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
18063 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
18066 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
18070 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
18071 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
18074 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
18075 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
18078 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
18082 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
18085 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
18089 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
18090 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
18093 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
18094 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
18097 A new command for reading collections of documents
18098 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
18099 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
18102 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
18106 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
18107 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
18110 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
18111 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
18112 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
18115 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
18116 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
18120 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
18124 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
18130 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
18134 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
18138 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
18139 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
18142 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
18148 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
18150 New features in Gnus 5.6:
18155 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
18156 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
18157 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
18160 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
18161 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
18162 group, which is created automatically.
18165 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
18169 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
18172 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
18173 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
18176 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
18180 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
18183 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
18184 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
18187 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
18190 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
18191 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
18194 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
18195 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
18198 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
18199 control over simplification.
18202 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
18205 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
18209 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
18212 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
18215 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
18216 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
18217 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
18220 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
18221 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
18224 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
18228 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
18229 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
18232 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
18233 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
18236 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
18240 A history of where mails have been split is available.
18243 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
18246 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
18247 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
18250 A new function for citing in Message has been
18251 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
18254 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
18257 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
18261 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
18262 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
18265 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
18266 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
18269 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
18272 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
18277 @node Newest Features
18278 @subsection Newest Features
18281 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
18284 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
18286 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
18287 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
18290 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
18295 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
18296 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
18299 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
18302 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
18305 facep is not declared.
18308 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
18309 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
18312 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
18317 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
18318 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
18319 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
18320 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
18321 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
18322 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
18323 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
18328 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
18331 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
18334 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
18336 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
18337 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
18339 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
18341 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
18343 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
18344 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
18346 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
18348 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
18349 be marked as unread.
18351 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
18353 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
18355 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
18356 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
18358 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
18360 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
18362 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
18363 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
18365 topics that contain just groups with ticked
18366 articles aren't displayed.
18368 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
18370 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
18371 make the mail groups killed.
18373 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
18375 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
18376 and articles have to be removed.
18378 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
18381 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
18383 finding short score file names takes forever.
18385 canceling articles in foreign groups.
18387 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
18389 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
18391 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
18393 nnweb doesn't work properly.
18395 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
18397 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
18398 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
18402 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
18404 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
18405 bar and the Gnus bar.
18408 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
18409 `(canonize-message-id id)'
18410 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
18411 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
18412 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
18413 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
18418 nnml .overview directory with splits.
18422 postponed commands.
18424 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
18426 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
18429 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
18430 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
18432 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
18433 inherit copy prompts and save files.
18435 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
18437 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
18438 for backends that support that.
18440 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
18442 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
18443 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
18445 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
18446 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
18448 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
18450 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
18452 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
18454 server mode command: close/open all connections
18456 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
18457 has been changed before using it.
18459 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
18461 hide (sub)threads with low score.
18463 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
18465 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
18467 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
18468 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
18470 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
18471 contain groups that match a regexp.
18473 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
18476 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
18479 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
18480 from subject lines.
18482 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
18484 nntp-ping-before-connect
18486 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
18488 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
18489 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
18491 message annotations.
18493 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
18495 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
18496 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
18498 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
18503 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
18505 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
18507 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
18509 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
18510 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
18512 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
18514 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
18516 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
18517 finds and generate proper active ranges.
18519 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
18520 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
18522 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
18524 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
18526 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
18527 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
18529 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
18531 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
18533 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
18534 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
18537 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
18539 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
18541 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
18542 `C-c C-c' when posting.
18544 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
18547 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
18548 should be marker as expirable.
18550 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
18552 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
18553 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
18555 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
18556 Also consult Date headers.
18558 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
18560 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
18562 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
18563 Message-ID, delete the "original".
18565 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
18566 into a See-Also header.
18568 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
18570 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
18572 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
18573 should be listed as such and not as "K".
18575 generate font names dynamically.
18577 score file mode auto-alist.
18579 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
18580 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
18582 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
18583 absolutely all headers there is.
18585 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
18586 and pipe them to the process.
18588 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
18589 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
18590 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
18592 function for starting to edit a file to put into
18593 the current mail group.
18595 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
18597 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
18598 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
18600 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
18601 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
18603 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
18605 when replying to several process-marked articles,
18606 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
18608 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
18609 groups it has been mailed to.
18611 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
18613 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
18615 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
18617 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
18618 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
18620 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
18621 newlines) should be ignored.
18623 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
18624 groups in subtopics as well.
18626 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
18628 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
18631 add edit and forward secondary marks.
18633 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
18635 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
18637 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
18639 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
18641 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
18643 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
18644 or the formatted article.
18646 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
18648 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
18649 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
18651 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
18653 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
18655 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
18657 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
18658 even unread articles.
18660 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
18662 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
18664 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
18666 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
18668 canceling articles in foreign groups.
18670 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
18673 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
18674 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
18676 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
18677 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
18679 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
18681 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
18683 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
18684 from a particular server? Hm.
18686 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
18687 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
18689 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
18691 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
18692 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
18694 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
18695 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
18697 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
18698 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
18699 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
18702 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
18703 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
18705 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
18707 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
18709 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
18711 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
18714 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
18717 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
18718 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
18720 command to show and edit group scores
18722 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
18725 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
18727 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
18729 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
18730 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
18733 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
18734 that are of that length.
18736 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
18738 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
18740 asynchronous posting under nntp.
18742 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
18744 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
18746 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
18748 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
18749 a score lower than this number.
18751 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
18753 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
18755 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
18756 so that each copy can be edited separately.
18758 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
18760 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
18761 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
18763 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
18766 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
18767 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
18768 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
18769 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
18771 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
18774 command to remove all topic stuff.
18776 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
18777 and splitting the resulting digests.
18779 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
18781 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
18783 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
18784 matches an alist -- before saving.
18786 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
18788 variable to activate each group before entering them
18789 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
18791 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
18792 starting Gnus first if necessary.
18794 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
18795 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
18797 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
18799 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
18800 of several groups at once.
18802 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
18803 matches some regexp(s).
18805 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
18807 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
18809 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
18811 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
18813 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
18815 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
18817 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
18819 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
18820 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
18821 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
18822 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
18824 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
18825 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
18827 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
18829 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
18830 recently cited text.
18832 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
18834 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
18837 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
18838 server and just read the articles in the server
18840 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
18841 value of nnoo variables.
18843 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
18845 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
18846 listed in each group info.
18848 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
18851 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
18852 should only be applied to some groups.
18854 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
18855 mail-copies-to: never.
18857 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
18858 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
18860 the slave dribble files should auto-save to the slave file names.
18862 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
18865 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
18868 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
18870 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
18873 group user-defined meta-parameters.
18877 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
18879 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
18880 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
18881 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
18882 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
18883 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
18885 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
18886 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
18893 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
18894 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
18896 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
18897 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
18899 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
18900 "Return the date the group was last read."
18901 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
18906 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
18907 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
18908 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
18909 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
18913 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
18914 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
18916 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
18919 They could be used like this:
18923 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
18924 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
18925 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
18927 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
18929 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
18932 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
18935 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
18936 affect the summary line format.
18940 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
18942 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
18943 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
18945 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
18948 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
18950 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
18952 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
18954 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
18956 - For other files, just find them normally.
18958 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
18959 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
18962 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
18963 tell him what you are doing.
18966 Currently, I get prompted:
18970 decend into sci.something ?
18974 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
18975 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
18976 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
18977 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
18980 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
18981 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
18982 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
18983 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
18986 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
18987 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
18993 more than n blank lines
18995 more than m identical lines
18996 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
18998 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
19002 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
19003 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
19004 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
19005 "same" subject for threading purposes.
19008 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
19009 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
19010 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
19011 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
19014 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
19017 soup - bowl of soup
19018 score below - dim light bulb
19019 score over - bright light bulb
19022 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
19027 show-list-of-articles-in-group
19028 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
19029 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
19030 if (articles-selected)
19031 start-reading-selected-articles;
19032 junk-unread-articles;
19037 else if (key-pressed = '.')
19038 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
19039 select-thread-under-cursor;
19041 select-article-under-cursor;
19045 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
19046 if (more-pages-in-article)
19048 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
19055 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
19056 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
19057 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
19060 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
19061 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
19062 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
19063 the wildcard expression).
19066 It would be nice if it also handled
19068 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
19070 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
19075 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
19076 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
19077 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
19078 article versions) variable.
19080 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
19082 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
19083 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
19087 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
19090 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
19091 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
19092 (message-sent-hook).
19094 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
19097 * Enhancements to Gnus:
19101 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
19102 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
19105 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
19106 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
19107 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
19110 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
19111 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
19115 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
19118 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
19122 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
19123 the nnmail duplicate checking.
19126 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
19127 value of the signature file.
19130 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
19131 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
19134 (setq message-tab-alist
19135 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
19136 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
19138 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
19142 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
19145 a command to import a buffer into a group.
19148 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
19151 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
19152 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
19155 a command to process mark all unread articles.
19158 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
19159 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
19160 do more gathering by subject.
19163 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
19164 article numerical order.
19167 (gnus-thread-total-score
19168 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
19172 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
19175 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
19176 in the summary buffer.
19179 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
19180 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
19183 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
19184 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
19185 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
19186 and/or newsgroup name.
19189 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
19192 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
19195 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
19198 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
19199 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
19200 will automatically get the process mark.
19203 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
19204 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
19205 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
19208 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
19212 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
19213 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
19216 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
19217 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
19221 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
19222 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
19225 be able to post via DejaNews.
19228 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
19231 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
19232 allow them to be displayed separately.
19235 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
19236 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
19239 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
19240 articles that match a certain From header.
19243 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
19244 saving living summary buffers.
19247 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
19248 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
19251 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
19252 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
19255 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
19256 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
19259 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
19260 (goto-char (point-min))
19261 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
19262 (replace-match "`" t t))
19263 (goto-char (point-min))
19264 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
19265 (replace-match "'" t t))
19266 (goto-char (point-min))
19267 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
19268 (replace-match "\"" t t))
19269 (goto-char (point-min))
19270 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
19271 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
19276 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
19278 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
19279 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
19280 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
19281 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
19285 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
19288 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
19289 numbers and match on the age of the article.
19293 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
19294 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
19295 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
19297 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
19298 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
19300 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
19301 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
19306 all commands that react to the process mark should push
19307 the current process mark set onto the stack.
19310 gnus-article-hide-pgp
19311 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
19313 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
19315 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
19316 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
19319 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
19320 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
19323 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
19327 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
19328 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
19331 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
19334 nndraft-request-group should tally auto-save files.
19337 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
19340 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
19344 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
19350 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
19353 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
19357 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
19358 X characters in the body.
19361 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
19364 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
19367 format spec to "tab" to a position.
19370 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
19373 command to display all dormant articles.
19376 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
19379 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
19380 to something someone else has said.
19383 Read Netscape discussion groups:
19384 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
19387 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
19388 the displayed version.
19391 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
19395 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
19398 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
19399 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
19400 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
19404 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
19405 in the head or body.
19408 Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.
19411 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
19414 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
19415 in a special, unique buffer.
19418 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
19421 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
19422 is less than a certain number of days old.
19425 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
19428 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
19431 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
19432 file, for instance.
19435 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
19436 in any other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the
19437 dummy root instead of the first article.
19440 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
19441 topics for displaying.
19444 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
19445 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
19448 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
19451 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
19452 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
19453 summary buffer for each article.
19456 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
19459 Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
19463 Introduce nnmail-home-directory.
19466 gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user
19470 The jingle is only played on the second invocation of Gnus.
19473 Bouncing articles should do MIME.
19476 Crossposted articles should "inherit" the % or @ mark from the other
19477 groups it has been crossposted to, or something. (Agent.)
19480 If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
19481 you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.
19484 A spec for the group line format to display the number of
19485 agent-downloaded articles in the group.
19488 Some nntp servers never respond when posting, so there should be a
19489 timeout for all commands.
19492 When stading on a topic line and `t'-ing, point goes to the last line.
19493 It should go somewhere else.
19496 I'm having trouble accessing a newsgroup with a "+" in its name with
19497 Gnus. There is a new newsgroup on msnews.microsoft.com named
19498 "microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time" that I'm trying to
19500 "nntp+msnews.microsoft.com:microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time"
19501 but it gives an error that it cant access the group.
19503 Is the "+" character illegal in newsgroup names? Is there any way in
19504 Gnus to work around this? (gnus 5.6.45 - XEmacs 20.4)
19511 Subject: Answer to your mails 01.01.1999-01.05.1999
19512 --text follows this line--
19513 Sorry I killfiled you...
19515 Under the subject "foo", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
19517 Under the subject "foo1", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
19522 Allow "orphan" scores in the Agent scoring.
19526 - Edit article's summary line.
19528 - Sort lines in buffer by subject
19530 --> the old subject line appears in Summary buffer, not the one that was
19536 Remove list identifiers from the subject in the summary when doing `^'
19540 Have the Agent write out articles, one by one, as it retrieves them,
19541 to avoid having to re-fetch them all if Emacs should crash while
19545 Be able to forward groups of messages as MIME digests.
19548 Solve the halting problem.
19557 @section The Manual
19561 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
19562 either @code{texi2dvi}
19563 to get what you hold in your hands now.
19565 The following conventions have been used:
19570 This is a @samp{string}
19573 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
19576 This is a @file{file}
19579 This is a @code{symbol}
19583 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
19587 (setq flargnoze "yes")
19590 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
19593 (setq flumphel 'yes)
19596 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
19597 ever get them confused.
19605 @section Terminology
19607 @cindex terminology
19612 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
19613 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
19614 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
19615 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
19616 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
19620 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
19621 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
19622 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
19623 not posting, and replying is not following up.
19627 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
19631 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
19636 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
19637 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
19638 is all done by the backends.
19642 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
19643 default, way of getting news.
19647 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
19648 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
19653 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
19654 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
19658 A message that has been posted as news.
19661 @cindex mail message
19662 A message that has been mailed.
19666 A mail message or news article
19670 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
19675 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
19680 A line from the head of an article.
19684 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
19685 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
19689 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
19690 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
19691 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
19692 normal @sc{head} format.
19696 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
19697 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
19698 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
19699 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
19700 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
19701 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
19703 @item killed groups
19704 @cindex killed groups
19705 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
19706 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
19708 @item zombie groups
19709 @cindex zombie groups
19710 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
19713 @cindex active file
19714 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
19715 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
19716 is rather large, as you might surmise.
19719 @cindex bogus groups
19720 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
19721 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
19722 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
19725 @cindex activating groups
19726 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
19727 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
19728 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
19732 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
19734 @item select method
19735 @cindex select method
19736 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
19739 @item virtual server
19740 @cindex virtual server
19741 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
19742 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
19743 whole is a virtual server.
19747 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
19748 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
19751 @item ephemeral groups
19752 @cindex ephemeral groups
19753 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
19754 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
19755 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
19758 @cindex solid groups
19759 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
19760 group buffer are solid groups.
19762 @item sparse articles
19763 @cindex sparse articles
19764 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
19765 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
19769 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
19770 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
19774 @cindex thread root
19775 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
19776 articles in the thread.
19780 An article that has responses.
19784 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
19788 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
19789 specified by RFC1153.
19795 @node Customization
19796 @section Customization
19797 @cindex general customization
19799 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
19800 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
19801 for some quite common situations.
19804 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
19805 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
19806 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
19807 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
19811 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
19812 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
19814 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
19815 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
19816 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
19820 @item gnus-read-active-file
19821 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
19822 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
19823 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
19824 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
19825 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
19827 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
19828 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
19829 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
19830 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
19834 @node Slow Terminal Connection
19835 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
19837 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
19838 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
19839 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
19843 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
19844 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
19845 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
19846 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
19847 horizontal and vertical recentering.
19849 @item gnus-visible-headers
19850 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
19851 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
19852 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
19853 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
19855 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
19857 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
19858 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
19859 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
19862 @item gnus-use-full-window
19863 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
19864 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
19865 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
19866 want to read them anyway.
19868 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
19869 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
19872 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
19873 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
19874 lines, which might save some time.
19878 @node Little Disk Space
19879 @subsection Little Disk Space
19882 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
19883 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
19887 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
19888 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
19889 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
19890 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19893 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
19894 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
19895 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
19896 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19899 @item gnus-save-killed-list
19900 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
19901 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
19902 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
19903 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
19909 @subsection Slow Machine
19910 @cindex slow machine
19912 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
19913 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
19915 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
19916 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
19918 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
19919 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
19920 summary buffer faster.
19924 @node Troubleshooting
19925 @section Troubleshooting
19926 @cindex troubleshooting
19928 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
19936 Make sure your computer is switched on.
19939 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
19940 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
19944 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
19945 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
19946 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
19947 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
19950 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
19954 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
19955 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
19956 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
19957 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
19958 something like that.
19961 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
19964 @cindex reporting bugs
19966 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19968 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
19969 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
19970 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
19971 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
19973 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
19974 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
19975 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
19976 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
19979 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
19980 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
19981 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
19982 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
19983 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
19984 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
19986 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
19987 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
19988 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
19991 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
19992 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
19994 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
19995 @cindex ding mailing list
19996 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
19997 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
20001 @node Gnus Reference Guide
20002 @section Gnus Reference Guide
20004 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
20005 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
20006 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
20007 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
20010 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
20011 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
20012 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
20013 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
20014 and general methods of operation.
20017 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
20018 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
20019 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
20020 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
20021 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
20022 * Group Info:: The group info format.
20023 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
20024 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
20025 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
20029 @node Gnus Utility Functions
20030 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
20031 @cindex Gnus utility functions
20032 @cindex utility functions
20034 @cindex internal variables
20036 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
20037 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
20038 Below is a list of the most common ones.
20042 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
20043 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
20044 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
20046 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
20047 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
20048 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
20050 @item gnus-group-real-name
20051 @findex gnus-group-real-name
20052 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
20055 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
20056 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
20057 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
20058 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
20060 @item gnus-get-info
20061 @findex gnus-get-info
20062 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
20064 @item gnus-group-unread
20065 @findex gnus-group-unread
20066 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
20070 @findex gnus-active
20071 The active entry for @var{group}.
20073 @item gnus-set-active
20074 @findex gnus-set-active
20075 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
20077 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20078 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20079 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
20082 @item gnus-continuum-version
20083 @findex gnus-continuum-version
20084 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
20085 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
20088 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
20089 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
20090 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
20092 @item gnus-news-group-p
20093 @findex gnus-news-group-p
20094 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
20096 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20097 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20098 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
20100 @item gnus-server-to-method
20101 @findex gnus-server-to-method
20102 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
20104 @item gnus-server-equal
20105 @findex gnus-server-equal
20106 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
20108 @item gnus-group-native-p
20109 @findex gnus-group-native-p
20110 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
20112 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
20113 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
20114 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
20116 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
20117 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
20118 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
20120 @item group-group-find-parameter
20121 @findex group-group-find-parameter
20122 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
20123 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
20125 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
20126 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
20127 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
20129 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
20130 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
20131 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
20133 @item gnus-check-backend-function
20134 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
20135 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
20136 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
20139 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
20143 @item gnus-read-method
20144 @findex gnus-read-method
20145 Prompts the user for a select method.
20150 @node Backend Interface
20151 @subsection Backend Interface
20153 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
20154 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
20155 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
20156 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
20157 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
20158 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
20160 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
20161 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
20162 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
20163 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
20164 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
20165 been opened, the function should fail.
20167 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
20168 name. Take this example:
20172 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
20173 (nntp-port-number 4324))
20176 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
20177 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
20179 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
20180 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
20181 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
20183 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
20184 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
20185 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
20187 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
20188 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
20189 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
20190 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
20191 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
20192 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
20195 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
20196 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
20197 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
20198 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
20201 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
20204 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
20207 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
20208 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
20209 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
20210 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
20211 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
20212 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
20216 @node Required Backend Functions
20217 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
20221 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
20223 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
20224 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
20225 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
20226 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
20228 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
20229 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
20230 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
20231 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
20233 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
20234 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
20235 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
20236 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
20237 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
20238 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
20239 number, do maximum fetches.
20241 Here's an example HEAD:
20244 221 1056 Article retrieved.
20245 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
20246 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
20247 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
20248 Subject: Re: Something very droll
20249 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
20250 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
20252 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
20253 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
20254 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
20258 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
20259 these in the data buffer.
20261 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
20265 head = error / valid-head
20266 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
20267 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
20268 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
20269 header = <text> eol
20272 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
20273 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
20277 nov-buffer = *nov-line
20278 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
20279 field = <text except TAB>
20282 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
20286 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
20288 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
20289 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
20291 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
20292 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
20293 server. In fact, it should do so.
20295 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
20296 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
20299 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
20301 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
20302 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
20305 There should be no data returned.
20308 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
20310 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
20311 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
20312 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
20313 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
20315 There should be no data returned.
20318 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
20320 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
20321 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
20322 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
20323 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
20325 There should be no data returned.
20328 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
20330 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
20332 There should be no data returned.
20335 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
20337 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
20338 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
20339 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
20340 it would be nice if that were possible.
20342 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
20343 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
20344 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
20345 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
20346 into its article buffer.
20348 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
20349 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
20350 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
20351 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
20352 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
20353 on successful article retrieval.
20356 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
20358 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
20359 making @var{group} the current group.
20361 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
20364 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
20367 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
20370 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
20371 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
20372 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
20373 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
20374 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
20375 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
20376 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
20377 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
20380 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
20381 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
20382 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
20386 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
20388 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
20389 a no-op on most backends.
20391 There should be no data returned.
20394 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
20396 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
20399 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
20402 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
20403 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
20406 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
20407 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
20410 active-file = *active-line
20411 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
20413 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
20416 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
20417 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
20418 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
20421 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
20423 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
20424 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
20425 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
20426 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
20427 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
20428 clear if the posting could not be completed.
20430 There should be no result data from this function.
20435 @node Optional Backend Functions
20436 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
20440 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
20442 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
20443 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
20444 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
20446 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
20447 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
20448 former is in the same format as the data from
20449 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
20450 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
20453 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
20457 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
20459 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
20460 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
20461 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
20462 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
20463 should return the (altered) group info.
20465 There should be no result data from this function.
20468 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
20470 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
20471 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
20472 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
20473 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
20474 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
20475 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
20476 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
20477 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
20479 There should be no result data from this function.
20482 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
20484 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
20485 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
20486 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as IMAP) however carry all
20487 information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to propagate
20488 the mark information to the server.
20490 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
20493 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
20496 Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. Action is
20497 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
20498 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
20499 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
20500 mentioned) marks. Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is a
20501 symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
20502 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
20503 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
20504 not limit itself to theese.
20506 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
20507 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
20508 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
20509 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
20511 An example action list:
20514 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
20515 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
20516 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
20519 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
20520 mark on (currently not used for anything).
20522 There should be no result data from this function.
20524 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
20526 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
20527 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
20528 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
20529 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
20530 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
20532 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
20533 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
20534 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
20537 There should be no result data from this function.
20540 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
20542 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
20543 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
20544 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
20545 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
20546 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
20547 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
20548 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
20550 There should be no result data from this function.
20553 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
20555 The result data from this function should be a description of
20559 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
20561 description = <text>
20564 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
20566 The result data from this function should be the description of all
20567 groups available on the server.
20570 description-buffer = *description-line
20574 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
20576 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
20577 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
20578 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
20581 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
20583 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
20585 There should be no return data.
20588 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
20590 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
20591 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
20592 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
20593 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
20594 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
20597 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
20600 There should be no result data returned.
20603 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
20606 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
20607 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
20609 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
20610 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
20611 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
20612 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
20613 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
20614 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
20616 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
20617 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
20620 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
20621 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
20623 There should be no data returned.
20626 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
20628 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
20629 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
20630 this function in short order.
20632 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
20633 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
20635 There should be no data returned.
20638 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
20640 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
20641 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
20643 There should be no data returned.
20646 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
20648 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
20649 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
20650 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
20652 There should be no data returned.
20655 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
20657 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
20658 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
20660 There should be no data returned.
20665 @node Error Messaging
20666 @subsubsection Error Messaging
20668 @findex nnheader-report
20669 @findex nnheader-get-report
20670 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
20671 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
20672 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
20673 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
20674 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
20675 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
20678 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
20680 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
20683 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
20684 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
20685 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
20686 takes one argument---the server symbol.
20688 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
20689 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
20690 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
20693 @node Writing New Backends
20694 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
20696 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
20697 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
20698 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
20699 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
20700 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
20703 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
20704 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
20705 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
20707 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
20708 package called @code{nnoo}.
20710 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
20711 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
20717 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
20718 parameters. For instance:
20721 (nnoo-declare nndir
20725 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
20726 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
20729 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
20730 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
20731 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
20733 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
20734 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
20735 a function in those backends.
20738 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
20739 "Where nndir will look for groups."
20740 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
20743 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
20744 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
20745 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
20747 @item nnoo-define-basics
20748 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
20752 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
20756 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
20757 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
20758 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
20760 @item nnoo-map-functions
20761 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
20762 functions from the parent backends.
20765 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
20766 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
20767 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
20770 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
20771 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
20772 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
20773 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
20776 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
20777 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
20778 haven't already been defined.
20784 nnmh-request-newgroups)
20788 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
20789 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
20790 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
20795 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
20798 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
20799 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
20803 (require 'nnheader)
20807 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
20809 (nnoo-declare nndir
20812 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
20813 "Where nndir will look for groups."
20814 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
20816 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
20817 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
20820 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
20821 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
20822 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
20824 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
20825 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
20827 ;;; Interface functions.
20829 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
20831 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
20832 (setq nndir-directory
20833 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
20835 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
20836 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
20837 (push `(nndir-current-group
20838 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
20840 (push `(nndir-top-directory
20841 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
20843 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
20845 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
20846 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
20847 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
20848 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
20849 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
20853 nnmh-status-message
20855 nnmh-request-newgroups))
20861 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
20862 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
20864 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
20865 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
20866 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
20867 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
20869 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
20870 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
20875 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
20878 The abilities can be:
20882 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
20884 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
20886 This backend supports both mail and news.
20888 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
20891 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
20892 articles and groups.
20894 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
20895 true for almost all backends.
20896 @item prompt-address
20897 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
20898 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
20899 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
20903 @node Mail-like Backends
20904 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
20906 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
20907 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
20908 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
20909 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
20912 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
20913 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
20914 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
20917 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
20918 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
20921 This function takes four parameters.
20925 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
20928 @item exit-function
20929 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
20931 @item temp-directory
20932 Where the temporary files should be stored.
20935 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
20936 performed for one group only.
20939 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
20940 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
20941 find the article number assigned to this article.
20943 The function also uses the following variables:
20944 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
20945 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
20946 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
20947 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
20951 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
20952 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
20956 @node Score File Syntax
20957 @subsection Score File Syntax
20959 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
20960 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
20961 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
20963 Here's a typical score file:
20967 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
20974 BNF definition of a score file:
20977 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
20978 element = rule / atom
20979 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
20980 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
20981 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
20982 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
20984 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
20985 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
20986 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
20987 date-header = "date"
20988 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
20989 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
20990 score = "nil" / <integer>
20991 date = "nil" / <natural number>
20992 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
20993 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
20994 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
20995 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
20996 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
20997 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
20998 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
20999 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21000 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
21001 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
21002 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
21003 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
21004 exclude-files / read-only / touched
21005 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
21006 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
21007 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
21008 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
21009 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
21010 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
21011 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
21012 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
21013 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
21014 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
21015 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
21016 eval = "eval" space <form>
21017 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
21020 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
21023 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
21024 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
21025 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
21026 one looong line, then that's ok.
21028 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
21029 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21033 @subsection Headers
21035 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
21036 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
21037 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
21038 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
21040 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
21041 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
21042 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
21043 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
21044 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
21045 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
21046 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
21048 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
21049 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
21050 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
21051 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
21052 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
21054 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
21055 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
21061 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
21062 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
21064 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
21065 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
21066 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
21067 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
21069 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
21073 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
21076 is transformed into
21079 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
21082 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
21083 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
21086 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
21089 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
21090 is slightly tricky:
21093 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
21099 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
21102 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
21108 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
21115 and is equal to the previous range.
21117 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
21118 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
21119 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
21123 range = simple-range / normal-range
21124 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
21125 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
21126 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
21127 number *[ " " contents ]
21130 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
21131 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
21132 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
21133 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
21134 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
21139 @subsection Group Info
21141 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
21142 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
21143 describes the group.
21145 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
21146 second is a more complex one:
21149 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
21151 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
21152 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
21154 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
21157 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
21158 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
21159 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
21160 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
21161 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
21162 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
21163 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
21164 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
21165 this section is about.
21167 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
21168 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
21169 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
21171 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
21174 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
21175 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
21176 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21177 group = quote <string> quote
21178 ralevel = rank / level
21179 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21180 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
21181 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21183 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
21184 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
21185 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
21186 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
21189 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
21190 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
21193 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
21194 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
21197 @item gnus-info-group
21198 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
21199 @findex gnus-info-group
21200 @findex gnus-info-set-group
21201 Get/set the group name.
21203 @item gnus-info-rank
21204 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
21205 @findex gnus-info-rank
21206 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
21207 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
21209 @item gnus-info-level
21210 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
21211 @findex gnus-info-level
21212 @findex gnus-info-set-level
21213 Get/set the group level.
21215 @item gnus-info-score
21216 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
21217 @findex gnus-info-score
21218 @findex gnus-info-set-score
21219 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
21221 @item gnus-info-read
21222 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
21223 @findex gnus-info-read
21224 @findex gnus-info-set-read
21225 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
21227 @item gnus-info-marks
21228 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
21229 @findex gnus-info-marks
21230 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
21231 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
21233 @item gnus-info-method
21234 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
21235 @findex gnus-info-method
21236 @findex gnus-info-set-method
21237 Get/set the group select method.
21239 @item gnus-info-params
21240 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
21241 @findex gnus-info-params
21242 @findex gnus-info-set-params
21243 Get/set the group parameters.
21246 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
21247 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
21249 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
21250 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
21251 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
21252 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
21255 @node Extended Interactive
21256 @subsection Extended Interactive
21257 @cindex interactive
21258 @findex gnus-interactive
21260 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
21261 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
21262 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
21265 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
21266 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
21271 The best thing to do would have been to implement
21272 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
21273 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
21274 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
21275 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
21276 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
21277 @code{interactive}.
21279 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
21284 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
21285 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
21289 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
21290 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
21291 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
21294 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
21298 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
21302 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
21308 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
21309 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
21313 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
21314 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
21315 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
21317 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
21318 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
21319 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
21320 Gnus, that's very useful.
21322 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
21323 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
21324 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
21325 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
21326 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
21327 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
21328 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
21329 following function:
21332 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
21336 (,function ,@@args))
21340 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
21341 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
21342 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
21345 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
21346 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
21347 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
21349 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
21350 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
21351 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
21354 @node Various File Formats
21355 @subsection Various File Formats
21358 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
21359 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
21363 @node Active File Format
21364 @subsubsection Active File Format
21366 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
21367 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
21370 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
21373 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
21374 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
21375 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
21376 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
21377 no.general 1000 900 y
21380 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
21383 active = *group-line
21384 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
21385 group = <non-white-space string>
21387 high-number = <non-negative integer>
21388 low-number = <positive integer>
21389 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
21392 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
21393 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
21396 @node Newsgroups File Format
21397 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
21399 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
21400 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
21401 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
21404 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
21405 Here's the definition:
21409 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
21410 group = <non-white-space string>
21412 description = <string>
21417 @node Emacs for Heathens
21418 @section Emacs for Heathens
21420 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
21421 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
21422 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
21423 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
21424 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
21425 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
21426 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
21430 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
21431 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
21436 @subsection Keystrokes
21440 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
21443 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
21446 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
21447 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
21448 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
21449 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
21450 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
21451 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
21453 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
21454 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
21455 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
21456 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
21457 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
21458 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
21459 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
21461 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
21462 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
21463 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
21464 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
21465 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
21466 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
21467 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
21469 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
21470 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
21471 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
21472 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
21473 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
21479 @subsection Emacs Lisp
21481 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
21482 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
21483 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
21484 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
21486 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
21487 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
21488 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
21489 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
21490 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
21491 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
21492 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
21495 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
21496 write the following:
21499 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
21502 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
21503 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
21504 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
21507 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
21508 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
21509 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
21510 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
21511 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
21513 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
21514 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
21515 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
21519 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
21523 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
21526 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
21527 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
21530 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
21533 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
21534 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
21537 @include gnus-faq.texi