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10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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266 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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275 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
276 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
279 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
280 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
281 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
282 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
283 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
284 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
285 License'' in the Emacs manual.
287 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
288 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
289 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
291 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
292 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
293 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
294 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
302 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
304 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
306 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
307 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
308 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
309 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
310 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
311 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
312 License'' in the Emacs manual.
314 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
315 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
316 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
318 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
319 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
320 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
321 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
329 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
332 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
333 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
335 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
336 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
337 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
338 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
339 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
340 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
341 License'' in the Emacs manual.
343 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
344 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
345 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
347 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
348 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
349 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
350 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
359 @top The Gnus Newsreader
363 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
364 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
365 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
368 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v0.01.
379 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
380 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
382 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
383 being accused of plagiarism:
385 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
386 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
387 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
388 can even read news with it!
390 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
391 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
392 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
393 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
394 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
400 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
401 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
402 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
403 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
404 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
405 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
406 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
407 * Various:: General purpose settings.
408 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
409 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
410 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
411 * Key Index:: Key Index.
414 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
418 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
419 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
420 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
421 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
422 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
423 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
424 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
425 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
426 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
427 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
428 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
432 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
433 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
434 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
438 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
439 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
440 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
441 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
442 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
443 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
444 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
445 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
446 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
447 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
448 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
449 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
450 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
451 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
452 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
453 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
454 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
458 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
459 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
460 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
464 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
465 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
466 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
467 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
468 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
472 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
473 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
474 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
475 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
479 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
480 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
481 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
482 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
483 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
484 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
485 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
486 * Threading:: How threads are made.
487 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
488 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
489 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
490 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
491 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
492 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
493 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
494 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
495 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
496 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
497 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
498 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
499 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
500 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
501 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
502 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
503 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
504 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
505 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
506 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
507 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
509 Summary Buffer Format
511 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
512 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
513 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
514 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
518 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
519 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
521 Reply, Followup and Post
523 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
524 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
525 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
526 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
530 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
531 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
532 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
533 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
534 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
535 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
539 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
540 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
542 Customizing Threading
544 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
545 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
546 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
547 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
551 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
552 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
553 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
554 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
555 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
556 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
560 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
561 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
562 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
566 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
567 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
568 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
569 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
570 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
571 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
572 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
573 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
575 Alternative Approaches
577 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
578 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
580 Various Summary Stuff
582 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
583 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
584 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
585 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
589 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
590 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
591 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
592 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
593 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
597 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
598 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
599 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
600 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
601 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
602 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
603 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
604 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
608 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
609 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
610 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
611 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
612 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
613 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
614 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
618 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
619 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
620 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
621 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
622 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
623 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
624 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
628 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
629 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
633 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
634 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
635 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
636 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
637 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
638 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
639 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
640 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
641 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
642 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
643 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
644 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
645 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
649 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
650 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
651 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
653 Choosing a Mail Backend
655 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
656 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
657 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
658 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
659 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
660 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
664 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
665 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
666 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
667 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
671 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
672 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
673 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
674 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
675 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
676 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
680 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
684 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
685 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
686 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
690 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
691 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
692 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
696 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
697 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
701 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
702 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
703 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
704 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
705 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
706 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
707 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
708 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
709 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
710 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
714 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
715 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
716 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
720 * Group Agent Commands::
721 * Summary Agent Commands::
722 * Server Agent Commands::
726 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
727 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
728 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
729 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
730 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
731 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
732 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
733 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
734 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
735 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
736 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
737 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
738 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
739 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
740 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
741 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
745 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
746 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
747 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
748 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
752 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
753 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
754 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
758 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
759 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
760 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
761 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
762 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
763 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
764 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
765 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
766 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
767 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
768 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
769 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
770 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
771 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
772 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
773 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
774 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
775 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
779 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
780 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
781 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
782 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
783 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
787 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
788 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
789 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
790 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
794 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
795 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
796 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
797 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
798 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
802 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
803 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
804 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
805 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
806 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
807 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
808 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
809 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
813 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
814 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
815 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
816 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
817 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
818 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
819 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
820 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
821 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
825 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
826 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
827 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
828 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
829 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
833 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
834 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
835 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
836 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
840 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
841 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
842 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
843 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
844 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
845 * Group Info:: The group info format.
846 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
847 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
848 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
852 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
853 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
854 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
855 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
856 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
857 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
861 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
862 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
866 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
867 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
873 @chapter Starting Gnus
878 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
879 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
882 @findex gnus-other-frame
883 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
884 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
885 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
887 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
888 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
889 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
891 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
892 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
895 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
896 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
897 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
898 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
899 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
900 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
901 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
902 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
903 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
904 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
905 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
909 @node Finding the News
910 @section Finding the News
913 @vindex gnus-select-method
915 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
916 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
917 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
918 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
921 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
922 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
925 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
928 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
931 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
934 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
935 certainly be much faster.
937 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
939 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
940 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
941 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
942 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
943 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
944 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
946 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
947 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
948 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
949 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
951 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
952 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
953 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
954 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
955 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
956 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
957 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
958 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
959 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
962 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
964 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
965 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
966 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
967 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
968 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
969 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
971 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
973 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
974 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
975 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
976 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
977 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
978 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
981 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
982 would typically set this variable to
985 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
990 @section The First Time
991 @cindex first time usage
993 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
994 be subscribed by default.
996 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
997 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
998 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
999 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1002 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1003 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1004 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1006 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1007 help you with most common problems.
1009 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1010 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1014 @node The Server is Down
1015 @section The Server is Down
1016 @cindex server errors
1018 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1019 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1020 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1022 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1023 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1024 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1025 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1026 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1027 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1028 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1030 @findex gnus-no-server
1031 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1033 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1034 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1035 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1036 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1037 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1038 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1039 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1043 @section Slave Gnusae
1046 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1047 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1048 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1049 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1051 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1052 @code{.newsrc} file.
1054 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1055 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1056 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1057 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1058 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1059 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1060 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1062 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1063 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1064 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1065 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1066 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1067 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1068 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1069 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1071 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1072 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1075 @node Fetching a Group
1076 @section Fetching a Group
1077 @cindex fetching a group
1079 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1080 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1081 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1082 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1083 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1084 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1090 @cindex subscription
1092 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1093 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1094 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1095 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1096 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1097 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1098 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1099 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
1100 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1103 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1104 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1105 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1109 @node Checking New Groups
1110 @subsection Checking New Groups
1112 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1113 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1114 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1115 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1116 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1117 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1118 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1119 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1120 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1121 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1123 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1124 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1125 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1126 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1127 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1128 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1129 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1130 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1131 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1132 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1133 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1135 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1136 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1137 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1138 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1139 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1140 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1143 @node Subscription Methods
1144 @subsection Subscription Methods
1146 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1147 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1148 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1150 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1151 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1153 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1157 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1158 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1159 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1160 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1161 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1163 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1164 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1165 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1166 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1168 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1169 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1170 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1172 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1173 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1174 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1175 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1176 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1177 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1178 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1179 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1180 up. Or something like that.
1182 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1183 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1184 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1185 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1186 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1188 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1189 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1190 Kill all new groups.
1192 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1193 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1194 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1195 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1196 topic parameter that looks like
1202 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1205 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1210 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1211 A closely related variable is
1212 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1213 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1214 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1215 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1218 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1219 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1220 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1221 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1224 @node Filtering New Groups
1225 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1227 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1228 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1229 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1232 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1235 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1236 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1237 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1238 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1239 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1240 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1241 subscribing these groups.
1242 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1243 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1245 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1246 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1247 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1248 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1249 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1250 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1251 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1252 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1254 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1255 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1256 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1257 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1258 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1259 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1260 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1261 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1262 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1263 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1265 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1266 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1269 @node Changing Servers
1270 @section Changing Servers
1271 @cindex changing servers
1273 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1274 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1275 very flaky and you want to use another.
1277 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1278 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1282 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1283 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1284 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1285 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1288 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1289 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1290 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1291 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1293 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1294 @findex gnus-change-server
1295 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1296 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1297 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1298 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1299 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1301 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1302 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1303 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1304 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1305 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1307 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1308 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1309 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1310 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1311 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1312 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1314 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1315 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1316 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1320 @section Startup Files
1321 @cindex startup files
1326 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1327 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1329 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1330 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1331 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1332 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1333 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1334 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1335 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1337 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1338 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1339 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1340 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1341 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1342 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1344 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1345 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1346 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1347 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1348 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1349 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1350 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1351 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1352 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1353 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1355 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1356 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1357 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1358 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1359 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1360 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1361 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1362 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1363 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1364 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1365 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1366 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1368 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1369 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1370 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1371 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1373 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1374 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1375 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1376 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1377 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1378 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1379 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1380 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1381 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1382 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1385 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1386 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1388 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1389 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1392 @vindex gnus-init-file
1393 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1394 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1395 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1396 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1397 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1398 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1399 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1400 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1401 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1407 @cindex dribble file
1410 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1411 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1412 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1413 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1414 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1417 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1418 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1421 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1422 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1423 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1425 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1426 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1427 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1428 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1429 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1430 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1432 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1433 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1434 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1437 @node The Active File
1438 @section The Active File
1440 @cindex ignored groups
1442 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1443 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1444 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1446 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1447 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1448 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1449 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1450 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1451 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1452 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1455 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1456 @c if you set it to anything else.
1458 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1460 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1461 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1462 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1464 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1465 you actually subscribe to.
1467 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1468 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1469 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1470 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1472 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1473 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1474 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1475 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1476 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1477 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1479 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1480 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1481 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1484 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1485 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1486 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1487 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1488 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1489 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1491 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1492 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1494 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1495 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1497 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1498 secondary select methods.
1501 @node Startup Variables
1502 @section Startup Variables
1506 @item gnus-load-hook
1507 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1508 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1509 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1510 times you start Gnus.
1512 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1513 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1514 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1516 @item gnus-startup-hook
1517 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1518 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1520 @item gnus-started-hook
1521 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1522 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1525 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1526 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1527 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1528 generating the group buffer.
1530 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1531 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1532 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1533 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1534 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1535 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1536 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1537 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1539 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1540 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1541 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1542 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1543 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1544 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1546 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1547 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1548 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1550 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1551 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1552 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1554 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1555 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1556 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1557 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1562 @node The Group Buffer
1563 @chapter The Group Buffer
1564 @cindex group buffer
1566 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1567 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1568 long as Gnus is active.
1572 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1573 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1574 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1575 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1576 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1577 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1578 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1579 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1585 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1586 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1587 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1588 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1589 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1590 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1591 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1592 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1593 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1594 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1595 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1596 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1597 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1598 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1599 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1600 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1601 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1605 @node Group Buffer Format
1606 @section Group Buffer Format
1609 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1610 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1611 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1615 @node Group Line Specification
1616 @subsection Group Line Specification
1617 @cindex group buffer format
1619 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1620 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1622 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1625 25: news.announce.newusers
1626 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1631 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1632 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1633 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1634 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1636 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1637 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1638 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1639 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1640 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1641 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1643 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1645 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1646 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1647 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1648 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1651 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1652 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1653 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1655 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1660 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1663 Whether the group is subscribed.
1666 Level of subscribedness.
1669 Number of unread articles.
1672 Number of dormant articles.
1675 Number of ticked articles.
1678 Number of read articles.
1681 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1682 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1685 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1688 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1697 Newsgroup description.
1700 @samp{m} if moderated.
1703 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1712 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1716 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1719 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1720 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1721 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1722 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1723 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1726 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1728 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1732 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1735 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1739 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1740 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1741 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1742 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1743 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1744 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1749 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1750 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1751 group, or a bogus native group.
1754 @node Group Modeline Specification
1755 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1756 @cindex group modeline
1758 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1759 The mode line can be changed by setting
1760 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1761 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1765 The native news server.
1767 The native select method.
1771 @node Group Highlighting
1772 @subsection Group Highlighting
1773 @cindex highlighting
1774 @cindex group highlighting
1776 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1777 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1778 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1779 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1780 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1782 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1786 (cond (window-system
1787 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1788 (defface my-group-face-1
1789 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1790 (defface my-group-face-2
1791 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1792 (defface my-group-face-3
1793 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1794 (defface my-group-face-4
1795 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1796 (defface my-group-face-5
1797 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1799 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1800 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1801 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1802 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1803 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1804 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1807 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1809 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1816 The number of unread articles in the group.
1820 Whether the group is a mail group.
1822 The level of the group.
1824 The score of the group.
1826 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1828 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1829 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1831 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1832 topic being inserted.
1835 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1836 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1837 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1839 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1840 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1841 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1842 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1843 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1846 @node Group Maneuvering
1847 @section Group Maneuvering
1848 @cindex group movement
1850 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1851 expected, hopefully.
1857 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1858 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1859 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1865 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1866 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1867 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1871 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1872 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1876 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1877 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1881 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1882 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1883 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1887 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1888 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1889 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1892 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1898 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1899 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1900 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1905 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1906 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1907 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1911 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1912 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1913 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1916 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1917 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1918 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1919 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1923 @node Selecting a Group
1924 @section Selecting a Group
1925 @cindex group selection
1930 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1931 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1932 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1933 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1934 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1935 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1936 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1937 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1938 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1939 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
1941 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
1942 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
1943 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
1945 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
1946 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
1951 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1952 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1953 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1954 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1955 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1959 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1960 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1961 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1962 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1963 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1964 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1965 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1966 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1967 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1968 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1971 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1972 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1973 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1974 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1975 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1978 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1979 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1980 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1981 doing any processing of its contents
1982 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1983 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1984 manner will have no permanent effects.
1988 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1989 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1990 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1991 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1992 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1993 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1994 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1995 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1998 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1999 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2000 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
2001 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2006 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2007 full summary buffer.
2010 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2013 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2018 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2019 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2020 Useful functions include:
2023 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2024 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2025 don't select the article.
2027 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2028 Select the first unread article.
2030 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2031 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2035 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2036 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2037 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2041 @node Subscription Commands
2042 @section Subscription Commands
2043 @cindex subscription
2051 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2052 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2053 Toggle subscription to the current group
2054 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2060 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2061 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2062 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2063 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2069 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2070 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2071 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2077 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2078 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2081 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2082 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2083 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2084 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2085 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2091 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2092 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2096 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2097 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2100 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2101 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2102 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2103 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2104 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2105 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2106 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2107 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2108 @file{.newsrc} file.
2112 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2122 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2123 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2124 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2125 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2126 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2127 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2132 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2133 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2134 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2138 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2139 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2140 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2142 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2143 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2144 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2145 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2146 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2147 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2154 @section Group Levels
2158 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2159 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2160 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2161 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2162 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2164 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2170 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2171 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2172 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2173 prompted for a level.
2176 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2177 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2178 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2179 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2180 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2181 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2182 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2183 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2184 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2185 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2186 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2187 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2188 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2189 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2190 reasons of efficiency.
2192 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2193 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2195 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2196 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2197 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2198 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2199 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2200 groups are hidden, in a way.
2202 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2203 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2204 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2205 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2206 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2207 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2209 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2210 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2211 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2212 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2213 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2214 list of killed groups.)
2216 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2217 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2218 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2220 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2221 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2222 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2223 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2224 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2225 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2226 relevant valid ranges.
2228 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2229 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2230 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2231 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2232 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2233 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2236 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2237 one with the best level.
2239 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2240 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2241 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2244 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2245 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2246 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2247 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2250 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2251 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2252 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2253 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2255 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2256 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2257 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2258 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2259 to 5. The default is 6.
2263 @section Group Score
2268 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2269 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2270 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2273 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2274 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2275 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2276 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2277 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2278 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2279 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2280 least significant part.))
2282 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2283 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2284 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2285 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2286 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2287 action after each summary exit, you can add
2288 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2289 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2290 slow things down somewhat.
2293 @node Marking Groups
2294 @section Marking Groups
2295 @cindex marking groups
2297 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2298 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2299 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2300 bidding on those groups.
2302 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2303 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2304 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2312 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2313 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2319 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2320 Remove the mark from the current group
2321 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2325 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2326 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2330 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2331 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2335 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2336 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2340 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2341 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2342 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2345 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2347 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2348 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2349 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2350 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2351 the command to be executed.
2354 @node Foreign Groups
2355 @section Foreign Groups
2356 @cindex foreign groups
2358 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2359 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2360 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2361 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2368 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2369 @cindex making groups
2370 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2371 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2372 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2376 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2377 @cindex renaming groups
2378 Rename the current group to something else
2379 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2380 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2386 @findex gnus-group-customize
2387 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2391 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2392 @cindex renaming groups
2393 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2394 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2398 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2399 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2400 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2404 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2405 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2406 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2410 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2412 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2413 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2418 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2419 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2423 @cindex (ding) archive
2424 @cindex archive group
2425 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2426 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2427 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2428 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2429 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2430 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2431 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2435 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2437 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2438 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2439 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2440 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2444 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2446 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2447 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2448 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2452 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2453 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2455 Make a group based on some file or other
2456 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2457 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2458 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
2459 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
2460 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
2461 If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2462 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2466 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2467 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2468 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2469 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2473 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2478 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2479 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2480 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2481 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2482 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2483 @xref{Web Searches}.
2485 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2486 to a particular group by using a match string like
2487 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2490 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2491 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2492 This function will delete the current group
2493 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2494 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2495 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2496 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2497 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2501 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2502 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2503 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2507 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2508 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2509 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2512 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2515 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2516 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2517 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2518 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2519 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2520 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2524 @node Group Parameters
2525 @section Group Parameters
2526 @cindex group parameters
2528 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2529 Here's an example group parameter list:
2532 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2536 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2537 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2538 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2539 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2541 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2542 is an alist of regexps and values.
2544 The following group parameters can be used:
2549 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2552 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2555 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2556 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2557 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2558 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2559 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2561 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2562 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2563 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2564 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2565 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2566 list address instead.
2568 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2572 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2575 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2578 It is totally ignored
2579 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2580 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2582 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2583 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2584 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2585 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2586 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2588 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2589 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2590 sending the message.
2592 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2596 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2597 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2598 of whether it has any unread articles.
2600 @item broken-reply-to
2601 @cindex broken-reply-to
2602 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2603 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2604 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2605 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2606 broken behavior. So there!
2610 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2611 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2615 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2616 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2617 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2622 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2623 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2624 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2625 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2626 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2627 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2628 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2632 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2633 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2634 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2636 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2639 @cindex total-expire
2640 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2641 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2642 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2643 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2646 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2650 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2651 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2652 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2653 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2654 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2655 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2658 @cindex score file group parameter
2659 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2660 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2661 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2664 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2665 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2666 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2667 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2670 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2671 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2672 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2673 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2676 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2677 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2681 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2684 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2689 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2690 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2691 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2695 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2696 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2697 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2699 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2701 @item ignored-charsets
2702 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-known iso-8859-1)}
2703 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2704 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2706 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2709 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2710 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2711 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2712 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2713 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2715 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2716 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2717 like this in the group parameters:
2722 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2726 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2727 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2728 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2729 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2730 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2732 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2733 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2734 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2735 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2736 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2737 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2738 @code{eval}ed there.
2740 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2741 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2742 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2743 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2744 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2748 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2749 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2750 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2751 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2752 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2755 @node Listing Groups
2756 @section Listing Groups
2757 @cindex group listing
2759 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2767 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2768 List all groups that have unread articles
2769 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2770 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2771 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2772 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2779 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2780 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2781 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2782 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2783 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2784 unsubscribed groups).
2788 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2789 List all unread groups on a specific level
2790 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2791 with no unread articles.
2795 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2796 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2797 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2798 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2803 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2804 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2808 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2809 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2810 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2814 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2815 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2819 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2820 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2821 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2822 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2823 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2824 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2825 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2826 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2830 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2831 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2832 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2836 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2837 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2838 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2842 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
2843 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
2847 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
2848 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
2852 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
2853 List groups limited within the current selection
2854 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
2858 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
2859 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
2863 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
2864 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
2868 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2869 @cindex visible group parameter
2870 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2871 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2872 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2873 get the same effect.
2875 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2876 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2877 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2878 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2879 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2882 @node Sorting Groups
2883 @section Sorting Groups
2884 @cindex sorting groups
2886 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2887 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2888 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2889 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2890 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2891 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2896 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2897 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2898 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2900 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2901 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2902 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2904 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2905 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2906 Sort by group level.
2908 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2909 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2910 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2912 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2913 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2914 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2915 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2917 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2918 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2919 Sort by number of unread articles.
2921 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2922 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2923 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2925 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
2926 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
2927 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
2932 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2933 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2937 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2938 some sorting criteria:
2942 @kindex G S a (Group)
2943 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2944 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2945 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2948 @kindex G S u (Group)
2949 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2950 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2951 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2954 @kindex G S l (Group)
2955 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2956 Sort the group buffer by group level
2957 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2960 @kindex G S v (Group)
2961 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2962 Sort the group buffer by group score
2963 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2966 @kindex G S r (Group)
2967 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2968 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2969 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2972 @kindex G S m (Group)
2973 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2974 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2975 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2979 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
2980 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2982 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
2983 commands will sort in reverse order.
2985 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2989 @kindex G P a (Group)
2990 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2991 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
2992 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2995 @kindex G P u (Group)
2996 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2997 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
2998 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3001 @kindex G P l (Group)
3002 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3003 Sort the groups by group level
3004 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3007 @kindex G P v (Group)
3008 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3009 Sort the groups by group score
3010 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3013 @kindex G P r (Group)
3014 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3015 Sort the groups by group rank
3016 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3019 @kindex G P m (Group)
3020 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3021 Sort the groups alphabetically by backend name
3022 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3028 @node Group Maintenance
3029 @section Group Maintenance
3030 @cindex bogus groups
3035 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3036 Find bogus groups and delete them
3037 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3041 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3042 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3043 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3044 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3045 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3049 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3050 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3051 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3052 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
3055 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
3056 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3057 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
3058 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3063 @node Browse Foreign Server
3064 @section Browse Foreign Server
3065 @cindex foreign servers
3066 @cindex browsing servers
3071 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3072 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3073 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3074 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3077 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3078 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3079 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3080 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3082 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3087 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3088 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3092 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3093 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3096 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3097 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3098 Enter the current group and display the first article
3099 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3102 @kindex RET (Browse)
3103 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3104 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3108 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3109 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3110 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3116 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3117 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3121 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3122 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3123 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3128 @section Exiting Gnus
3129 @cindex exiting Gnus
3131 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3136 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3137 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3138 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3139 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3143 @findex gnus-group-exit
3144 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3145 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3149 @findex gnus-group-quit
3150 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3151 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3154 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3155 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3156 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3157 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3158 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3163 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3164 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3165 trying to customize meta-variables.
3170 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3171 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3172 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3178 @section Group Topics
3181 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3182 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3183 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3184 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3185 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3186 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3190 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3191 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
3202 2: alt.religion.emacs
3205 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3207 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3208 13: comp.sources.unix
3211 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3213 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3214 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3215 is a toggling command.)
3217 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3218 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
3219 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3220 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3223 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3224 the hook for the group mode:
3227 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3231 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3232 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3233 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3234 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3235 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3239 @node Topic Variables
3240 @subsection Topic Variables
3241 @cindex topic variables
3243 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
3244 really neat, I think.
3246 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3247 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3248 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3261 Number of groups in the topic.
3263 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3265 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3268 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3269 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3270 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3273 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3274 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3276 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3277 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3278 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3281 @node Topic Commands
3282 @subsection Topic Commands
3283 @cindex topic commands
3285 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3286 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3287 definitions slightly.
3293 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3294 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3295 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3299 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3300 Move the current group to some other topic
3301 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3302 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3306 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3307 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3311 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3312 Copy the current group to some other topic
3313 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3314 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3318 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3319 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3320 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3324 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3325 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3326 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3330 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3331 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3332 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3333 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3334 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3335 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3336 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3339 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3340 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3344 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3345 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3346 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3350 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3351 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3352 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3356 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3357 Toggle hiding empty topics
3358 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3362 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3363 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3364 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3367 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3368 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3369 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3370 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3374 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3376 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3377 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3378 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3379 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3382 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3383 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3384 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3385 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3389 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3391 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3392 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3393 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3394 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3395 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3396 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3399 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3400 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3401 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the expiry
3402 process (if any) (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}).
3406 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3407 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3408 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3412 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3413 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3414 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3419 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3420 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3423 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3424 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3425 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3429 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3430 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3431 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3435 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3436 @cindex group parameters
3437 @cindex topic parameters
3439 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3440 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3446 @subsection Topic Sorting
3447 @cindex topic sorting
3449 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3455 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3456 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3457 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3458 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3461 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3462 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3463 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3464 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3467 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3468 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3469 Sort the current topic by group level
3470 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3473 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3474 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3475 Sort the current topic by group score
3476 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3479 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3480 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3481 Sort the current topic by group rank
3482 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3485 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3486 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3487 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
3488 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3492 @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
3495 @node Topic Topology
3496 @subsection Topic Topology
3497 @cindex topic topology
3500 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3506 2: alt.religion.emacs
3509 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3511 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3512 13: comp.sources.unix
3515 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3516 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3517 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3522 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3523 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3527 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3528 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3529 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3530 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3531 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3532 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3534 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3535 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3536 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3539 @node Topic Parameters
3540 @subsection Topic Parameters
3541 @cindex topic parameters
3543 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3544 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3545 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3547 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3552 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3553 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3554 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3559 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3560 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3561 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3562 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3568 2: alt.religion.emacs
3572 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3574 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3575 13: comp.sources.unix
3579 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3580 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3581 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3582 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3583 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3584 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3586 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3587 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3588 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3589 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3590 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3592 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3593 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3594 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3595 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3596 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3597 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3598 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3599 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3602 @node Misc Group Stuff
3603 @section Misc Group Stuff
3606 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3607 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3608 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3609 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3616 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3617 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3618 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
3622 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3623 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
3624 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
3628 @findex gnus-group-mail
3629 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
3633 Variables for the group buffer:
3637 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3638 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3639 is called after the group buffer has been
3642 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3643 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3644 is called after the group buffer is
3645 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3648 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3649 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3650 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3651 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3653 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3654 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3655 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3656 whether they are empty or not.
3658 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3659 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3660 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3661 non-ASCII group names.
3665 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3666 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3669 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3670 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3671 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
3672 It is used to show non-ASCII group names.
3676 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
3677 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
3682 @node Scanning New Messages
3683 @subsection Scanning New Messages
3684 @cindex new messages
3685 @cindex scanning new news
3691 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
3692 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
3693 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
3694 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
3695 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
3696 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
3701 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
3702 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
3703 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
3704 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
3705 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
3706 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
3707 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3709 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3710 @cindex activating groups
3712 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3713 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3718 @findex gnus-group-restart
3719 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3720 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3721 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3725 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3726 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3728 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3729 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3733 @node Group Information
3734 @subsection Group Information
3735 @cindex group information
3736 @cindex information on groups
3743 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3744 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3747 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3748 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3749 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3750 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3751 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3752 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3753 for fetching the file.
3755 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3756 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3760 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3762 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3763 @cindex describing groups
3764 @cindex group description
3765 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3766 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3767 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3771 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3772 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3773 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3780 @findex gnus-version
3781 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3785 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3786 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3789 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3792 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3793 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3797 @node Group Timestamp
3798 @subsection Group Timestamp
3800 @cindex group timestamps
3802 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3803 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3804 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3807 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3810 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3812 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3813 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3816 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3817 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3820 This will result in lines looking like:
3823 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3824 0: custom 19961002T012713
3827 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3828 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3832 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3833 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3838 @subsection File Commands
3839 @cindex file commands
3845 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3846 @vindex gnus-init-file
3847 @cindex reading init file
3848 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3849 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3853 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3854 @cindex saving .newsrc
3855 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3856 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3857 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3860 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3861 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3862 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3867 @node The Summary Buffer
3868 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3869 @cindex summary buffer
3871 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3872 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3874 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3875 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3877 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3880 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3881 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3882 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3883 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3884 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3885 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3886 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3887 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3888 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3889 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3890 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3891 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3892 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3893 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3894 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3895 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3896 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3897 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
3898 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3899 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3900 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3901 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3902 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3903 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3904 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3905 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
3906 or reselecting the current group.
3907 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3908 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3909 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
3913 @node Summary Buffer Format
3914 @section Summary Buffer Format
3915 @cindex summary buffer format
3919 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3920 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3921 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3927 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3928 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
3929 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3930 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3933 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3934 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3935 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3936 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3937 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3938 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3939 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3940 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3941 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3942 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3943 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
3946 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
3947 'mail-extract-address-components)
3950 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3951 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3952 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3953 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3956 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3957 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3959 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3960 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3961 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3962 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3963 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3965 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3967 The following format specification characters are understood:
3973 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
3974 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
3976 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3977 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3978 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3980 Full @code{From} header.
3982 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3984 The name, code @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header
3985 (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
3987 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3988 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3989 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3990 may be more thorough.
3992 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3995 Number of lines in the article.
3997 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported in some
3998 methods (like nnfolder).
4000 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4002 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4003 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4005 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4006 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4008 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4009 for adopted articles.
4011 One space for each thread level.
4013 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4018 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4019 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4023 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4025 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4026 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4027 default level. If the difference between
4028 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4029 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4037 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4039 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4045 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4046 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4048 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4049 article has any children.
4055 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4056 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4057 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4058 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4059 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4060 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4063 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4064 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4065 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4066 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4067 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4068 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4070 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4071 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4073 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4076 @node To From Newsgroups
4077 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4081 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4082 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4083 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4084 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4085 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4089 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4090 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4091 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4095 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4096 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4099 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4100 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4103 @findex gnus-extra-header
4104 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4105 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4106 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4109 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4113 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4114 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4115 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4116 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4117 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4118 headers are used instead.
4122 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4123 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4124 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4125 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4128 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4129 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4130 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4131 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4133 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4137 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4139 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4140 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4141 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n")
4142 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4146 Now, this is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4147 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4154 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4155 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4158 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4159 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4161 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4162 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4163 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4164 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4166 Here are the elements you can play with:
4172 Unprefixed group name.
4174 Current article number.
4176 Current article score.
4180 Number of unread articles in this group.
4182 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4185 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4186 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4187 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4188 and no unselected ones.
4190 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4191 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4193 Subject of the current article.
4195 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4197 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4199 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4201 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4203 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4205 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4209 @node Summary Highlighting
4210 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4214 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4215 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4216 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4217 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4218 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4220 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4221 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4222 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4223 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4225 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4226 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4227 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4228 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4230 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4231 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4232 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4233 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4234 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4235 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4238 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4239 ((> score default) . bold))
4241 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4242 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4246 @node Summary Maneuvering
4247 @section Summary Maneuvering
4248 @cindex summary movement
4250 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4251 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4253 None of these commands select articles.
4258 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4259 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4260 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4261 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4262 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4266 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4267 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4268 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4269 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4270 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4273 @kindex G g (Summary)
4274 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4275 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4276 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4279 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4280 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4281 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4282 to the group buffer.
4284 Variables related to summary movement:
4288 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4289 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4290 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4291 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4292 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4293 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4294 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4295 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
4296 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
4297 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
4298 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
4299 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
4300 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
4301 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
4303 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4304 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4305 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4306 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4307 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4308 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4309 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4311 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4313 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4314 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4315 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4316 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4317 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4319 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4320 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4321 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4322 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4323 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4324 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4325 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4326 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4329 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4330 the given number of lines from the top.
4335 @node Choosing Articles
4336 @section Choosing Articles
4337 @cindex selecting articles
4340 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4341 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4345 @node Choosing Commands
4346 @subsection Choosing Commands
4348 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4349 and they all select and display an article.
4351 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4352 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4356 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4357 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4358 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4359 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4364 @kindex G n (Summary)
4365 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4366 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4367 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4372 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4373 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4374 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4379 @kindex G N (Summary)
4380 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4381 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4386 @kindex G P (Summary)
4387 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4388 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4391 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4392 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4393 Go to the next article with the same subject
4394 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4397 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4398 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4399 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4400 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4404 @kindex G f (Summary)
4406 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4407 Go to the first unread article
4408 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4412 @kindex G b (Summary)
4414 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4415 Go to the article with the highest score
4416 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
4421 @kindex G l (Summary)
4422 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4423 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4426 @kindex G o (Summary)
4427 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4429 @cindex article history
4430 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4431 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4432 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4433 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4434 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4435 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4440 @kindex G j (Summary)
4441 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4442 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4443 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4448 @node Choosing Variables
4449 @subsection Choosing Variables
4451 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4454 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4455 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4456 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4457 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4458 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4459 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4461 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4462 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4463 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4464 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4466 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4467 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4468 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4469 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4470 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4471 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4472 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4473 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4474 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4475 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4476 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4477 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4478 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4479 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4484 @node Paging the Article
4485 @section Scrolling the Article
4486 @cindex article scrolling
4491 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4492 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4493 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4494 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4495 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4498 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4499 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4500 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4503 @kindex RET (Summary)
4504 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4505 Scroll the current article one line forward
4506 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4509 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4510 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4511 Scroll the current article one line backward
4512 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4516 @kindex A g (Summary)
4518 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4519 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4520 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4521 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4522 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4523 the way it came from the server.
4525 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4526 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4527 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
4530 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4535 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
4540 @kindex A < (Summary)
4541 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
4542 Scroll to the beginning of the article
4543 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
4548 @kindex A > (Summary)
4549 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
4550 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
4554 @kindex A s (Summary)
4556 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
4557 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
4558 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
4562 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
4563 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
4568 @node Reply Followup and Post
4569 @section Reply, Followup and Post
4572 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
4573 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
4574 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
4575 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
4579 @node Summary Mail Commands
4580 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
4582 @cindex composing mail
4584 Commands for composing a mail message:
4590 @kindex S r (Summary)
4592 @findex gnus-summary-reply
4593 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
4594 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
4595 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
4596 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
4601 @kindex S R (Summary)
4602 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
4603 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
4604 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
4605 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
4606 command uses the process/prefix convention.
4609 @kindex S w (Summary)
4610 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
4611 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
4612 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
4613 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
4614 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
4617 @kindex S W (Summary)
4618 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
4619 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
4620 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
4621 the process/prefix convention.
4625 @kindex S o m (Summary)
4626 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
4627 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
4628 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
4629 Forward the current article to some other person
4630 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
4631 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
4632 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
4633 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
4634 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
4635 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
4636 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
4637 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
4638 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
4643 @kindex S m (Summary)
4644 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
4645 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
4646 Send a mail to some other person
4647 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
4650 @kindex S D b (Summary)
4651 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
4652 @cindex bouncing mail
4653 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
4654 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
4655 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
4656 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
4657 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
4658 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
4659 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
4660 very well fail, though.
4663 @kindex S D r (Summary)
4664 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
4665 Not to be confused with the previous command,
4666 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
4667 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
4668 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
4669 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
4670 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
4671 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
4672 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
4674 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
4675 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
4676 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
4677 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
4678 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
4680 This command understands the process/prefix convention
4681 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4684 @kindex S O m (Summary)
4685 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
4686 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
4687 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
4688 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4691 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
4692 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
4693 @cindex crossposting
4694 @cindex excessive crossposting
4695 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
4696 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
4698 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
4699 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
4700 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
4701 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
4702 command understands the process/prefix convention
4703 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
4707 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4710 @node Summary Post Commands
4711 @subsection Summary Post Commands
4713 @cindex composing news
4715 Commands for posting a news article:
4721 @kindex S p (Summary)
4722 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
4723 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
4724 Post an article to the current group
4725 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
4730 @kindex S f (Summary)
4731 @findex gnus-summary-followup
4732 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
4733 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
4737 @kindex S F (Summary)
4739 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
4740 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
4741 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
4742 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
4743 process/prefix convention.
4746 @kindex S n (Summary)
4747 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
4748 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4749 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
4752 @kindex S N (Summary)
4753 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
4754 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
4755 message through mail and include the original message
4756 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
4757 the process/prefix convention.
4760 @kindex S o p (Summary)
4761 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
4762 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
4763 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
4764 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
4765 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
4766 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
4767 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
4768 as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
4769 forward as an rfc822 MIME section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
4770 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
4771 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
4772 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 MIME section.
4775 @kindex S O p (Summary)
4776 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
4778 @cindex making digests
4779 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
4780 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
4781 process/prefix convention.
4784 @kindex S u (Summary)
4785 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
4786 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
4787 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
4788 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
4791 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
4794 @node Summary Message Commands
4795 @subsection Summary Message Commands
4799 @kindex S y (Summary)
4800 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
4801 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
4802 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
4803 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
4804 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4809 @node Canceling and Superseding
4810 @subsection Canceling Articles
4811 @cindex canceling articles
4812 @cindex superseding articles
4814 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
4815 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
4817 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
4819 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
4821 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
4822 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
4823 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
4824 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
4825 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
4826 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4828 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
4829 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
4832 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
4833 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
4834 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
4836 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
4837 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
4838 your original article.
4840 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
4842 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
4843 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
4844 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
4847 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
4848 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
4849 have posted almost the same article twice.
4851 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
4852 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
4853 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
4854 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
4855 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
4856 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
4857 header by substituting one of those words for the word
4858 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
4859 you would do normally. The previous article will be
4860 canceled/superseded.
4862 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4865 @node Marking Articles
4866 @section Marking Articles
4867 @cindex article marking
4868 @cindex article ticking
4871 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4873 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4874 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4875 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4877 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4880 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4881 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4882 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4886 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4890 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4891 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
4892 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4896 @node Unread Articles
4897 @subsection Unread Articles
4899 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4904 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4905 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4907 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4908 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4909 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4910 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
4911 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
4912 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
4913 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
4916 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4917 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4919 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4920 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4921 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4924 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4925 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4927 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4932 @subsection Read Articles
4933 @cindex expirable mark
4935 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4940 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4941 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4942 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4945 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4946 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4949 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4950 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4951 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4954 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4955 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4958 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4959 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4962 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4963 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4966 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4967 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4970 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4971 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4974 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4975 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4978 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4979 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4983 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4984 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4985 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4989 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4990 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4992 One more special mark, though:
4996 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4997 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4999 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5000 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5001 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5002 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5008 @subsection Other Marks
5009 @cindex process mark
5012 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5018 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5019 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5020 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5021 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5022 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5025 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5026 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5027 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5028 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5031 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5032 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5033 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5036 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5037 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5038 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5039 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5042 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5043 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5044 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5045 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5046 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5049 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5050 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5051 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5052 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5053 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5054 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5058 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5059 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5060 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5062 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5063 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5064 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5068 @subsection Setting Marks
5069 @cindex setting marks
5071 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5076 @kindex M c (Summary)
5077 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5078 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5079 @cindex mark as unread
5080 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5081 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5087 @kindex M t (Summary)
5088 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5089 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5090 @xref{Article Caching}.
5095 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5096 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5097 Mark the current article as dormant
5098 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5102 @kindex M d (Summary)
5104 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5105 Mark the current article as read
5106 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5110 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5111 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5112 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5117 @kindex M k (Summary)
5118 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5119 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5120 and then select the next unread article
5121 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5125 @kindex M K (Summary)
5126 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5127 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5128 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5129 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5132 @kindex M C (Summary)
5133 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5134 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5135 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5138 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5139 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5140 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5141 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5144 @kindex M H (Summary)
5145 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5146 Catchup the current group to point
5147 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5150 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5151 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5152 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5153 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5156 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5157 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5158 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5159 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5163 @kindex M e (Summary)
5165 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5166 Mark the current article as expirable
5167 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5170 @kindex M b (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5172 Set a bookmark in the current article
5173 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5176 @kindex M B (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5178 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5179 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5182 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5183 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5184 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5185 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5188 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5189 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5190 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5191 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5194 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5195 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5196 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5197 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5198 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5201 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5202 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5203 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5204 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5205 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5206 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5207 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5208 The default is @code{t}.
5211 @node Generic Marking Commands
5212 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5214 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5215 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5216 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5217 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5218 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5221 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5222 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5225 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5226 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5227 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5228 to list in this manual.
5230 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5231 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5232 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5233 article, you could say something like:
5236 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5237 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5238 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5244 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5245 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5249 @node Setting Process Marks
5250 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5251 @cindex setting process marks
5258 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5259 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5260 Mark the current article with the process mark
5261 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5262 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5266 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5267 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5268 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5269 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5272 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5273 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5274 Remove the process mark from all articles
5275 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5278 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5279 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5280 Invert the list of process marked articles
5281 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5284 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5285 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5286 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5287 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5290 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5291 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5292 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5293 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5296 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5297 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5298 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5301 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5302 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5303 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5304 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5307 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5308 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5309 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5310 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5313 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5314 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5315 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5316 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5319 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5320 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5321 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5324 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5325 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5326 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5327 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5330 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5331 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5332 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5335 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5336 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5337 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5338 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5341 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5342 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5343 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5344 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5347 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5348 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5349 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5350 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
5353 @kindex M P w (Summary)
5354 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
5355 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
5356 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
5360 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
5361 set process marks based on article body contents.
5368 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
5369 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
5370 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
5373 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
5374 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
5375 additional articles.
5381 @kindex / / (Summary)
5382 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
5383 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
5384 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
5387 @kindex / a (Summary)
5388 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
5389 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
5390 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
5393 @kindex / x (Summary)
5394 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
5395 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
5396 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
5397 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}).
5401 @kindex / u (Summary)
5403 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
5404 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
5405 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
5406 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
5407 dormant articles will also be excluded.
5410 @kindex / m (Summary)
5411 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
5412 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
5413 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
5416 @kindex / t (Summary)
5417 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
5418 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
5419 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
5420 articles younger than that number of days.
5423 @kindex / n (Summary)
5424 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
5425 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
5426 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
5427 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5430 @kindex / w (Summary)
5431 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
5432 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
5433 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
5437 @kindex / v (Summary)
5438 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
5439 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
5440 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
5444 @kindex M S (Summary)
5445 @kindex / E (Summary)
5446 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
5447 Include all expunged articles in the limit
5448 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
5451 @kindex / D (Summary)
5452 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
5453 Include all dormant articles in the limit
5454 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
5457 @kindex / * (Summary)
5458 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
5459 Include all cached articles in the limit
5460 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
5463 @kindex / d (Summary)
5464 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
5465 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
5466 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
5469 @kindex / M (Summary)
5470 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
5471 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
5474 @kindex / T (Summary)
5475 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
5476 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
5479 @kindex / c (Summary)
5480 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
5481 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
5482 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
5485 @kindex / C (Summary)
5486 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
5487 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
5488 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
5489 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
5497 @cindex article threading
5499 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
5500 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
5501 hierarchical fashion.
5503 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
5504 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
5505 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
5506 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
5507 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
5508 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
5509 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
5511 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
5515 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
5518 A tree-like article structure.
5521 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
5524 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
5525 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
5526 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
5527 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
5528 called loose threads.
5530 @item thread gathering
5531 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
5533 @item sparse threads
5534 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
5535 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
5541 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
5542 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
5546 @node Customizing Threading
5547 @subsection Customizing Threading
5548 @cindex customizing threading
5551 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
5552 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
5553 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
5554 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
5559 @subsubsection Loose Threads
5562 @cindex loose threads
5565 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
5566 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
5567 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
5568 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
5569 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
5570 read or killed the root in a previous session.
5572 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
5573 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
5574 There are four possible values:
5578 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
5579 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
5580 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5581 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5582 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
5587 @cindex adopting articles
5592 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
5593 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
5594 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
5595 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
5598 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
5599 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
5600 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
5601 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
5602 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
5603 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
5604 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5607 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
5608 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
5609 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
5613 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
5614 display them after one another.
5617 Don't gather loose threads.
5620 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5621 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
5622 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
5623 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
5624 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
5625 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
5626 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
5627 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
5628 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
5629 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
5630 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
5632 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
5633 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
5634 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
5637 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5638 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
5639 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
5640 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
5641 simplification is used.
5643 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5644 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5645 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
5646 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
5648 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
5650 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
5656 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
5657 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
5658 "answer" "reference" "announce"
5659 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
5664 (mapconcat 'identity
5665 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
5667 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
5670 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
5673 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5674 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
5675 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
5676 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
5677 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
5678 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
5680 Useful functions to put in this list include:
5683 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
5684 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
5685 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
5687 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5688 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
5691 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
5692 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
5693 Remove excessive whitespace.
5696 You may also write your own functions, of course.
5699 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5700 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
5701 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
5702 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
5703 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
5704 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
5705 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
5706 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
5708 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5709 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5710 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
5711 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
5712 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
5713 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
5714 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
5715 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
5716 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
5720 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5721 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
5722 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
5723 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
5725 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5726 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
5727 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
5730 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
5734 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
5735 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
5741 @node Filling In Threads
5742 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
5745 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
5746 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
5747 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
5748 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
5749 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
5750 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
5751 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
5752 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
5753 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
5754 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
5755 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
5756 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
5758 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
5759 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
5760 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
5762 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
5763 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
5764 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
5765 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
5766 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
5767 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
5768 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
5769 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
5770 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
5771 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
5772 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
5773 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
5774 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
5775 @code{nil} by default.
5780 @node More Threading
5781 @subsubsection More Threading
5784 @item gnus-show-threads
5785 @vindex gnus-show-threads
5786 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
5787 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
5788 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
5789 slower and more awkward.
5791 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5792 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
5793 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
5796 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
5797 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
5798 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
5799 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
5800 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
5801 threads are expunged.
5803 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
5804 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
5805 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
5808 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5809 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
5810 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
5811 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
5812 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
5815 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
5816 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
5817 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
5820 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5821 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
5822 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
5823 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
5824 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
5825 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
5826 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
5827 Setting this variable to an alternate value
5828 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
5829 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
5830 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
5835 @node Low-Level Threading
5836 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
5840 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
5841 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
5842 Hook run before parsing any headers.
5844 @item gnus-alter-header-function
5845 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
5846 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
5847 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
5848 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
5849 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
5850 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
5851 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
5852 meaningful. Here's one example:
5855 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
5857 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
5858 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
5860 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
5862 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
5869 @node Thread Commands
5870 @subsection Thread Commands
5871 @cindex thread commands
5877 @kindex T k (Summary)
5878 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
5879 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
5880 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
5881 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
5882 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
5887 @kindex T l (Summary)
5888 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
5889 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
5890 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
5891 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
5894 @kindex T i (Summary)
5895 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
5896 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
5897 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
5900 @kindex T # (Summary)
5901 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5902 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
5903 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5906 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
5907 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5908 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
5909 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5912 @kindex T T (Summary)
5913 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
5914 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
5917 @kindex T s (Summary)
5918 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
5919 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
5920 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
5923 @kindex T h (Summary)
5924 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
5925 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
5928 @kindex T S (Summary)
5929 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
5930 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
5933 @kindex T H (Summary)
5934 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5935 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5938 @kindex T t (Summary)
5939 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5940 Re-thread the current article's thread
5941 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5942 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5945 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5946 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5947 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5948 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5952 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5953 understand the numeric prefix.
5958 @kindex T n (Summary)
5960 @kindex M-C-n (Summary)
5962 @kindex M-down (Summary)
5963 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5964 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5967 @kindex T p (Summary)
5969 @kindex M-C-p (Summary)
5971 @kindex M-up (Summary)
5972 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5973 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5976 @kindex T d (Summary)
5977 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5978 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5981 @kindex T u (Summary)
5982 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5983 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5986 @kindex T o (Summary)
5987 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5988 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5991 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5992 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5993 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5994 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5995 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5996 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5997 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5998 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5999 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6000 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6001 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6002 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6009 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6010 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6011 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6012 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6013 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6014 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6015 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6016 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6017 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6018 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6019 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6021 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6022 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6023 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6024 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
6025 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6027 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6028 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6029 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6031 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6032 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6033 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6034 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6035 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6036 ascending article order.
6038 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6039 by number, you could do something like:
6042 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6043 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6044 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6045 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6048 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6049 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6050 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6051 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6052 which the articles arrived.
6054 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6058 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6060 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6061 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6064 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6065 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6066 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6067 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6070 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6071 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6072 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6073 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6074 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6075 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6076 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
6077 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
6078 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
6079 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
6080 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6081 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
6082 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6084 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6088 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6089 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6090 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6095 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6096 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6097 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6098 @cindex article pre-fetch
6101 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6102 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6103 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6104 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6105 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6107 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6108 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6110 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6111 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6112 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6113 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6114 connection is blocked.
6116 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6117 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6118 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6119 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6121 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6122 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6123 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6124 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6127 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6130 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6131 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6132 happen automatically.
6134 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6135 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6136 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6137 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
6138 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
6139 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6140 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6142 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6143 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6144 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6145 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6146 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6147 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6148 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6149 data structure as the only parameter.
6151 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6154 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6155 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6156 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6157 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6160 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6163 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6164 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6165 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6167 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6168 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6169 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6170 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6174 Remove articles when they are read.
6177 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6180 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6182 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6183 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6184 @c from the next group.
6187 @node Article Caching
6188 @section Article Caching
6189 @cindex article caching
6192 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6193 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6194 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6195 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6196 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6198 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6200 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6201 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6202 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6203 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6204 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6205 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6206 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6207 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6209 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6210 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6211 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6212 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6213 as dormant, and don't worry.
6215 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6217 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6218 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6219 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6220 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6221 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6222 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6223 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6224 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6225 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6226 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6228 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6229 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6230 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6231 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6232 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6233 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6234 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6235 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6236 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6237 not then be downloaded by this command.
6239 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6240 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6241 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6242 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6243 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6244 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6246 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6247 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6248 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6249 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6250 variables, the group is not cached.
6252 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6253 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6254 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6255 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6256 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6257 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
6258 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6259 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6260 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6264 @node Persistent Articles
6265 @section Persistent Articles
6266 @cindex persistent articles
6268 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6269 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6270 useful in my opinion.
6272 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6273 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6274 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6275 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
6276 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
6277 the expiry going on at the news server.
6279 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
6280 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
6281 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
6287 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
6288 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
6291 @kindex M-* (Summary)
6292 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
6293 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
6294 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
6298 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
6300 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
6301 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
6302 interested in persistent articles:
6305 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
6309 @node Article Backlog
6310 @section Article Backlog
6312 @cindex article backlog
6314 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
6315 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
6316 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
6317 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
6318 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
6319 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
6320 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
6321 increase memory usage some.
6323 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
6324 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
6325 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
6326 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
6327 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
6328 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
6329 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
6331 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
6334 @node Saving Articles
6335 @section Saving Articles
6336 @cindex saving articles
6338 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
6339 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
6340 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
6341 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
6342 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
6344 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
6345 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
6346 unwanted headers before saving the article.
6348 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
6349 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
6350 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
6351 deleted before saving.
6357 @kindex O o (Summary)
6359 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
6360 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
6361 Save the current article using the default article saver
6362 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
6365 @kindex O m (Summary)
6366 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
6367 Save the current article in mail format
6368 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
6371 @kindex O r (Summary)
6372 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
6373 Save the current article in rmail format
6374 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
6377 @kindex O f (Summary)
6378 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
6379 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
6380 Save the current article in plain file format
6381 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
6384 @kindex O F (Summary)
6385 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
6386 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
6387 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
6390 @kindex O b (Summary)
6391 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
6392 Save the current article body in plain file format
6393 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
6396 @kindex O h (Summary)
6397 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
6398 Save the current article in mh folder format
6399 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
6402 @kindex O v (Summary)
6403 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
6404 Save the current article in a VM folder
6405 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
6408 @kindex O p (Summary)
6409 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
6410 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
6411 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
6414 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
6415 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
6416 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
6417 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
6418 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
6419 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
6420 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
6421 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
6422 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
6423 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
6424 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
6425 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
6429 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
6430 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
6431 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
6432 functions below, or you can create your own.
6436 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6437 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
6438 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
6439 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6440 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
6441 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6442 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6444 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6445 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
6446 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
6447 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
6448 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6449 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
6451 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
6452 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
6453 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
6454 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6455 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
6456 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6457 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6459 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6460 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
6461 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
6462 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
6463 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
6465 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6466 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
6467 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
6468 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
6469 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
6472 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
6473 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
6474 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
6475 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
6476 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
6478 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6479 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
6480 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
6481 reader to use this setting.
6484 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
6485 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
6486 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
6487 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
6490 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
6491 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
6492 available functions that generate names:
6496 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
6497 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
6498 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6500 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
6501 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
6502 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
6504 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
6505 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
6506 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6508 @item gnus-plain-save-name
6509 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
6510 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
6512 @item gnus-sender-save-name
6513 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
6514 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
6517 @vindex gnus-split-methods
6518 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
6519 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
6520 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
6521 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
6525 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
6526 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
6527 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
6528 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
6531 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
6532 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
6533 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
6534 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
6535 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
6536 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
6537 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
6538 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
6539 called returns a string or a list of strings.
6541 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
6542 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
6543 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
6544 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
6546 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
6547 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
6548 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
6551 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
6552 lots of mail groups called things like
6553 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
6554 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
6555 following will do just that:
6558 (defun my-save-name (group)
6559 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
6560 (substring group (match-end 0))))
6562 (setq gnus-split-methods
6563 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
6568 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6569 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
6570 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
6571 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
6572 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
6573 all the files in the top level directory
6574 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
6575 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
6576 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
6577 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
6579 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
6580 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
6581 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
6582 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
6583 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
6586 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
6590 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
6591 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
6594 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
6595 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
6596 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
6597 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
6600 @node Decoding Articles
6601 @section Decoding Articles
6602 @cindex decoding articles
6604 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
6605 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
6608 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
6609 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
6610 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
6611 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
6612 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
6613 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
6617 @cindex article series
6618 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
6619 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
6620 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
6621 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
6622 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
6624 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
6625 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
6626 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
6628 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
6629 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
6630 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
6632 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
6633 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
6634 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
6637 @node Uuencoded Articles
6638 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
6640 @cindex uuencoded articles
6645 @kindex X u (Summary)
6646 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
6647 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
6648 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
6651 @kindex X U (Summary)
6652 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
6653 Uudecodes and saves the current series
6654 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6657 @kindex X v u (Summary)
6658 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
6659 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
6662 @kindex X v U (Summary)
6663 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
6664 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
6665 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
6669 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
6670 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
6671 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
6672 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
6673 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
6675 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
6676 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
6677 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
6678 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
6681 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
6682 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
6683 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
6684 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
6685 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
6686 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
6690 @node Shell Archives
6691 @subsection Shell Archives
6693 @cindex shell archives
6694 @cindex shared articles
6696 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
6697 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
6698 some commands to deal with these:
6703 @kindex X s (Summary)
6704 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
6705 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
6708 @kindex X S (Summary)
6709 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
6710 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
6713 @kindex X v s (Summary)
6714 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
6715 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
6718 @kindex X v S (Summary)
6719 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
6720 Unshars, views and saves the current series
6721 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
6725 @node PostScript Files
6726 @subsection PostScript Files
6732 @kindex X p (Summary)
6733 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
6734 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
6737 @kindex X P (Summary)
6738 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
6739 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
6740 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
6743 @kindex X v p (Summary)
6744 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
6745 View the current PostScript series
6746 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
6749 @kindex X v P (Summary)
6750 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
6751 View and save the current PostScript series
6752 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
6757 @subsection Other Files
6761 @kindex X o (Summary)
6762 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
6763 Save the current series
6764 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
6767 @kindex X b (Summary)
6768 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
6769 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
6770 doesn't really work yet.
6774 @node Decoding Variables
6775 @subsection Decoding Variables
6777 Adjective, not verb.
6780 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
6781 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
6782 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
6786 @node Rule Variables
6787 @subsubsection Rule Variables
6788 @cindex rule variables
6790 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
6791 variables are of the form
6794 (list '(regexp1 command2)
6801 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6802 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6804 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
6805 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
6808 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
6809 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
6812 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6813 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
6814 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
6815 user and default view rules.
6817 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6818 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
6819 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
6824 @node Other Decode Variables
6825 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
6828 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6830 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
6831 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
6832 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
6833 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
6834 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
6838 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
6839 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
6842 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
6843 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
6844 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
6847 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6848 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
6849 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
6850 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
6851 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
6854 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6855 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
6856 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
6858 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6859 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
6860 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
6861 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
6862 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
6865 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6866 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
6867 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
6869 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6870 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
6871 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
6872 looking for files to display.
6874 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
6875 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
6876 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
6879 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6880 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
6881 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
6884 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6885 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
6886 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
6889 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6890 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
6891 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
6894 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6895 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
6896 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
6897 decoded articles as unread.
6899 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6900 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
6901 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
6902 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
6904 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6905 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
6906 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
6908 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6909 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
6911 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
6912 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
6913 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
6914 @code{metamail} for viewing.
6916 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6917 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
6918 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
6919 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
6920 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
6921 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
6922 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
6923 simply dropped them.
6928 @node Uuencoding and Posting
6929 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
6933 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6934 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
6935 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
6936 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
6937 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
6938 for you when you post the article.
6940 @item gnus-uu-post-length
6941 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
6942 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
6943 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
6945 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
6946 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
6947 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
6948 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
6949 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
6950 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
6951 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
6953 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6954 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6955 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6956 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6957 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6958 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6959 Default is @code{t}.
6965 @subsection Viewing Files
6966 @cindex viewing files
6967 @cindex pseudo-articles
6969 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
6970 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6971 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6972 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
6973 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6974 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6975 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6977 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6978 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6979 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6980 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6982 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6983 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6984 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6986 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6987 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6988 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6989 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6990 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6992 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6993 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6994 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6995 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6996 a list of parameters to that command.
6998 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6999 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7000 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7002 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7003 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7004 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7007 @node Article Treatment
7008 @section Article Treatment
7010 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7011 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7012 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7013 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7014 these articles easier.
7017 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7018 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7019 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7020 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7021 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7022 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7023 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7024 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7028 @node Article Highlighting
7029 @subsection Article Highlighting
7030 @cindex highlighting
7032 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7033 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7038 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7039 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7040 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7041 Do much highlighting of the current article
7042 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7043 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7046 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7047 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7048 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7049 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7050 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7051 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7052 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7053 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7054 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7055 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7056 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7057 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7060 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7061 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7062 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7064 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7067 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7069 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7070 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7071 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7073 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7074 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7075 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7077 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7078 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7079 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7080 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7081 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7082 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7084 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7085 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7086 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7088 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7089 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7090 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7092 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7093 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7094 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7095 that it's a citation.
7097 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7098 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7099 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7101 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7102 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7103 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7105 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7106 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7107 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7108 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7114 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7115 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7116 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7117 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7118 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7119 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7120 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7121 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7126 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7129 @node Article Fontisizing
7130 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7132 @cindex article emphasis
7134 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7135 @kindex W e (Summary)
7136 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7137 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7138 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7139 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7141 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7142 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7143 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7144 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7145 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7146 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7147 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7148 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7152 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
7153 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7154 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7163 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7164 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7165 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7166 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7167 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7168 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7169 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7170 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7171 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7172 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7173 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7174 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7175 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7177 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7178 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7179 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7183 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7186 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7188 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7189 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7190 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7191 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7193 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7196 @node Article Hiding
7197 @subsection Article Hiding
7198 @cindex article hiding
7200 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7201 too much cruft in most articles.
7206 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7207 @findex gnus-article-hide
7208 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7209 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7210 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7213 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7214 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
7215 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7219 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7220 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7221 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7222 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7225 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7226 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7227 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7231 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7232 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7233 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7234 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7235 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7236 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7237 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7238 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7242 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7243 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7244 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7245 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
7250 @kindex W W p (Summary)
7251 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
7252 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7253 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
7254 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
7255 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
7256 articles that have signatures in them do:
7258 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
7260 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
7262 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
7263 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
7265 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
7268 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
7273 @kindex W W P (Summary)
7274 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
7275 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
7276 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
7279 @kindex W W B (Summary)
7280 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
7283 @cindex stripping advertisements
7284 @cindex advertisements
7285 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
7286 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
7287 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
7288 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
7289 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
7290 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
7291 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
7292 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
7293 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
7294 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
7298 @kindex W W c (Summary)
7299 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
7300 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
7301 customizing the hiding:
7305 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7306 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7307 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
7308 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
7309 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
7310 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
7311 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
7316 Starting point of the hidden text.
7318 Ending point of the hidden text.
7320 Number of characters in the hidden region.
7322 Number of lines of hidden text.
7325 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
7326 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
7327 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
7328 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
7329 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
7334 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
7335 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
7337 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
7338 following two variables:
7341 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7342 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
7343 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
7344 50), hide the cited text.
7346 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7347 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
7348 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
7353 @kindex W W C (Summary)
7354 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
7355 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
7356 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
7357 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
7358 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
7362 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
7363 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
7364 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
7366 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
7367 citation customization.
7369 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
7373 @node Article Washing
7374 @subsection Article Washing
7376 @cindex article washing
7378 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
7379 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
7381 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
7382 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
7385 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
7386 articles by default.
7391 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
7392 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
7396 @kindex W l (Summary)
7397 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
7398 Remove page breaks from the current article
7399 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
7403 @kindex W r (Summary)
7404 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
7405 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
7406 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
7407 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
7408 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
7409 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
7411 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
7412 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
7413 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
7414 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
7418 @kindex W t (Summary)
7420 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
7421 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
7422 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
7425 @kindex W v (Summary)
7426 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
7427 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
7428 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
7431 @kindex W o (Summary)
7432 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
7433 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
7436 @kindex W d (Summary)
7437 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
7438 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
7440 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
7442 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
7443 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
7444 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
7445 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
7448 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
7449 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
7450 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
7451 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
7454 @kindex W w (Summary)
7455 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
7456 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
7458 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
7462 @kindex W Q (Summary)
7463 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
7464 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
7467 @kindex W C (Summary)
7468 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
7469 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
7470 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
7473 @kindex W c (Summary)
7474 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
7475 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
7476 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
7477 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
7478 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
7481 @kindex W q (Summary)
7482 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
7483 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
7484 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
7485 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
7486 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
7487 readable to me. Note that the this is usually done automatically by
7488 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
7489 header that says that this encoding has been done.
7492 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
7493 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
7494 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
7495 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
7496 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that the this is usually done
7497 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
7498 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
7502 @kindex W Z (Summary)
7503 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
7504 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
7505 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
7506 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
7509 @kindex W h (Summary)
7510 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
7511 Treat HTML (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}).
7512 Note that the this is usually done automatically by Gnus if the message
7513 in question has a @code{Content-Type} header that says that this type
7517 @kindex W f (Summary)
7519 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
7520 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
7521 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
7522 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
7529 Look for and display any X-Face headers
7530 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
7531 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
7532 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
7533 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
7534 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
7535 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
7536 The default action under Emacs is to fork off the @code{display}
7537 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For the
7538 @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
7539 like `compface' or `faces-xface' on a GNU/Linux system.}
7540 to view the face. Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image
7541 support, the default action is to display the face before the
7542 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
7543 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
7544 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
7545 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
7546 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
7547 like @code{netpbm} or @code{libgr-progs}.}) If you
7548 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
7552 @kindex W b (Summary)
7553 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
7554 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
7555 @xref{Article Buttons}.
7558 @kindex W B (Summary)
7559 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
7560 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
7561 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
7564 @kindex W W H (Summary)
7565 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
7566 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
7567 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
7570 @kindex W E l (Summary)
7571 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
7572 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
7573 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
7576 @kindex W E m (Summary)
7577 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
7578 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
7579 lines with a single empty line.
7580 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
7583 @kindex W E t (Summary)
7584 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
7585 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
7586 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
7589 @kindex W E a (Summary)
7590 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
7591 Do all the three commands above
7592 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
7595 @kindex W E A (Summary)
7596 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
7597 Remove all blank lines
7598 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
7601 @kindex W E s (Summary)
7602 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
7603 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
7604 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
7607 @kindex W E e (Summary)
7608 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
7609 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
7610 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
7614 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
7617 @node Article Buttons
7618 @subsection Article Buttons
7621 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
7622 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
7623 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
7624 button on these references.
7626 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
7627 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
7628 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
7633 @item gnus-button-alist
7634 @vindex gnus-button-alist
7635 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
7638 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7644 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
7645 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
7646 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
7649 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
7650 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
7651 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
7654 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
7655 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
7656 avoid false matches.
7659 This function will be called when you click on this button.
7662 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
7663 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
7667 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
7670 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
7673 @item gnus-header-button-alist
7674 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
7675 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
7676 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
7677 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
7680 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
7683 @var{header} is a regular expression.
7685 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
7686 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
7687 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
7688 default values of the variables above.
7690 @item gnus-article-button-face
7691 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
7692 Face used on buttons.
7694 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
7695 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
7696 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
7700 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
7704 @subsection Article Date
7706 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
7707 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
7708 when the article was sent.
7713 @kindex W T u (Summary)
7714 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
7715 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
7716 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
7719 @kindex W T i (Summary)
7720 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
7722 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
7723 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
7726 @kindex W T l (Summary)
7727 @findex gnus-article-date-local
7728 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
7731 @kindex W T p (Summary)
7732 @findex gnus-article-date-english
7733 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
7734 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
7737 @kindex W T s (Summary)
7738 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
7739 @findex gnus-article-date-user
7740 @findex format-time-string
7741 Display the date using a user-defined format
7742 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
7743 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
7744 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
7745 for a list of possible format specs.
7748 @kindex W T e (Summary)
7749 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
7750 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
7751 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
7752 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
7753 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
7756 X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
7759 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
7760 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
7763 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
7764 into wonderful absurdities.
7766 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
7769 (gnus-start-date-timer)
7772 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
7773 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
7777 @kindex W T o (Summary)
7778 @findex gnus-article-date-original
7779 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
7780 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
7781 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
7782 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
7783 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
7787 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
7788 preferred format automatically.
7791 @node Article Signature
7792 @subsection Article Signature
7794 @cindex article signature
7796 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7797 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
7798 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
7799 that says what is to be considered a signature is
7800 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
7801 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
7802 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
7803 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
7804 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
7807 (setq gnus-signature-separator
7808 '("^-- $" ; The standard
7809 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
7810 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
7811 ; line of dashes. Shame!
7812 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
7813 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
7814 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
7817 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
7820 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
7821 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
7822 signature when displaying articles.
7826 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
7829 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
7832 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
7833 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
7835 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
7836 in question is not a signature.
7839 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
7840 listed above. Here's an example:
7843 (setq gnus-signature-limit
7844 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
7847 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
7848 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
7849 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
7850 signature after all.
7853 @node Article Miscellania
7854 @subsection Article Miscellania
7858 @kindex A t (Summary)
7859 @findex gnus-article-babel
7860 Translate the article from one language to another
7861 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
7867 @section @sc{mime} Commands
7868 @cindex MIME decoding
7870 @cindex viewing attachments
7872 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
7873 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
7879 @kindex K v (Summary)
7880 View the @sc{mime} part.
7883 @kindex K o (Summary)
7884 Save the @sc{mime} part.
7887 @kindex K c (Summary)
7888 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
7891 @kindex K e (Summary)
7892 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
7895 @kindex K i (Summary)
7896 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
7899 @kindex K | (Summary)
7900 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
7903 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
7908 @kindex K b (Summary)
7909 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
7910 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
7914 @kindex K m (Summary)
7915 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
7916 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
7917 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
7918 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
7919 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
7922 @kindex X m (Summary)
7923 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
7924 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
7925 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
7926 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7929 @kindex M-t (Summary)
7930 @findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
7931 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
7932 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
7935 @kindex W M w (Summary)
7936 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
7937 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
7940 @kindex W M c (Summary)
7941 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
7942 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
7944 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
7945 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
7946 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
7947 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not include
7948 MIME headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic parameter to
7949 the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7952 @kindex W M v (Summary)
7953 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
7954 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
7961 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
7962 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
7963 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7964 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
7967 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
7970 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
7974 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7975 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
7976 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
7977 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
7978 displayed. The default value is @code{(".*/.*")}.
7980 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
7981 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
7982 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
7983 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
7984 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
7985 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
7986 save all jpegs into some directory).
7988 Here's an example function the does the latter:
7991 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
7992 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
7994 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
7995 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
7996 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
7997 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
7998 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8001 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8002 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8003 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8012 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8013 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8014 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8015 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8016 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8017 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8018 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8020 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8021 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8022 variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match full group names) and
8023 default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8025 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8026 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
8027 if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8028 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8029 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
8030 on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8031 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
8032 something some agents insist on having in there.
8034 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8035 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8036 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8037 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8038 quoted-printable header encoding.
8040 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8041 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8042 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8046 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8049 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8050 means encode all charsets),
8052 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
8053 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
8054 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
8061 @cindex coding system aliases
8062 @cindex preferred charset
8064 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
8066 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
8067 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
8070 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
8071 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
8074 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
8075 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
8077 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
8080 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
8083 This will almost do the right thing.
8085 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
8089 (codepage-setup 1251)
8090 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
8094 @node Article Commands
8095 @section Article Commands
8102 @kindex A P (Summary)
8103 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
8104 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
8105 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
8106 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
8107 run just before printing the buffer.
8112 @node Summary Sorting
8113 @section Summary Sorting
8114 @cindex summary sorting
8116 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
8117 can't really see why you'd want that.
8122 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
8123 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
8124 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
8127 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
8128 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
8129 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
8132 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
8133 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
8134 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
8137 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
8138 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
8139 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
8142 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
8143 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
8144 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
8147 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
8148 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
8149 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
8152 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
8153 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
8154 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
8157 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
8158 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
8159 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
8160 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
8161 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
8165 @node Finding the Parent
8166 @section Finding the Parent
8167 @cindex parent articles
8168 @cindex referring articles
8173 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
8174 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
8175 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
8176 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
8177 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
8178 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
8179 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
8180 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
8181 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
8183 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
8184 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
8185 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
8186 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
8187 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
8191 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
8192 @kindex A R (Summary)
8193 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
8194 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
8197 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
8198 @kindex A T (Summary)
8199 Display the full thread where the current article appears
8200 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
8201 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
8202 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
8203 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
8204 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
8205 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
8207 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
8208 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
8209 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
8210 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
8211 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
8212 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
8215 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
8216 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
8218 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
8219 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
8220 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
8221 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
8222 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
8223 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
8224 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
8227 The current select method will be used when fetching by
8228 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
8229 by giving this command a prefix.
8231 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
8232 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
8233 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
8234 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
8235 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
8236 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
8239 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
8240 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
8241 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
8244 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
8245 then ask Deja if that fails:
8248 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
8250 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type dejanews))))
8253 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
8254 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
8255 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
8256 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
8257 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
8258 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
8261 @node Alternative Approaches
8262 @section Alternative Approaches
8264 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
8265 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
8268 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
8269 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
8274 @subsection Pick and Read
8275 @cindex pick and read
8277 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
8278 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
8279 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
8280 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
8282 @findex gnus-pick-mode
8283 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
8284 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
8285 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
8286 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
8287 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
8289 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
8294 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
8295 Pick the article or thread on the current line
8296 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8297 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
8298 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
8299 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
8300 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
8301 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
8304 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
8305 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
8306 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
8307 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
8311 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
8312 Unpick the thread or article
8313 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
8314 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
8315 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
8316 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
8317 the thread or article at that line.
8321 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
8322 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
8323 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
8324 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
8325 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
8326 will still be visible when you are reading.
8330 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
8331 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
8332 which is mapped to the same function
8333 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
8335 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
8338 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
8341 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
8342 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
8344 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
8345 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
8346 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
8348 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
8349 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
8350 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
8351 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
8352 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
8353 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
8354 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
8358 @subsection Binary Groups
8359 @cindex binary groups
8361 @findex gnus-binary-mode
8362 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
8363 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
8364 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
8365 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
8366 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
8367 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
8370 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
8371 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
8372 command, when you have turned on this mode
8373 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
8375 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
8376 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
8380 @section Tree Display
8383 @vindex gnus-use-trees
8384 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
8385 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
8386 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
8389 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
8392 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
8393 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
8394 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
8396 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8397 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
8398 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
8399 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
8400 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
8402 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
8403 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
8404 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
8405 default is @code{modeline}.
8407 @item gnus-tree-line-format
8408 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
8409 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
8410 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
8411 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
8412 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
8413 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
8419 The name of the poster.
8421 The @code{From} header.
8423 The number of the article.
8425 The opening bracket.
8427 The closing bracket.
8432 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
8434 Variables related to the display are:
8437 @item gnus-tree-brackets
8438 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
8439 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
8440 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
8441 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
8442 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
8444 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8445 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
8446 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
8447 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
8451 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
8452 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
8453 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
8454 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
8455 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
8456 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
8457 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
8458 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
8459 other windows displayed next to it.
8461 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
8462 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
8463 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8464 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
8465 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
8466 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
8467 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
8471 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
8474 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
8484 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
8488 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
8489 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
8491 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
8493 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
8498 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
8499 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
8500 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
8503 (setq gnus-use-trees t
8504 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
8505 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
8506 (gnus-add-configuration
8510 (summary 0.75 point)
8515 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
8518 @node Mail Group Commands
8519 @section Mail Group Commands
8520 @cindex mail group commands
8522 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
8523 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
8525 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
8526 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8531 @kindex B e (Summary)
8532 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
8533 Expire all expirable articles in the group
8534 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
8537 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
8538 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
8539 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
8540 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
8541 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
8542 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
8545 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
8546 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
8547 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
8548 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
8549 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
8550 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
8553 @kindex B m (Summary)
8555 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
8556 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
8557 Move the article from one mail group to another
8558 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8559 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8562 @kindex B c (Summary)
8564 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
8565 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
8566 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
8567 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
8568 @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
8571 @kindex B B (Summary)
8572 @cindex crosspost mail
8573 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
8574 Crosspost the current article to some other group
8575 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
8576 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
8577 be properly updated.
8580 @kindex B i (Summary)
8581 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
8582 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
8583 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
8584 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
8587 @kindex B r (Summary)
8588 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
8589 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
8590 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
8591 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
8592 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
8593 Marks will be preserved if @var{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
8594 (which is the default).
8598 @kindex B w (Summary)
8600 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
8601 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
8602 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
8603 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
8604 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
8605 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
8608 @kindex B q (Summary)
8609 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
8610 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
8611 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
8612 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
8615 @kindex B t (Summary)
8616 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
8617 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
8618 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
8621 @kindex B p (Summary)
8622 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
8623 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
8624 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
8625 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
8626 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
8627 article from your news server (or rather, from
8628 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
8629 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
8630 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
8631 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
8632 just not have arrived yet.
8636 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
8637 @cindex moving articles
8638 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
8639 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
8640 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
8641 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
8642 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
8643 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
8644 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
8647 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
8648 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
8649 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
8650 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
8654 @node Various Summary Stuff
8655 @section Various Summary Stuff
8658 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
8659 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
8660 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
8661 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
8665 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
8666 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
8667 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
8669 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
8670 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
8671 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
8672 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
8673 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
8674 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
8677 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8678 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
8679 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
8680 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
8681 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
8683 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8684 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
8685 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
8688 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8689 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
8690 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
8691 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
8692 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
8693 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
8694 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
8695 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
8696 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
8697 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
8699 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8700 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
8701 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
8702 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
8703 list of articles to be selected.
8705 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
8706 the list in one particular group:
8709 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
8710 (if (string= group "some.group")
8711 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
8718 @node Summary Group Information
8719 @subsection Summary Group Information
8724 @kindex H f (Summary)
8725 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
8726 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
8727 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
8728 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
8729 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
8730 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
8731 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
8732 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
8733 be used for fetching the file.
8736 @kindex H d (Summary)
8737 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
8738 Give a brief description of the current group
8739 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
8740 rereading the description from the server.
8743 @kindex H h (Summary)
8744 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
8745 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
8746 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
8749 @kindex H i (Summary)
8750 @findex gnus-info-find-node
8751 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
8755 @node Searching for Articles
8756 @subsection Searching for Articles
8761 @kindex M-s (Summary)
8762 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
8763 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
8764 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
8767 @kindex M-r (Summary)
8768 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
8769 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
8770 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
8774 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
8775 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
8776 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
8777 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
8778 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
8779 search backward instead.
8781 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
8782 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
8785 @kindex M-& (Summary)
8786 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
8787 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
8788 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
8791 @node Summary Generation Commands
8792 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
8797 @kindex Y g (Summary)
8798 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
8799 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
8802 @kindex Y c (Summary)
8803 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
8804 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
8805 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
8810 @node Really Various Summary Commands
8811 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
8817 @kindex C-d (Summary)
8818 @kindex A D (Summary)
8819 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
8820 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
8821 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
8822 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
8823 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
8824 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
8825 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
8826 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
8830 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
8831 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
8832 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
8833 several documents into one biiig group
8834 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
8835 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
8836 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
8837 command understands the process/prefix convention
8838 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8841 @kindex C-t (Summary)
8842 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
8843 Toggle truncation of summary lines
8844 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
8845 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
8846 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
8850 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
8851 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
8852 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
8855 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
8856 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
8857 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8858 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
8861 @kindex M-C-a (Summary)
8862 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
8863 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
8864 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
8869 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
8870 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
8871 @cindex summary exit
8872 @cindex exiting groups
8874 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
8875 group and return you to the group buffer.
8881 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
8883 @findex gnus-summary-exit
8884 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
8885 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
8886 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
8887 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
8888 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
8889 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
8890 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
8891 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
8892 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
8893 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
8897 @kindex Z E (Summary)
8899 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
8900 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
8901 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
8905 @kindex Z c (Summary)
8907 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
8908 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
8909 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
8910 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
8913 @kindex Z C (Summary)
8914 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
8915 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
8916 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
8919 @kindex Z n (Summary)
8920 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
8921 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
8922 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
8925 @kindex Z R (Summary)
8926 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
8927 Exit this group, and then enter it again
8928 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
8929 all articles, both read and unread.
8933 @kindex Z G (Summary)
8934 @kindex M-g (Summary)
8935 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
8936 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
8937 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
8938 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
8939 articles, both read and unread.
8942 @kindex Z N (Summary)
8943 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
8944 Exit the group and go to the next group
8945 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
8948 @kindex Z P (Summary)
8949 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
8950 Exit the group and go to the previous group
8951 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
8954 @kindex Z s (Summary)
8955 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
8956 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
8957 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
8958 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
8959 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
8962 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
8963 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
8964 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
8965 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
8967 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
8968 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
8969 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
8970 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
8971 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
8972 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
8973 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
8974 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
8975 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
8976 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
8977 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
8978 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
8980 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
8982 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
8983 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
8984 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
8985 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
8986 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
8987 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
8988 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
8989 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
8990 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
8993 @node Crosspost Handling
8994 @section Crosspost Handling
8998 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
8999 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
9000 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
9001 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
9002 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
9003 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
9006 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
9007 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
9008 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
9009 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
9010 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
9012 @cindex cross-posting
9015 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
9016 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
9017 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
9018 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
9019 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
9020 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
9021 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
9022 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
9023 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
9024 the cross reference mechanism.
9026 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
9027 @cindex overview.fmt
9028 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
9029 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
9030 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
9031 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
9032 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
9033 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
9036 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
9037 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
9038 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
9043 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
9046 @node Duplicate Suppression
9047 @section Duplicate Suppression
9049 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
9050 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
9051 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
9052 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
9057 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
9058 is evil and not very common.
9061 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
9062 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
9065 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
9066 different @sc{nntp} servers.
9069 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
9072 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
9073 well, but these four are the most common situations.
9075 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
9076 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
9077 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
9078 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
9079 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
9080 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
9081 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
9084 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
9085 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
9086 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
9087 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
9088 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
9092 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
9093 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
9094 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
9096 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
9097 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
9098 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
9099 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
9100 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
9101 session are suppressed.
9103 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
9104 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
9105 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
9106 suppression list. The default is 10000.
9108 @item gnus-duplicate-file
9109 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
9110 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
9111 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
9114 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
9115 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
9116 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
9117 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
9118 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
9119 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
9120 to you to figure out, I think.
9125 Gnus is able to verify PGP or S/MIME signed messages or decrypt PGP
9130 To verify or decrypt PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or
9136 @item mm-verify-option
9137 @vindex mm-verify-option
9138 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
9139 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
9140 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9142 @item mm-decrypt-option
9143 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
9144 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
9145 @code{always}, always decrypt @code{known}, only decrypt known
9146 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
9150 @node The Article Buffer
9151 @chapter The Article Buffer
9152 @cindex article buffer
9154 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
9155 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
9156 tell Gnus otherwise.
9159 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
9160 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
9161 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
9162 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
9163 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
9167 @node Hiding Headers
9168 @section Hiding Headers
9169 @cindex hiding headers
9170 @cindex deleting headers
9172 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
9173 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
9175 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
9176 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
9177 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
9178 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
9179 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
9180 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
9181 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
9182 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
9183 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
9185 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
9189 @item gnus-visible-headers
9190 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
9191 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
9192 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
9193 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
9195 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
9196 the article and the subject, you'd say:
9199 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
9202 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9205 @item gnus-ignored-headers
9206 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
9207 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
9208 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
9209 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
9210 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
9212 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
9213 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
9216 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
9219 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
9222 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
9223 variable will have no effect.
9227 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
9228 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
9229 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
9230 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
9231 the headers are to be displayed.
9233 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
9234 and then the subject, you might say something like:
9237 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
9240 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
9241 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
9243 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9244 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
9245 You can hide further boring headers by setting
9246 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-header} to @code{head}. What this function
9247 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
9248 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
9249 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
9252 These conditions are:
9255 Remove all empty headers.
9257 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
9258 @code{Newsgroups} header.
9260 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
9263 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
9266 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
9267 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
9269 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
9272 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
9274 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
9277 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
9280 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
9281 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
9284 This is also the default value for this variable.
9288 @section Using @sc{mime}
9291 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
9292 while people stand around yawning.
9294 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
9295 while all newsreaders die of fear.
9297 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
9298 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
9299 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
9301 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
9302 @findex gnus-display-mime
9303 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
9304 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
9305 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
9306 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
9308 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
9312 @findex gnus-article-press-button
9314 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
9315 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
9316 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}).
9318 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
9319 @item M-RET (Article)
9321 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
9322 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
9324 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
9326 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
9327 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
9329 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
9331 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
9332 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
9334 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
9336 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
9337 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
9339 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
9341 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
9343 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
9345 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
9346 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
9347 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
9348 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
9349 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
9352 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
9354 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
9355 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
9359 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
9360 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
9363 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
9364 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
9365 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
9366 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
9367 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
9368 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
9369 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
9370 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
9371 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
9373 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
9375 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
9378 @node Customizing Articles
9379 @section Customizing Articles
9380 @cindex article customization
9382 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
9383 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
9384 called automatically when you select the articles.
9386 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
9387 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
9388 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
9389 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
9391 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
9392 for sensible values.
9396 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
9399 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
9402 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
9405 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
9408 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
9412 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
9413 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
9414 regexps in the list.
9417 A list where the first element is not a string:
9419 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
9420 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
9421 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
9425 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
9430 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
9431 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
9432 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
9433 considered to contain just a single part.
9435 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
9436 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
9437 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
9438 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
9439 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
9440 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
9441 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
9443 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
9444 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
9445 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
9446 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
9449 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)
9450 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
9451 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
9452 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
9453 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
9454 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
9455 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
9456 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
9457 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
9458 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
9459 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
9460 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
9461 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
9462 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
9463 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
9464 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
9465 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
9466 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
9467 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
9468 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
9469 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
9470 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
9471 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
9472 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
9473 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
9474 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
9475 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
9476 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
9477 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
9478 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
9479 @item gnus-treat-display-picons (head)
9480 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
9481 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
9482 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
9483 @item gnus-treat-translate
9486 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
9487 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
9488 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
9489 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
9490 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
9494 @node Article Keymap
9495 @section Article Keymap
9497 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
9498 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
9499 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
9500 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
9503 A few additional keystrokes are available:
9508 @kindex SPACE (Article)
9509 @findex gnus-article-next-page
9510 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
9513 @kindex DEL (Article)
9514 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
9515 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
9518 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
9519 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
9520 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
9521 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
9522 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
9525 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
9526 @findex gnus-article-mail
9527 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
9528 given a prefix, include the mail.
9532 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
9533 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
9534 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
9538 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
9539 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
9540 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
9543 @kindex TAB (Article)
9544 @findex gnus-article-next-button
9545 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
9546 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
9549 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
9550 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
9551 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
9557 @section Misc Article
9561 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
9562 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
9563 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
9564 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
9567 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
9568 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
9570 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
9571 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
9573 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
9574 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
9575 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
9576 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
9577 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
9578 the contents of the article buffer.
9580 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
9581 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
9582 Hook called in article mode buffers.
9584 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9585 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
9586 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
9587 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
9589 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
9590 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
9591 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
9592 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
9593 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
9598 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
9599 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
9602 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
9605 @vindex gnus-break-pages
9607 @item gnus-break-pages
9608 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
9609 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
9610 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
9611 paging will not be done.
9613 @item gnus-page-delimiter
9614 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
9615 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
9620 @node Composing Messages
9621 @chapter Composing Messages
9622 @cindex composing messages
9625 @cindex sending mail
9631 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
9632 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
9633 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
9634 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The
9635 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
9636 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
9639 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
9640 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
9641 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
9642 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
9643 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
9644 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
9645 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
9646 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
9649 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
9650 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
9656 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
9659 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
9660 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
9661 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
9662 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
9664 @item gnus-add-to-list
9665 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
9666 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
9667 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
9672 @node Posting Server
9673 @section Posting Server
9675 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
9676 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
9678 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
9680 @vindex gnus-post-method
9682 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
9683 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
9684 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
9685 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
9686 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
9689 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
9692 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
9693 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
9694 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
9695 the ``current'' server for posting.
9697 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
9698 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
9700 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
9701 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
9704 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
9705 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
9706 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
9711 @section Mail and Post
9713 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
9717 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
9718 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
9719 @cindex mailing lists
9721 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
9722 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
9723 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
9724 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
9725 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
9726 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
9727 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
9728 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
9729 still a pain, though.
9733 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
9734 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
9735 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
9738 @findex ispell-message
9740 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
9743 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
9744 you're in, you could say something like the following:
9747 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
9750 ((string-match "^de\\." gnus-newsgroup-name)
9751 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
9753 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
9756 Modify to suit your needs.
9759 @node Archived Messages
9760 @section Archived Messages
9761 @cindex archived messages
9762 @cindex sent messages
9764 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
9765 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
9766 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
9767 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
9770 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
9771 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
9772 use to store sent messages. The default is:
9776 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
9777 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
9778 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
9779 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
9782 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
9783 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
9784 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
9785 directory chosen, you could say something like:
9788 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
9789 '(nnfolder "archive"
9790 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
9791 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
9792 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
9795 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
9797 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
9798 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
9799 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
9801 This variable can be used to do the following:
9805 Messages will be saved in that group.
9807 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
9808 message will not be stored in the select method given by
9809 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
9810 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
9811 has the default value shown above. Then setting
9812 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
9813 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
9814 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
9816 @item a list of strings
9817 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
9818 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
9819 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
9821 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
9826 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
9828 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
9831 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
9833 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
9836 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
9838 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9839 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
9840 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
9841 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
9846 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9847 '((if (message-news-p)
9852 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
9853 messages in one file per month:
9856 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
9857 '((if (message-news-p)
9859 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
9862 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
9863 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
9865 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
9866 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
9867 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
9868 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
9869 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
9870 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
9871 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
9872 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
9873 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
9874 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
9876 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
9877 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
9878 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
9879 this will disable archiving.
9882 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
9883 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
9884 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
9885 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
9886 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
9889 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
9890 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
9891 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
9894 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
9895 but the latter is the preferred method.
9897 @item gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9898 @vindex gnus-inews-mark-gcc-as-read
9899 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
9904 @node Posting Styles
9905 @section Posting Styles
9906 @cindex posting styles
9909 All them variables, they make my head swim.
9911 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
9912 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
9913 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
9916 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
9917 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
9918 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
9919 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
9920 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
9925 (signature "Peace and happiness")
9926 (organization "What me?"))
9928 (signature "Death to everybody"))
9929 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
9930 (organization "Emacs is it")))
9933 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
9934 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
9935 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
9936 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
9937 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
9938 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
9939 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
9940 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
9942 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
9943 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
9944 If it is the symbol @code{header}, then Gnus will look for header that
9945 match the next element in the match, and compare that to the last header
9946 in the match. If it's a function symbol, that function will be called
9947 with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
9948 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
9949 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
9952 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
9953 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} . @var{value})} pair. The
9954 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
9955 @code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
9956 attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
9957 a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
9958 article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed.
9959 If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the
9960 result is thrown away.
9962 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
9963 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
9964 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
9965 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
9966 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
9967 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable.
9969 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
9970 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
9971 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
9973 @findex message-mail-p
9974 @findex message-news-p
9976 So here's a new example:
9979 (setq gnus-posting-styles
9981 (signature-file "~/.signature")
9983 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
9984 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
9986 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
9987 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
9988 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
9990 (signature my-news-signature))
9991 (header "From\\|To" "larsi.*org"
9992 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
9993 ((posting-from-work-p)
9994 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
9995 (address "user@@bar.foo")
9996 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
9997 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
9999 (From (save-excursion
10000 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
10001 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
10003 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
10006 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
10007 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
10008 if you fill many roles.
10015 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
10016 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
10017 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
10018 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
10019 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
10021 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
10022 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
10023 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
10024 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
10025 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
10029 @vindex nndraft-directory
10030 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
10031 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
10032 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
10033 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
10034 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
10035 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
10037 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
10038 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
10041 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
10042 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
10043 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
10044 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
10045 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
10046 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
10047 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
10048 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
10049 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
10050 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
10051 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
10052 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
10053 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
10054 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
10056 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
10057 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
10058 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
10060 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
10061 @kindex D e (Draft)
10062 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
10063 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
10064 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
10066 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
10069 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
10070 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
10071 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
10072 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
10073 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
10074 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
10075 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
10078 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
10079 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
10080 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
10083 @node Rejected Articles
10084 @section Rejected Articles
10085 @cindex rejected articles
10087 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
10088 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
10089 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
10090 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
10092 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
10093 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
10094 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
10095 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
10096 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
10098 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
10099 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
10100 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
10106 Gnus has an ALPHA support to GPG that's provided by @file{gpg.el}. See
10107 @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} to enable Gnus to
10108 verify or decrypt messages accordingly.
10110 To use this correctly with GPG, you'll need the following lisp code in your
10111 @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10115 (setq mml2015-use 'gpg)
10116 (setq gpg-temp-directory (expand-file-name "~/.gnupg/tmp"))
10119 The @code{gpg-temp-directory} need to point to a directory with permissions set
10120 to 700, for your own safety.
10122 If you want to benefit of PGP2.6 compatibility, you might create a script named
10123 @file{gpg-2comp} with these instructions:
10127 exec gpg --rfc1991 "$@@"
10130 If you don't want to use such compatibility, you can add the following line to
10131 your @file{~/.emacs} or @file{~/.gnus}:
10134 (setq gpg-command-default-alist (quote ((gpg . "gpg") (gpg-2comp . "gpg"))))
10137 To sign or encrypt your message you may choose to use the MML Security
10138 menu or @kbd{C-c C-m s p} to sign your message using PGP/MIME, @kbd{C-c
10139 C-m s s} to sign your message using S/MIME. There's also @kbd{C-c C-m c
10140 p} to encrypt your message with PGP/MIME and @kbd{C-c C-m c s} to
10141 encrypt using S/MIME.
10143 Gnus will ask for your passphrase and then it will send your message, if
10144 you've typed it correctly.
10146 @node Select Methods
10147 @chapter Select Methods
10148 @cindex foreign groups
10149 @cindex select methods
10151 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
10152 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
10153 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
10154 personal mail group.
10156 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
10157 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
10158 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
10159 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
10160 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
10161 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
10163 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
10164 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
10166 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
10169 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
10170 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
10171 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
10172 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
10173 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
10175 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
10178 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
10179 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
10180 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
10181 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
10182 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
10183 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
10184 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
10188 @node The Server Buffer
10189 @section The Server Buffer
10191 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
10192 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
10193 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
10194 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
10195 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
10196 backend represents a virtual server.
10198 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
10199 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
10200 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
10201 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
10203 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
10204 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
10205 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
10206 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
10207 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
10208 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
10209 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
10211 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
10212 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
10215 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
10216 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
10217 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
10218 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
10219 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
10220 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
10221 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
10224 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
10225 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
10228 @node Server Buffer Format
10229 @subsection Server Buffer Format
10230 @cindex server buffer format
10232 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
10233 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
10234 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
10235 variable, with some simple extensions:
10240 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
10243 The name of this server.
10246 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
10249 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
10252 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
10253 The mode line can also be customized by using the
10254 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
10255 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
10265 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
10268 @node Server Commands
10269 @subsection Server Commands
10270 @cindex server commands
10276 @findex gnus-server-add-server
10277 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
10281 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
10282 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
10285 @kindex SPACE (Server)
10286 @findex gnus-server-read-server
10287 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
10291 @findex gnus-server-exit
10292 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
10296 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
10297 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
10301 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
10302 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
10306 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
10307 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
10311 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
10312 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
10316 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
10317 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
10318 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
10323 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
10324 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
10325 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
10326 a mail backend that has gotten out of sync.
10331 @node Example Methods
10332 @subsection Example Methods
10334 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
10337 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
10340 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
10346 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
10347 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
10350 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
10351 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
10353 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
10354 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
10358 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
10361 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
10362 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
10364 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
10365 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
10366 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
10370 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
10373 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
10376 Here's the method for a public spool:
10380 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
10381 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
10387 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
10388 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
10389 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
10390 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
10391 should probably look something like this:
10395 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
10396 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10397 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10398 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10399 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
10402 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
10403 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
10404 server that would look something like this:
10408 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
10409 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
10410 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
10411 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
10412 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
10413 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
10416 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
10417 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
10418 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
10419 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
10422 @node Creating a Virtual Server
10423 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
10425 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
10426 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
10428 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
10429 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
10430 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
10432 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
10434 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
10435 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
10436 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
10437 will contain the following:
10447 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
10448 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
10449 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
10452 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
10453 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
10454 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
10457 @node Server Variables
10458 @subsection Server Variables
10460 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
10461 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
10462 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
10463 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
10464 won't change the "derived" variables.
10466 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
10467 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
10468 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
10469 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
10470 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
10471 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
10472 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
10473 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
10474 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
10478 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
10479 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
10480 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
10484 @node Servers and Methods
10485 @subsection Servers and Methods
10487 Wherever you would normally use a select method
10488 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
10489 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
10490 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
10494 @node Unavailable Servers
10495 @subsection Unavailable Servers
10497 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
10498 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
10499 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
10500 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
10501 actually the case or not.
10503 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
10504 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
10505 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
10506 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
10507 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
10508 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
10509 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
10510 it will regard that server as ``down''.
10512 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
10513 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
10515 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
10516 with the following commands:
10522 @findex gnus-server-open-server
10523 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
10524 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
10528 @findex gnus-server-close-server
10529 Close the connection (if any) to the server
10530 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
10534 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
10535 Mark the current server as unreachable
10536 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
10539 @kindex M-o (Server)
10540 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
10541 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
10542 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
10545 @kindex M-c (Server)
10546 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
10547 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
10548 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
10552 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
10553 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
10554 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
10560 @section Getting News
10561 @cindex reading news
10562 @cindex news backends
10564 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
10565 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
10566 or it can read from a local spool.
10569 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
10570 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
10575 @subsection @sc{nntp}
10578 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
10579 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
10580 server as the, uhm, address.
10582 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
10583 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
10584 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
10585 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
10587 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
10588 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
10589 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
10591 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
10596 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
10597 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
10598 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
10600 @cindex authentification
10601 @cindex nntp authentification
10602 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10603 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
10604 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
10605 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
10606 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
10607 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
10608 present in this hook.
10610 @item nntp-authinfo-function
10611 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
10612 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
10613 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
10614 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
10615 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
10616 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
10617 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
10618 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
10619 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
10620 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
10621 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
10625 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
10628 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
10630 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
10631 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
10632 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
10633 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
10634 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
10635 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
10636 @samp{force} is explained below.
10640 Here's an example file:
10643 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
10644 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
10647 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
10648 have to be first, for instance.
10650 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
10651 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
10652 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
10653 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
10654 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
10655 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
10656 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
10658 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
10659 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
10665 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
10666 previously mentioned.
10668 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
10670 @item nntp-server-action-alist
10671 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
10672 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
10673 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
10674 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
10677 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
10678 '(("innd" (ding))))
10681 You probably don't want to do that, though.
10683 The default value is
10686 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
10687 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
10690 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
10691 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
10693 @item nntp-maximum-request
10694 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
10695 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
10696 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
10697 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
10698 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
10699 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
10700 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
10702 @item nntp-connection-timeout
10703 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
10704 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
10705 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
10706 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
10707 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
10708 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
10709 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
10710 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
10711 no timeouts are done.
10713 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
10714 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
10715 @c @cindex PPP connections
10716 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
10717 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
10718 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
10719 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
10720 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
10721 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
10722 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
10723 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
10724 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
10725 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
10727 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
10728 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
10729 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
10730 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
10731 @c described above.
10733 @item nntp-server-hook
10734 @vindex nntp-server-hook
10735 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
10738 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
10739 @findex nntp-open-telnet
10740 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
10741 @item nntp-open-connection-function
10742 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
10743 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
10744 functions are supplied:
10747 @item nntp-open-network-stream
10748 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
10751 @item nntp-open-rlogin
10752 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
10753 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
10756 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
10760 @item nntp-rlogin-program
10761 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
10762 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
10763 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
10765 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
10766 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
10767 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
10769 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10770 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10771 User name on the remote system.
10775 @item nntp-open-telnet
10776 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
10777 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
10779 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
10782 @item nntp-telnet-command
10783 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
10784 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
10786 @item nntp-telnet-switches
10787 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
10788 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
10790 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
10791 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
10792 User name for log in on the remote system.
10794 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
10795 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
10796 Password to use when logging in.
10798 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
10799 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
10800 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
10803 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10804 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
10805 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
10806 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
10808 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10809 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
10810 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
10811 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
10812 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
10816 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
10817 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
10818 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
10819 you must have SSLay installed
10820 (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
10821 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
10822 define a server as follows:
10825 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
10827 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
10829 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
10830 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
10831 (nntp-port-number "snews")
10832 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
10837 @item nntp-end-of-line
10838 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
10839 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
10840 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
10841 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
10843 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
10844 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
10845 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
10849 @vindex nntp-address
10850 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
10852 @item nntp-port-number
10853 @vindex nntp-port-number
10854 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
10857 @item nntp-buggy-select
10858 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
10859 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
10861 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
10862 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
10863 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
10864 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
10867 @item nntp-xover-commands
10868 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
10871 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
10872 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
10876 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
10877 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
10878 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
10879 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
10880 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
10881 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
10882 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
10883 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
10884 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
10885 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
10886 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
10888 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
10889 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
10890 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
10892 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10893 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
10894 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
10895 server closes connection.
10897 @item nntp-record-commands
10898 @vindex nntp-record-commands
10899 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
10900 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
10901 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
10902 that doesn't seem to work.
10908 @subsection News Spool
10912 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
10913 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
10914 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
10917 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
10918 anything else) as the address.
10920 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
10921 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
10922 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
10923 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
10927 @item nnspool-inews-program
10928 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
10929 Program used to post an article.
10931 @item nnspool-inews-switches
10932 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
10933 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
10935 @item nnspool-spool-directory
10936 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
10937 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
10938 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
10940 @item nnspool-nov-directory
10941 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
10942 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
10943 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
10945 @item nnspool-lib-dir
10946 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
10947 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
10949 @item nnspool-active-file
10950 @vindex nnspool-active-file
10951 The path to the active file.
10953 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
10954 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
10955 The path to the group descriptions file.
10957 @item nnspool-history-file
10958 @vindex nnspool-history-file
10959 The path to the news history file.
10961 @item nnspool-active-times-file
10962 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
10963 The path to the active date file.
10965 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
10966 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
10967 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
10970 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10971 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
10973 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
10974 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
10975 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
10981 @section Getting Mail
10982 @cindex reading mail
10985 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
10989 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
10990 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
10991 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
10992 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
10993 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
10994 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
10995 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
10996 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
10997 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
10998 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
10999 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
11000 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
11001 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
11005 @node Mail in a Newsreader
11006 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
11008 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
11009 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
11010 of a culture shock.
11012 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
11013 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
11015 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
11016 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
11017 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
11018 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
11020 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
11022 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
11023 deleted? How awful!
11025 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
11026 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
11027 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
11028 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
11031 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
11032 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
11033 they want to treat a message.
11035 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
11036 via SMTP, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
11037 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
11038 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
11039 archived somewhere else.
11041 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
11042 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
11043 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
11044 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
11045 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
11047 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
11048 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
11049 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
11051 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
11052 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
11055 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
11056 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
11057 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
11058 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
11059 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
11061 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
11062 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
11063 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
11064 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
11065 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
11066 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
11070 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
11071 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
11073 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
11074 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
11075 and things will happen automatically.
11077 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
11078 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
11081 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
11082 '((nnml "private")))
11085 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
11086 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
11087 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
11088 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
11089 like any other group.
11091 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
11094 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11095 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11096 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11100 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
11101 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
11102 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
11105 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
11106 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
11107 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
11110 @node Splitting Mail
11111 @subsection Splitting Mail
11112 @cindex splitting mail
11113 @cindex mail splitting
11115 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
11116 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
11117 to be split into groups.
11120 (setq nnmail-split-methods
11121 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11122 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
11123 ("mail.other" "")))
11126 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
11127 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
11128 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
11129 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
11130 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
11131 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
11132 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
11135 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
11138 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
11139 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
11140 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
11141 mail belongs in that group.
11143 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
11144 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
11145 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
11146 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
11147 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
11148 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
11150 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
11151 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
11152 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
11153 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
11154 thinks should carry this mail message.
11156 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
11157 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
11158 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
11159 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
11161 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
11162 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
11163 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
11164 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
11165 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
11167 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
11170 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
11171 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
11172 links. If that's the case for you, set
11173 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
11174 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
11176 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
11177 @kindex nnmail-split-history
11178 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
11179 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
11180 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
11181 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
11184 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
11185 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
11186 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
11187 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
11188 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
11189 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
11190 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
11191 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
11192 month's rent money.
11196 @subsection Mail Sources
11198 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
11199 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
11203 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
11204 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
11205 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
11209 @node Mail Source Specifiers
11210 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
11212 @cindex mail server
11215 @cindex mail source
11217 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
11218 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
11223 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
11226 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
11227 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
11228 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
11231 The following mail source types are available:
11235 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
11241 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
11242 environment variable or @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}.
11245 An example file mail source:
11248 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
11251 Or using the default path:
11257 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
11258 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
11259 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
11262 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
11266 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
11269 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
11273 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
11276 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
11278 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
11281 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
11285 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
11286 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. Setting
11287 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil force Gnus to
11288 scan the mail source only once.
11294 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
11298 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
11302 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
11303 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
11304 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
11305 predicate are considered.
11309 Script run before/after fetching mail.
11313 An example directory mail source:
11316 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
11321 Get mail from a POP server.
11327 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
11328 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11331 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
11332 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
11333 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
11334 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
11335 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
11338 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
11342 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
11346 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
11347 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
11350 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
11353 The valid format specifier characters are:
11357 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
11358 included in this string.
11361 The name of the server.
11364 The port number of the server.
11367 The user name to use.
11370 The password to use.
11373 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11374 corresponding keywords.
11377 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11378 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11381 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
11382 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
11385 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
11386 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
11389 @item :authentication
11390 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
11391 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
11396 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
11397 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
11399 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
11400 default user name, and default fetcher:
11406 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
11409 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
11410 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11413 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
11416 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
11420 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
11421 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
11422 contains exactly one mail.
11428 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
11429 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
11432 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
11433 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
11435 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
11436 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
11437 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
11440 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
11441 from locking problems).
11445 Two example maildir mail sources:
11448 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/" :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
11452 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/" :subdirs ("new"))
11456 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
11457 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
11458 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
11459 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
11466 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
11467 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
11470 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
11471 @samp{993} for SSL connections.
11474 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
11478 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
11482 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
11483 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
11484 @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{ssl} or the default @samp{network}.
11486 @item :authentication
11487 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is one
11488 of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now, this
11489 means @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default
11493 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
11494 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
11495 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
11501 The valid format specifier characters are:
11505 The name of the server.
11508 User name from `imap-default-user'.
11511 The port number of the server.
11514 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
11515 corresponding keywords.
11518 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
11519 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
11522 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
11523 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
11524 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
11525 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{nil}.
11526 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
11527 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 §6.4.4.
11530 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
11531 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
11532 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
11533 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 §2.3.2.
11536 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
11537 after finishing the fetch.
11541 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
11544 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com" :stream kerberos4 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
11548 Get mail from a webmail server, such as www.hotmail.com,
11549 webmail.netscape.com, www.netaddress.com, www.my-deja.com.
11551 NOTE: Now mail.yahoo.com provides POP3 service, so @sc{pop} mail source
11554 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
11555 required for url "4.0pre.46".
11557 WARNING: Mails may lost. NO WARRANTY.
11563 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
11564 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
11567 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
11571 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
11575 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
11576 folder after finishing the fetch.
11580 An example webmail source:
11583 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail :user "user-name" :password "secret")
11588 @item Common Keywords
11589 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
11595 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
11596 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
11600 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
11605 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
11606 useful when you use local mail and news.
11611 @subsubsection Function Interface
11613 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
11614 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
11615 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
11616 consider the following mail-source setting:
11619 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
11620 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
11623 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
11624 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
11625 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
11626 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
11627 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
11629 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
11632 @node Mail Source Customization
11633 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
11635 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
11636 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
11640 @item mail-source-crash-box
11641 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
11642 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
11643 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
11645 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
11646 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
11647 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
11649 @item mail-source-directory
11650 @vindex mail-source-directory
11651 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
11652 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
11653 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
11656 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11657 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
11658 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
11659 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
11660 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
11661 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
11663 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
11664 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
11665 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
11670 @node Fetching Mail
11671 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
11673 @vindex mail-sources
11674 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
11675 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
11676 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
11677 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
11679 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
11680 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
11683 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
11684 mail server, you'd say something like:
11689 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11690 :password "secret")))
11693 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
11697 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
11698 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11701 :password "secret")))
11705 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
11706 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
11707 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
11708 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
11709 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
11710 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
11714 @node Mail Backend Variables
11715 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
11717 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
11721 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11722 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
11723 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
11724 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
11726 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
11727 @item nnmail-split-hook
11728 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
11729 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
11730 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
11731 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
11732 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
11733 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
11734 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
11735 in the buffer will show up in any files.
11736 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
11739 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11740 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11741 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11742 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
11743 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
11744 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
11745 starting to handle the new mail) and
11746 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
11747 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
11748 default file modes the new mail files get:
11751 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
11752 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
11754 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
11755 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
11758 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
11759 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
11760 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
11761 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
11762 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
11763 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
11764 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
11766 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
11767 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
11768 @findex delete-file
11769 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
11771 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11772 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11773 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
11774 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
11775 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
11780 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
11781 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
11782 @cindex mail splitting
11783 @cindex fancy mail splitting
11785 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
11786 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
11787 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
11788 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
11789 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
11790 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
11792 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
11795 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
11796 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
11797 ;; from real errors.
11798 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
11800 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
11801 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
11802 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
11803 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
11804 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
11805 ;; Other mailing lists...
11806 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
11807 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
11808 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
11809 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
11810 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
11811 ;; message was really cross-posted.
11812 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
11813 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
11815 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
11816 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
11820 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
11821 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
11822 the five possible split syntaxes:
11827 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
11828 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
11832 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
11833 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
11834 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
11835 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
11836 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
11837 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
11838 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
11839 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
11842 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11843 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
11844 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
11845 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
11848 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11849 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
11852 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
11853 this message. Use with extreme caution.
11856 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
11857 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
11858 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
11859 function should return a @var{split}.
11861 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
11862 body of the messages:
11865 (defun split-on-body ()
11867 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
11868 (goto-char (point-min))
11869 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
11874 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
11875 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
11876 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
11880 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
11884 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
11885 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
11886 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
11887 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
11888 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
11890 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
11891 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
11892 are expanded as specified by the variable
11893 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
11894 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
11897 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
11898 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
11899 when all this splitting is performed.
11901 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
11902 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
11903 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
11906 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
11909 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
11910 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
11912 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
11913 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
11914 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
11915 groupings 1 through 9.
11917 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
11918 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
11919 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
11920 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
11921 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
11922 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
11923 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
11924 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
11925 it once per thread.
11927 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to a
11928 non-nil value. And then you can include
11929 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon feature, like so:
11931 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
11932 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
11933 ;; other splits go here
11937 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
11938 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
11939 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
11940 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
11941 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
11942 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
11943 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
11944 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
11945 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name. It
11946 is recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
11947 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
11948 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300
11950 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
11951 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
11952 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
11953 messages goes into the new group.
11956 @node Group Mail Splitting
11957 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
11958 @cindex mail splitting
11959 @cindex group mail splitting
11961 @findex gnus-group-split
11962 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
11963 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
11964 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
11965 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
11966 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
11967 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
11968 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
11969 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
11971 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
11972 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
11973 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
11974 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
11976 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
11977 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
11978 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
11979 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
11980 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
11981 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
11982 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
11984 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
11985 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
11986 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
11987 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
11988 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
11989 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
11990 @code{gnus-group-split}.
11992 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
11993 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
11994 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
11995 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
11996 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
11997 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
11998 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
11999 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
12000 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
12001 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
12002 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
12003 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
12004 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
12006 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
12011 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
12012 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
12014 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
12015 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
12016 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
12017 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
12019 ((split-spec . catch-all))
12022 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
12023 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
12024 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
12027 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
12028 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
12029 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
12033 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
12034 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
12035 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
12039 (: gnus-mlsplt-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
12042 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
12043 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
12044 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
12045 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
12046 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
12047 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
12048 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
12049 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
12050 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
12052 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
12053 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
12054 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
12055 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
12056 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
12057 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
12058 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
12059 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
12060 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
12062 @findex gnus-group-split-update
12063 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
12064 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
12065 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
12066 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
12067 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
12070 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
12073 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
12074 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
12075 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
12076 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
12077 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
12080 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
12081 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
12082 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
12083 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
12085 @node Incorporating Old Mail
12086 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
12088 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
12089 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
12090 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
12093 Doing so can be quite easy.
12095 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
12096 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
12097 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
12098 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
12099 your @code{nnml} groups.
12105 Go to the group buffer.
12108 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
12109 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12112 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
12115 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
12116 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12119 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
12120 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
12123 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
12124 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
12125 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
12126 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
12127 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
12129 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
12130 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
12131 using the new mail backend.
12134 @node Expiring Mail
12135 @subsection Expiring Mail
12136 @cindex article expiry
12138 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
12139 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
12140 different approach to mail reading.
12142 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
12143 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
12144 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
12145 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
12146 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
12147 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
12150 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
12151 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
12152 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
12153 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
12154 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
12155 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
12156 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
12157 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
12159 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12160 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
12161 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
12162 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
12163 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
12164 column in the summary buffer.
12166 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
12167 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
12168 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
12169 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
12172 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
12174 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
12175 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
12176 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
12179 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
12180 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
12181 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
12182 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
12183 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
12185 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
12186 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
12189 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
12190 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
12193 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
12194 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
12196 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
12197 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
12198 don't really mix very well.
12200 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
12201 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
12202 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
12203 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
12206 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
12207 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
12208 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
12209 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
12212 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12214 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
12216 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
12218 ((string= group "mail.junk")
12220 ((string= group "important")
12226 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
12227 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
12229 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
12230 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
12231 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
12234 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
12235 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
12237 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
12238 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
12239 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them to
12240 other groups instead of deleting them. The variable @code{nnmail-expiry-target}
12241 (and the @code{expiry-target} group parameter) controls this. The
12242 variable supplies a default value for all groups, which can be
12243 overridden for specific groups by the group parameter.
12244 default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a string (which
12245 should be the name of the group the message should be moved to), or a
12246 function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to the message in
12247 question, and with the name of the group being moved from as its
12248 parameter) which should return a target -- either a group name or
12251 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
12253 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
12257 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
12258 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
12259 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
12260 easier for procmail users.
12262 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
12263 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
12264 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
12265 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
12266 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
12267 caution. Even more dangerous is the
12268 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
12269 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
12270 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
12271 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
12272 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
12273 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
12274 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
12277 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
12279 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
12280 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
12281 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
12282 auto-expire turned on.
12286 @subsection Washing Mail
12287 @cindex mail washing
12288 @cindex list server brain damage
12289 @cindex incoming mail treatment
12291 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
12292 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
12293 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
12294 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
12295 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
12296 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
12298 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
12299 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
12300 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
12303 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
12304 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
12305 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
12306 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
12309 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12310 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
12311 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
12312 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
12313 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
12316 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12317 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
12318 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
12319 Emacs running on MS machines.
12323 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12324 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
12325 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
12326 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
12329 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12330 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
12331 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
12332 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
12334 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12335 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
12336 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
12337 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
12338 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
12339 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
12340 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
12343 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
12344 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
12347 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
12348 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
12351 This can also be done non-destructively with
12352 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
12354 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
12355 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
12356 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
12358 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12359 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
12361 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
12362 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
12363 @code{References} headers.
12367 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12368 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
12369 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
12373 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
12374 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
12375 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
12382 @subsection Duplicates
12384 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
12385 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
12386 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
12387 @cindex duplicate mails
12388 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
12389 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
12390 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
12391 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
12392 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
12393 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
12394 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
12395 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
12396 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
12397 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
12398 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
12399 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
12400 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
12402 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
12403 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
12404 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
12405 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
12407 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
12410 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
12411 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
12415 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
12416 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
12417 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
12418 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
12419 (any mail "mail.misc")
12426 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12427 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
12432 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
12433 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
12434 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
12435 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
12436 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
12439 @node Not Reading Mail
12440 @subsection Not Reading Mail
12442 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
12443 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
12444 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
12446 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
12447 @code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
12448 mail, which should help.
12450 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12451 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12452 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12453 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12454 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12455 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
12456 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
12457 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
12458 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
12459 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
12460 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
12462 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
12463 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
12467 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
12468 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
12470 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
12471 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
12472 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
12474 There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
12475 backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
12476 (because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
12477 (@pxref{Mail Spool}).
12480 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
12481 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
12482 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
12483 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
12484 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
12485 * Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
12489 @node Unix Mail Box
12490 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
12492 @cindex unix mail box
12494 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12495 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12496 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
12497 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
12498 which group it belongs in.
12500 Virtual server settings:
12503 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
12504 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
12505 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
12507 @item nnmbox-active-file
12508 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
12509 The name of the active file for the mail box.
12511 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
12512 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
12513 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
12519 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
12523 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12524 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12525 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
12526 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
12527 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
12529 Virtual server settings:
12532 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
12533 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
12534 The name of the rmail mbox file.
12536 @item nnbabyl-active-file
12537 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
12538 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
12540 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12541 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
12542 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
12547 @subsubsection Mail Spool
12549 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
12551 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
12552 format. It should be used with some caution.
12554 @vindex nnml-directory
12555 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
12556 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
12557 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
12558 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
12560 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
12563 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
12564 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
12565 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
12566 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
12567 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
12568 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
12569 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
12570 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
12572 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
12573 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
12574 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
12575 backend when it comes to reading mail.
12577 Virtual server settings:
12580 @item nnml-directory
12581 @vindex nnml-directory
12582 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
12584 @item nnml-active-file
12585 @vindex nnml-active-file
12586 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
12588 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
12589 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
12590 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
12593 @item nnml-get-new-mail
12594 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
12595 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
12597 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
12598 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
12599 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12601 @item nnml-nov-file-name
12602 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
12603 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
12605 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12606 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
12607 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
12611 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
12612 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
12613 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
12614 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
12615 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
12616 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
12617 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
12622 @subsubsection MH Spool
12624 @cindex mh-e mail spool
12626 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
12627 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
12628 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
12629 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
12631 Virtual server settings:
12634 @item nnmh-directory
12635 @vindex nnmh-directory
12636 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
12638 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
12639 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
12640 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
12643 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
12644 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
12645 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
12646 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
12647 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
12648 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
12649 to set this variable to @code{t}.
12654 @subsubsection Mail Folders
12656 @cindex mbox folders
12657 @cindex mail folders
12659 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
12660 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
12661 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
12664 Virtual server settings:
12667 @item nnfolder-directory
12668 @vindex nnfolder-directory
12669 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
12671 @item nnfolder-active-file
12672 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
12673 The name of the active file.
12675 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12676 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
12677 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
12679 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
12680 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
12681 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
12683 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12684 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
12685 @cindex backup files
12686 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
12687 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
12688 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
12689 your @file{.emacs} file:
12692 (defun turn-off-backup ()
12693 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
12695 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
12698 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12699 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
12700 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
12701 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
12702 extract some information from it before removing it.
12704 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12705 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
12706 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
12711 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
12712 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
12713 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
12714 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
12715 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
12716 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
12719 @node Comparing Mail Backends
12720 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
12722 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
12723 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
12724 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
12725 and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
12726 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
12728 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
12729 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
12730 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
12731 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
12732 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
12733 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
12734 @code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
12735 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
12738 The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
12739 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
12740 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
12741 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
12746 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
12747 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
12748 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
12749 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
12750 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
12751 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
12752 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
12753 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
12754 this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
12755 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
12756 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
12757 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
12758 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
12763 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
12764 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
12765 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
12766 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
12767 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
12768 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
12769 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
12770 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
12771 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
12772 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
12773 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
12774 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
12775 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
12776 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
12778 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
12779 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
12784 @code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
12785 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
12786 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
12787 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
12788 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
12789 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
12790 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
12791 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
12792 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
12793 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
12794 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
12795 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
12796 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
12797 provided by the active file and overviews.
12799 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
12800 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
12801 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
12802 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
12803 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
12806 It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
12807 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
12812 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
12813 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
12814 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
12815 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
12816 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
12817 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
12818 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
12822 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
12823 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
12824 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
12825 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
12826 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
12827 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
12828 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
12829 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
12830 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
12832 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
12833 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
12834 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
12835 friendly mail backend all over.
12840 @node Browsing the Web
12841 @section Browsing the Web
12843 @cindex browsing the web
12847 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
12848 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
12849 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
12850 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
12851 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
12852 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
12853 even know what a news group is.
12855 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
12856 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
12857 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
12858 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
12859 you mad in the end.
12861 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
12864 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of backends for providing
12865 interfaces to these sources.
12868 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
12869 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
12870 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
12871 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
12872 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
12875 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
12877 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
12878 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
12879 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus backend
12880 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these backends,
12881 though, you should be ok.
12883 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
12884 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
12885 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
12886 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
12887 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
12891 @subsection Web Searches
12895 @cindex InReference
12896 @cindex Usenet searches
12897 @cindex searching the Usenet
12899 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
12900 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
12901 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
12902 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
12903 searches without having to use a browser.
12905 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
12906 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
12907 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
12908 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
12909 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
12911 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
12912 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
12913 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
12914 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
12915 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
12916 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
12917 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
12918 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
12919 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
12920 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
12923 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
12924 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
12925 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
12926 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
12927 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
12928 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
12930 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
12931 to use @code{nnweb}.
12933 Virtual server variables:
12938 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
12939 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
12943 @vindex nnweb-search
12944 The search string to feed to the search engine.
12946 @item nnweb-max-hits
12947 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
12948 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
12951 @item nnweb-type-definition
12952 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
12953 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
12954 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
12959 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
12963 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
12966 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
12969 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
12973 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
12980 @subsection Slashdot
12984 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
12985 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
12986 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
12988 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
12989 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12992 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
12993 '((nnslashdot "")))
12996 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} backend for new comments
12997 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
12998 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
12999 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
13000 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
13003 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
13004 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13006 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
13007 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
13008 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
13009 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
13010 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
13011 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
13014 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
13017 @item nnslashdot-threaded
13018 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
13019 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
13020 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
13021 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
13022 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
13023 but much, much slower than untreaded.
13025 @item nnslashdot-login-name
13026 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
13027 The login name to use when posting.
13029 @item nnslashdot-password
13030 @vindex nnslashdot-password
13031 The password to use when posting.
13033 @item nnslashdot-directory
13034 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
13035 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default value is
13036 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
13038 @item nnslashdot-active-url
13039 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
13040 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
13041 news articles and comments. The default is
13042 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
13044 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
13045 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
13046 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
13048 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
13050 @item nnslashdot-article-url
13051 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
13052 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
13054 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
13056 @item nnslashdot-threshold
13057 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
13058 The score threshold. The default is -1.
13060 @item nnslashdot-group-number
13061 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
13062 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
13063 updated. The default is 0.
13070 @subsection Ultimate
13072 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
13074 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
13075 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
13076 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
13077 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
13079 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
13080 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
13081 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
13082 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
13083 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
13084 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
13085 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
13087 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
13090 @item nnultimate-directory
13091 @vindex nnultimate-directory
13092 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
13093 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
13098 @subsection Web Archive
13100 @cindex Web Archive
13102 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
13103 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
13104 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
13105 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
13108 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
13109 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
13110 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
13111 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
13112 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
13113 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
13114 backend by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
13116 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
13119 @item nnwarchive-directory
13120 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
13121 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
13122 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
13124 @item nnwarchive-login
13125 @vindex nnwarchive-login
13126 The account name on the web server.
13128 @item nnwarchive-passwd
13129 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
13130 The password for your account on the web server.
13134 @node Customizing w3
13135 @subsection Customizing w3
13141 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
13142 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
13143 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
13145 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
13146 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
13147 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
13150 (eval-after-load "w3"
13152 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
13153 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
13154 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
13155 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
13157 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
13160 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
13161 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
13165 @node Other Sources
13166 @section Other Sources
13168 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
13169 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
13173 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
13174 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
13175 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
13176 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
13177 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
13178 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
13182 @node Directory Groups
13183 @subsection Directory Groups
13185 @cindex directory groups
13187 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
13188 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
13191 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
13192 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
13193 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
13194 backend to read directories. Big deal.
13196 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
13197 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
13198 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
13199 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
13200 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
13202 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
13204 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
13205 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
13206 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
13207 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
13210 @node Anything Groups
13211 @subsection Anything Groups
13214 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
13215 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
13216 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
13219 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
13220 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
13221 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
13222 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
13223 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
13224 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
13225 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
13226 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
13227 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
13228 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
13231 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
13232 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
13233 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
13234 in the article buffer, just as usual.
13236 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
13237 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
13238 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
13239 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
13241 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
13242 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
13243 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
13244 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
13245 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
13246 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
13247 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
13248 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
13253 @item nneething-map-file-directory
13254 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
13255 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
13256 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
13258 @item nneething-exclude-files
13259 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
13260 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
13261 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
13263 @item nneething-include-files
13264 @vindex nneething-include-files
13265 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
13266 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
13268 @item nneething-map-file
13269 @vindex nneething-map-file
13270 Name of the map files.
13274 @node Document Groups
13275 @subsection Document Groups
13277 @cindex documentation group
13280 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
13281 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
13288 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
13293 The standard Unix mbox file.
13295 @cindex MMDF mail box
13297 The MMDF mail box format.
13300 Several news articles appended into a file.
13303 @cindex rnews batch files
13304 The rnews batch transport format.
13305 @cindex forwarded messages
13308 Forwarded articles.
13311 Netscape mail boxes.
13314 MIME multipart messages.
13316 @item standard-digest
13317 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
13320 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
13323 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
13324 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
13325 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
13328 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
13329 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
13330 group. And that's it.
13332 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
13333 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
13334 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
13335 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
13336 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
13337 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
13338 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
13339 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
13340 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
13341 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
13343 Virtual server variables:
13346 @item nndoc-article-type
13347 @vindex nndoc-article-type
13348 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
13349 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
13350 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
13351 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
13353 @item nndoc-post-type
13354 @vindex nndoc-post-type
13355 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
13356 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
13361 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
13365 @node Document Server Internals
13366 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
13368 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
13369 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
13370 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
13371 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
13373 First, here's an example document type definition:
13377 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
13378 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
13381 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
13382 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
13383 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
13384 types can be defined with very few settings:
13387 @item first-article
13388 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
13389 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
13392 @item article-begin
13393 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
13394 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
13396 @item head-begin-function
13397 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
13400 @item nndoc-head-begin
13401 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
13404 @item nndoc-head-end
13405 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
13406 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
13408 @item body-begin-function
13409 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
13413 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
13416 @item body-end-function
13417 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
13421 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
13424 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
13425 regexp will be totally ignored.
13429 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
13430 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
13431 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
13432 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
13433 something that's palatable for Gnus:
13436 @item prepare-body-function
13437 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
13438 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
13439 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
13441 @item article-transform-function
13442 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
13443 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
13444 body of the article.
13446 @item generate-head-function
13447 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
13448 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
13449 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
13450 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
13454 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
13459 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13460 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
13461 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
13462 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
13463 (head-end . "^ ?$")
13464 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
13465 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
13466 (subtype digest guess))
13469 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
13470 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
13471 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
13472 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
13473 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
13475 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
13476 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
13477 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
13478 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
13479 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
13480 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
13481 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
13482 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
13483 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
13484 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
13492 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
13493 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
13494 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
13496 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
13497 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
13498 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
13501 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
13502 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
13503 that interested in doing things properly.
13505 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
13506 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
13509 First some terminology:
13514 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
13515 get news and/or mail from.
13518 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
13519 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
13522 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
13526 @item message packets
13527 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
13528 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
13529 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13531 @item response packets
13532 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
13533 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
13534 default, where @var{x} is a number.
13544 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
13545 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
13546 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
13547 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
13550 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
13553 You put the packet in your home directory.
13556 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
13557 the native or secondary server.
13560 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
13561 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
13564 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
13568 You transfer this packet to the server.
13571 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
13574 You then repeat until you die.
13578 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
13579 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
13582 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
13583 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
13584 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
13588 @node SOUP Commands
13589 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
13591 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
13595 @kindex G s b (Group)
13596 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
13597 Pack all unread articles in the current group
13598 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
13599 process/prefix convention.
13602 @kindex G s w (Group)
13603 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
13604 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
13607 @kindex G s s (Group)
13608 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
13609 Send all replies from the replies packet
13610 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
13613 @kindex G s p (Group)
13614 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
13615 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
13618 @kindex G s r (Group)
13619 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
13620 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
13623 @kindex O s (Summary)
13624 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
13625 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
13626 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
13627 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13632 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
13637 @item gnus-soup-directory
13638 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
13639 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
13640 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
13642 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
13643 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
13644 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
13645 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
13647 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
13648 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
13649 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
13650 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
13652 @item gnus-soup-packer
13653 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
13654 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13655 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
13657 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
13658 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
13659 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
13660 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13662 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
13663 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
13664 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
13666 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13667 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
13668 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
13669 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
13675 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
13678 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
13679 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
13680 you can read them at leisure.
13682 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
13686 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
13687 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
13688 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
13689 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
13691 @item nnsoup-directory
13692 @vindex nnsoup-directory
13693 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
13694 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
13696 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
13697 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
13698 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
13699 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
13701 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
13702 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
13703 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
13704 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
13705 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
13707 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
13708 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
13709 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
13710 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
13712 @item nnsoup-active-file
13713 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
13714 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
13715 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
13716 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
13717 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
13719 @item nnsoup-packer
13720 @vindex nnsoup-packer
13721 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
13722 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
13724 @item nnsoup-unpacker
13725 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
13726 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
13727 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
13729 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
13730 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
13731 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
13734 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
13735 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
13736 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
13739 @item nnsoup-always-save
13740 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
13741 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
13747 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
13749 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
13750 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
13751 more for that to happen.
13753 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
13754 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
13755 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
13758 In specific, this is what it does:
13761 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
13762 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
13765 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
13766 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
13767 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
13770 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
13771 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
13772 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
13775 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
13776 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
13777 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
13779 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
13785 @item nngateway-address
13786 @vindex nngateway-address
13787 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
13789 @item nngateway-header-transformation
13790 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
13791 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
13792 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
13793 transformation should be called, and defaults to
13794 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
13795 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
13798 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
13799 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
13800 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
13803 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
13806 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
13809 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
13812 The following pre-defined functions exist:
13814 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13817 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
13818 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13819 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
13821 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13823 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
13824 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
13825 @code{nngateway-address}.
13830 (setq gnus-post-method
13831 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
13832 (nngateway-header-transformation
13833 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
13841 So, to use this, simply say something like:
13844 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
13850 @subsection @sc{imap}
13854 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
13855 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
13856 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
13857 specify the network address of the server.
13859 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
13860 POP can, it can hence be viewed as POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
13861 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
13862 protocol. (@sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp} because news
13863 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.)
13865 If you want to use @sc{imap} as POP++, use an imap entry in
13866 mail-sources. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the @sc{imap}
13867 server and store them on the local disk. This is not the usage
13868 described in this section. @xref{Mail Sources}.
13870 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
13871 entry in gnus-secondary-select-methods. With this, Gnus will
13872 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
13873 usage explained in this section.
13875 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
13876 might look something like this:
13879 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
13880 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
13881 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
13883 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13884 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
13885 ; a UW server running on localhost
13887 (nnimap-server-port 143)
13888 (nnimap-address "localhost")
13889 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
13890 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
13891 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
13892 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
13893 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
13894 (nnimap-stream network))
13895 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
13897 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
13898 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
13899 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
13902 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
13907 @item nnimap-address
13908 @vindex nnimap-address
13910 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
13911 server name if not specified.
13913 @item nnimap-server-port
13914 @vindex nnimap-server-port
13915 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
13917 Note that this should be a integer, example server specification:
13920 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13921 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
13924 @item nnimap-list-pattern
13925 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
13926 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
13927 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
13928 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
13929 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
13930 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
13932 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
13933 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
13934 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
13937 Example server specification:
13940 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13941 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
13942 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
13945 @item nnimap-stream
13946 @vindex nnimap-stream
13947 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
13948 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
13949 of SSL. (SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can be automatically
13950 detected, but it's not widely deployed yet).
13952 Example server specification:
13955 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
13956 (nnimap-stream ssl))
13959 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
13963 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5). Require the
13964 @samp{imtest} program.
13966 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with kerberos 4. Require the @samp{imtest} program.
13968 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
13969 SSL). Require the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
13972 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Require OpenSSL (the
13973 program @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
13975 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
13977 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
13980 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
13981 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD, nnimap support
13982 both @samp{imtest} version 1.5.x and version 1.6.x. The variable
13983 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
13986 @vindex imap-ssl-program
13987 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
13988 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
13989 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of
13990 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
13991 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
13992 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
13995 @vindex imap-shell-program
13996 @vindex imap-shell-host
13997 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
13998 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
14000 @item nnimap-authenticator
14001 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
14003 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
14004 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
14006 Example server specification:
14009 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14010 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
14013 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
14017 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Require
14018 external program @code{imtest}.
14020 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos authentication. Require external program
14023 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Require
14024 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
14026 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
14028 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
14030 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
14033 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
14035 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
14036 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
14037 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
14038 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
14039 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
14040 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{G DEL} or
14043 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
14044 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
14045 running in circles yet?
14047 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
14048 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
14051 The possible options are:
14056 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
14059 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
14060 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
14061 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
14062 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
14064 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
14069 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
14070 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
14072 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format
14073 is (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See
14074 `nntp-authinfo-file' for exact syntax.
14076 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
14077 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
14078 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
14084 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
14085 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
14086 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
14091 @node Splitting in IMAP
14092 @subsubsection Splitting in @sc{imap}
14093 @cindex splitting imap mail
14095 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
14096 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
14097 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
14098 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
14099 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
14103 Here are the variables of interest:
14107 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
14108 @cindex splitting, crosspost
14110 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
14112 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
14113 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
14115 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
14117 @item nnimap-split-inbox
14118 @cindex splitting, inbox
14120 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
14122 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
14123 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
14127 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
14128 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
14131 No nnmail equivalent.
14133 @item nnimap-split-rule
14134 @cindex Splitting, rules
14135 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
14137 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
14140 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
14141 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
14142 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
14143 Neither did I, we need examples.
14146 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14147 '(("INBOX.nnimap" "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
14148 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
14149 ("INBOX.private" "")))
14152 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
14153 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
14154 into INBOX.spam and everything else in INBOX.private.
14156 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
14157 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
14161 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
14164 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14165 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
14166 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
14167 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
14169 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
14170 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
14171 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
14172 of your inbox. (This might might affect performance if you keep lots of
14173 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
14174 them every time you fetch new mail.)
14176 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
14177 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
14178 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
14180 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
14181 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
14182 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14184 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it need too.
14186 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
14187 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
14188 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
14191 (setq nnimap-split-rule
14192 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
14193 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
14194 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
14195 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
14196 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
14199 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
14200 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
14201 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
14202 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
14203 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
14204 group/function elements.
14206 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
14208 @item nnimap-split-predicate
14210 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
14212 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
14213 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
14215 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
14216 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
14217 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
14220 @item nnimap-split-fancy
14221 @cindex splitting, fancy
14222 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
14223 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
14225 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14226 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
14227 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14229 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
14230 nnimap backends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
14231 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
14232 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
14237 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
14238 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
14241 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
14245 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
14246 @subsubsection Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14247 @cindex editing imap acls
14248 @cindex Access Control Lists
14249 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
14251 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
14253 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
14254 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
14255 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
14258 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
14259 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
14260 editing window with detailed instructions.
14262 Some possible uses:
14266 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
14267 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
14268 follow the list without subscribing to it.
14270 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
14271 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
14272 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
14276 @node Expunging mailboxes
14277 @subsubsection Expunging mailboxes
14281 @cindex Manual expunging
14283 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
14285 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-close},
14286 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
14287 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
14289 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
14294 @node Combined Groups
14295 @section Combined Groups
14297 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
14301 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
14302 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
14306 @node Virtual Groups
14307 @subsection Virtual Groups
14309 @cindex virtual groups
14310 @cindex merging groups
14312 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
14315 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
14316 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
14317 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
14319 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
14320 regexp to match component groups.
14322 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
14323 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
14324 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
14325 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
14326 the virtual group.)
14328 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
14329 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
14332 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
14335 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
14336 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
14338 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
14339 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
14340 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
14341 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
14344 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
14347 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
14348 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
14349 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
14351 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
14352 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
14353 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
14354 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
14355 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
14357 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
14358 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
14359 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
14361 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
14362 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
14363 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
14364 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14365 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
14366 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
14367 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
14368 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
14369 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
14370 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
14371 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
14373 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
14374 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
14375 has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from
14376 whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
14377 there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this,
14378 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
14379 not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.)
14381 @kbd{C-c C-t} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
14382 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
14386 @node Kibozed Groups
14387 @subsection Kibozed Groups
14391 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
14392 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
14393 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
14394 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
14396 @kindex G k (Group)
14397 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
14400 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
14401 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
14402 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
14403 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
14405 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
14406 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
14407 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
14409 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
14410 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
14411 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
14412 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
14413 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
14414 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
14415 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
14416 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
14418 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
14419 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
14420 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
14421 Stranger things have happened.
14423 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
14424 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
14426 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
14427 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
14428 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
14429 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
14430 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
14431 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
14433 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
14434 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
14437 @node Gnus Unplugged
14438 @section Gnus Unplugged
14443 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
14445 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
14446 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
14447 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
14448 read news. Believe it or not.
14450 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
14451 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
14452 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
14453 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
14454 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
14456 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
14457 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
14458 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
14459 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
14460 reading news on a machine.
14462 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
14466 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
14467 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
14471 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
14472 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14479 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
14481 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
14484 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
14485 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
14486 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
14487 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
14488 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
14489 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
14490 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
14491 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
14492 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
14493 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
14498 @subsection Agent Basics
14500 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
14502 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
14503 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
14504 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
14505 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
14507 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
14508 connected to the net continuously.
14510 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
14511 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
14513 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
14518 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
14519 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
14520 already fetched while in this mode.
14523 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
14524 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
14525 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
14526 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
14527 Source Specifiers}).
14530 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
14531 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
14532 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
14533 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
14534 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
14537 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
14538 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
14539 then you read the news offline.
14542 And then you go to step 2.
14545 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
14551 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
14552 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
14553 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
14554 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
14555 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
14556 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
14559 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
14566 @node Agent Categories
14567 @subsection Agent Categories
14569 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
14570 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
14571 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
14572 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
14573 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
14574 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
14575 you're interested in the articles anyway.
14577 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
14578 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
14579 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
14580 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
14581 managing categories.
14584 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
14585 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
14586 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
14590 @node Category Syntax
14591 @subsubsection Category Syntax
14593 A category consists of two things.
14597 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
14598 are eligible for downloading; and
14601 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
14602 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
14603 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
14606 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
14607 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
14608 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
14609 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
14611 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
14612 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
14613 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
14615 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
14616 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
14617 operators sprinkled in between.
14619 Perhaps some examples are in order.
14621 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
14622 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
14628 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
14629 short (for some value of ``short'').
14631 Here's a more complex predicate:
14640 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
14641 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
14644 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
14645 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
14646 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
14648 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
14649 you want to do, you can write your own.
14653 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
14654 lines; default 100.
14657 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
14658 lines; default 200.
14661 True iff the article has a download score less than
14662 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
14665 True iff the article has a download score greater than
14666 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
14669 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
14670 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
14671 checksum and sees whether articles match.
14680 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
14681 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
14682 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
14685 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
14686 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
14687 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
14688 something along the lines of the following:
14691 (defun my-article-old-p ()
14692 "Say whether an article is old."
14693 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
14694 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
14697 with the predicate then defined as:
14700 (not my-article-old-p)
14703 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
14704 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
14705 wherever. (Note: this would have to be at a point *after*
14706 @code{gnus-agent} has been loaded via @code{(gnus-agentize)})
14709 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
14710 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
14711 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
14714 and simply specify your predicate as:
14720 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
14721 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
14722 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
14723 just don't give a damn.
14725 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
14726 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
14727 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
14728 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
14729 parameters like so:
14732 (agent-predicate . short)
14735 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
14736 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
14737 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
14739 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
14742 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
14745 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
14746 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
14747 predicate is assumed to be a list.
14750 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
14751 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
14752 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
14753 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
14754 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
14755 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
14757 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
14758 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
14759 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
14760 if it's to be specific to that group.
14762 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
14769 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
14770 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
14776 Category specification
14780 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14786 Group Parameter specification
14789 (agent-score ("from"
14790 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
14795 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
14801 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
14808 Category specification
14811 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
14817 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
14821 Group Parameter specification
14824 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
14827 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
14832 Use @code{normal} score files
14834 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
14835 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
14836 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
14837 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
14839 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
14840 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
14841 files for a group, *filtering out* those those sections that do not
14842 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
14846 Category Specification
14853 Group Parameter specification
14856 (agent-score . file)
14861 @node The Category Buffer
14862 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
14864 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
14865 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
14866 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
14868 The following commands are available in this buffer:
14872 @kindex q (Category)
14873 @findex gnus-category-exit
14874 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
14877 @kindex k (Category)
14878 @findex gnus-category-kill
14879 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
14882 @kindex c (Category)
14883 @findex gnus-category-copy
14884 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
14887 @kindex a (Category)
14888 @findex gnus-category-add
14889 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
14892 @kindex p (Category)
14893 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
14894 Edit the predicate of the current category
14895 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
14898 @kindex g (Category)
14899 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
14900 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
14901 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
14904 @kindex s (Category)
14905 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
14906 Edit the download score rule of the current category
14907 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
14910 @kindex l (Category)
14911 @findex gnus-category-list
14912 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
14916 @node Category Variables
14917 @subsubsection Category Variables
14920 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
14921 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
14922 Hook run in category buffers.
14924 @item gnus-category-line-format
14925 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
14926 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
14927 Variables}). Valid elements are:
14931 The name of the category.
14934 The number of groups in the category.
14937 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
14938 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
14939 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
14941 @item gnus-agent-short-article
14942 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
14943 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
14945 @item gnus-agent-long-article
14946 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
14947 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
14949 @item gnus-agent-low-score
14950 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
14951 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
14954 @item gnus-agent-high-score
14955 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
14956 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
14962 @node Agent Commands
14963 @subsection Agent Commands
14965 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
14966 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
14967 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
14971 * Group Agent Commands::
14972 * Summary Agent Commands::
14973 * Server Agent Commands::
14976 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
14977 following incantation:
14979 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14981 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
14986 @node Group Agent Commands
14987 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
14991 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
14992 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
14993 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
14994 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
14997 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
14998 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
14999 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
15002 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
15003 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
15004 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
15005 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
15008 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
15009 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
15010 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
15011 (@code{gnus-group-send-drafts}). @xref{Drafts}.
15014 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
15015 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
15016 Add the current group to an Agent category
15017 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
15018 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15021 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
15022 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
15023 Remove the current group from its category, if any
15024 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
15025 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15028 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
15029 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15030 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
15036 @node Summary Agent Commands
15037 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
15041 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
15042 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
15043 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
15046 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
15047 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
15048 Remove the downloading mark from the article
15049 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
15052 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
15053 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
15054 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
15057 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
15058 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
15059 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
15064 @node Server Agent Commands
15065 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
15069 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
15070 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
15071 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
15072 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
15075 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
15076 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
15077 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
15078 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
15084 @subsection Agent Expiry
15086 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
15087 @findex gnus-agent-expire
15088 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
15089 @cindex Agent expiry
15090 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
15093 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
15094 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
15095 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
15096 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
15097 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
15098 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
15100 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
15101 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
15102 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
15103 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
15104 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
15107 @node Agent and IMAP
15108 @subsection Agent and IMAP
15110 The Agent work with any Gnus backend, including nnimap. However,
15111 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
15112 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
15113 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
15115 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
15116 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
15117 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
15118 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
15120 Gnus keep track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
15121 Agent by default. When you plug back in, by default Gnus will check if
15122 you have any changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these
15123 with the server. This behavior is customizable with
15124 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
15126 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
15127 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
15128 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, the
15129 default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so ask if
15130 you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has any other
15131 value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
15133 If you do not wish to automatically synchronize flags when you
15134 re-connect, this can be done manually with the
15135 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
15136 in the group buffer by default.
15138 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
15139 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
15144 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
15147 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
15151 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
15152 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
15153 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
15154 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
15155 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
15156 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
15157 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
15158 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
15161 @node Outgoing Messages
15162 @subsection Outgoing Messages
15164 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
15165 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
15166 after posting, and edit them at will.
15168 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
15169 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
15170 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
15171 messages in the draft group.
15175 @node Agent Variables
15176 @subsection Agent Variables
15179 @item gnus-agent-directory
15180 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
15181 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
15182 @file{~/News/agent/}.
15184 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
15185 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
15186 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
15187 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
15188 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
15191 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15192 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
15193 Hook run when connecting to the network.
15195 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15196 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
15197 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
15202 @node Example Setup
15203 @subsection Example Setup
15205 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
15206 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
15207 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
15210 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
15211 ;;; from your ISP's server.
15212 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
15214 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
15215 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
15216 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
15218 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
15219 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
15221 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
15225 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
15226 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
15229 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
15230 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
15231 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
15232 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
15233 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
15236 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
15237 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
15238 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
15239 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
15240 back all the killed groups.)
15242 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
15243 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
15244 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
15247 @node Batching Agents
15248 @subsection Batching Agents
15250 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
15251 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
15252 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
15256 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
15260 @node Agent Caveats
15261 @subsection Agent Caveats
15263 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
15264 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
15268 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the
15273 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists
15274 in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
15280 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
15281 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP.
15288 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
15289 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
15290 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
15293 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
15294 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
15295 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
15296 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
15297 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
15299 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
15300 before generating the summary buffer.
15302 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
15303 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
15304 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
15306 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
15307 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
15308 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
15309 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
15312 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
15313 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
15314 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
15315 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
15316 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
15317 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
15318 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
15319 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
15320 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
15321 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
15322 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
15323 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
15324 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
15325 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
15326 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
15327 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
15331 @node Summary Score Commands
15332 @section Summary Score Commands
15333 @cindex score commands
15335 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
15336 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
15337 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
15338 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
15339 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
15341 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
15342 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
15343 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
15344 score file the current one.
15346 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
15351 @kindex V s (Summary)
15352 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
15353 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
15356 @kindex V S (Summary)
15357 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
15358 Display the score of the current article
15359 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
15362 @kindex V t (Summary)
15363 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
15364 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
15365 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
15368 @kindex V R (Summary)
15369 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
15370 Run the current summary through the scoring process
15371 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
15372 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
15373 effect you're having.
15376 @kindex V c (Summary)
15377 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
15378 Make a different score file the current
15379 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
15382 @kindex V e (Summary)
15383 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
15384 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
15385 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
15389 @kindex V f (Summary)
15390 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
15391 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
15392 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
15395 @kindex V F (Summary)
15396 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15397 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
15398 after editing score files.
15401 @kindex V C (Summary)
15402 @findex gnus-score-customize
15403 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
15404 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
15408 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
15413 @kindex V m (Summary)
15414 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
15415 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
15416 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
15419 @kindex V x (Summary)
15420 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
15421 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
15422 expunge all articles below this score
15423 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
15426 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
15427 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
15430 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
15431 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
15435 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
15436 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
15438 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
15439 keys are available:
15443 Score on the author name.
15446 Score on the subject line.
15449 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
15452 Score on the @code{References} line.
15458 Score on the number of lines.
15461 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
15464 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
15465 the followups to this author.
15479 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
15480 what headers you are scoring on.
15492 Substring matching.
15495 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
15524 Greater than number.
15529 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
15530 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
15531 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
15535 Temporary score entry.
15538 Permanent score entry.
15541 Immediately scoring.
15546 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
15547 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
15548 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
15549 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
15551 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
15552 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
15553 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
15554 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
15555 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
15557 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
15558 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
15559 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
15560 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
15561 current score file.
15563 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
15564 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
15565 pretend they are keymaps or not.
15568 @node Group Score Commands
15569 @section Group Score Commands
15570 @cindex group score commands
15572 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
15577 @kindex W f (Group)
15578 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
15579 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
15580 all the time. This command will flush the cache
15581 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
15585 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
15587 @findex gnus-batch-score
15588 @cindex batch scoring
15590 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
15594 @node Score Variables
15595 @section Score Variables
15596 @cindex score variables
15600 @item gnus-use-scoring
15601 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
15602 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
15603 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
15605 @item gnus-kill-killed
15606 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
15607 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
15608 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
15609 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
15610 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
15611 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
15612 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
15614 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
15615 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
15616 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
15617 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
15618 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
15620 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
15621 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
15622 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
15623 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
15625 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15626 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
15627 @cindex score cache
15628 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
15629 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
15630 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
15631 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
15632 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
15633 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
15636 @item gnus-save-score
15637 @vindex gnus-save-score
15638 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
15639 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
15640 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
15642 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
15643 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
15644 across group visits.
15646 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15647 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
15648 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
15649 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
15650 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
15651 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
15652 manually entered data.
15654 @item gnus-summary-default-score
15655 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
15656 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
15658 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
15659 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
15660 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
15661 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
15662 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
15663 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
15665 @item gnus-score-over-mark
15666 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
15667 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
15668 default. Default is @samp{+}.
15670 @item gnus-score-below-mark
15671 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
15672 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
15673 default. Default is @samp{-}.
15675 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15676 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
15677 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
15678 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
15680 Predefined functions available are:
15683 @item gnus-score-find-single
15684 @findex gnus-score-find-single
15685 Only apply the group's own score file.
15687 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
15688 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
15689 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
15690 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
15691 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
15692 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
15693 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
15694 then a regexp match is done.
15696 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
15697 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
15699 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
15700 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
15701 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
15702 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
15704 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15705 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
15706 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
15707 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
15708 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
15712 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
15713 functions will be called with the group name as argument, and all the
15714 returned lists of score files will be applied. These functions can also
15715 return lists of score alists directly. In that case, the functions that
15716 return these non-file score alists should probably be placed before the
15717 ``real'' score file functions, to ensure that the last score file
15718 returned is the local score file. Phu.
15720 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
15721 overall score file, you could use the value
15723 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE")) 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
15726 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
15727 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
15728 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
15729 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
15730 are expired. It's 7 by default.
15732 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15733 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
15734 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
15735 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
15736 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
15737 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
15738 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
15741 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15742 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
15743 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
15745 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
15746 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
15747 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
15748 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
15749 threading---according to the current value of
15750 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
15751 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
15752 simplified in this manner.
15757 @node Score File Format
15758 @section Score File Format
15759 @cindex score file format
15761 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
15762 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
15763 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
15765 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
15769 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
15771 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
15773 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
15775 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
15780 (mark-and-expunge -10)
15784 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
15785 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
15786 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
15787 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
15791 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
15792 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
15794 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
15795 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
15796 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
15798 Six keys are supported by this alist:
15803 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
15804 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
15805 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
15806 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
15807 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
15808 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
15809 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
15810 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
15811 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
15812 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
15813 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
15814 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
15815 to articles that matches these score entries.
15817 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
15818 score entry has one to four elements.
15822 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
15823 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
15827 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
15828 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
15829 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
15830 is successful. If this element is not present, the
15831 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
15832 instead. This is 1000 by default.
15835 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
15836 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
15837 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
15838 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
15839 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
15842 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
15843 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
15844 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
15845 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
15848 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
15849 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
15850 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
15851 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
15852 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
15853 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
15854 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
15855 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
15856 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
15857 instead, if you feel like.
15860 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
15861 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
15863 These predicates are true if
15866 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
15869 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
15870 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
15877 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
15878 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
15879 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
15880 it's not. I think.)
15882 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
15883 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
15884 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
15885 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
15888 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
15889 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
15890 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
15891 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
15892 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
15893 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
15894 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
15898 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
15899 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
15900 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
15901 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
15902 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
15903 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
15904 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
15905 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
15908 @item Head, Body, All
15909 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
15913 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
15914 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
15915 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
15916 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
15917 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
15918 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
15919 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
15923 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
15924 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
15925 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
15926 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
15927 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
15928 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
15929 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
15930 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
15931 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
15932 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
15933 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
15937 @cindex Score File Atoms
15939 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15940 lower than this number will be marked as read.
15943 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15944 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
15946 @item mark-and-expunge
15947 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
15948 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
15951 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
15952 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
15953 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
15954 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
15955 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
15958 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
15959 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
15962 @item exclude-files
15963 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
15964 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
15968 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
15969 ignored when handling global score files.
15972 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
15973 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
15974 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
15975 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
15978 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
15979 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
15980 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
15981 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
15983 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
15987 (mark-and-expunge -100)
15990 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
15991 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
15992 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
15993 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
15994 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
15996 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
15997 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
15998 ordinary scoring rules.
16001 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
16002 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
16003 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
16004 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
16005 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
16006 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
16007 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16008 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
16009 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
16010 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
16011 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
16015 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
16016 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
16017 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
16018 file for a number of groups.
16021 @cindex local variables
16022 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
16023 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
16024 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
16025 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
16026 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
16030 @node Score File Editing
16031 @section Score File Editing
16033 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
16034 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
16035 with a mode for that.
16037 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
16038 additional commands:
16043 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
16044 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
16045 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
16046 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
16049 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
16050 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
16051 Insert the current date in numerical format
16052 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
16053 you were wondering.
16056 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
16057 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
16058 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
16059 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
16060 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
16065 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
16067 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
16068 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
16070 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
16071 e} to begin editing score files.
16074 @node Adaptive Scoring
16075 @section Adaptive Scoring
16076 @cindex adaptive scoring
16078 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
16079 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
16080 stupidity, to be precise.
16082 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
16083 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
16084 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
16085 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
16086 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
16087 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
16088 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
16089 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
16090 variable to @code{(word line)}.
16092 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16093 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
16094 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
16095 might look something like this:
16098 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
16099 '((gnus-unread-mark)
16100 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
16101 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
16102 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
16103 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
16104 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
16105 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
16106 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
16107 (gnus-ancient-mark)
16108 (gnus-low-score-mark)
16109 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
16112 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
16113 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
16114 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
16115 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
16116 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
16117 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
16120 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
16121 will be applied to each article.
16123 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
16124 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
16125 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
16126 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
16128 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
16129 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
16130 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
16131 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
16133 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
16134 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
16135 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
16136 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
16138 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
16139 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
16140 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
16141 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
16142 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
16143 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
16145 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
16146 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
16147 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
16148 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
16149 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
16150 aspirins afterwards.)
16152 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
16153 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
16154 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
16156 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
16157 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
16158 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
16160 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
16161 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
16162 let you use different rules in different groups.
16164 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
16165 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
16166 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
16169 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
16170 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
16171 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
16172 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
16173 the length of the match is less than
16174 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
16175 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
16178 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16179 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
16180 headers. If you adapt on words, the
16181 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
16182 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
16185 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
16186 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
16187 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
16188 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
16189 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
16192 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
16193 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
16194 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
16195 score with 30 points.
16197 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
16198 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
16199 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
16200 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
16201 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
16203 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
16204 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
16205 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
16206 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
16208 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
16209 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
16210 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
16211 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
16213 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
16214 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
16215 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
16216 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
16217 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
16219 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
16220 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
16221 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
16223 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
16224 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
16225 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
16226 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
16229 @node Home Score File
16230 @section Home Score File
16232 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
16233 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
16234 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
16235 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
16237 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
16238 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
16239 could perhaps use the same home score file.
16241 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
16242 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
16247 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
16251 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
16252 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
16256 A list. The elements in this list can be:
16260 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
16261 group name, the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
16264 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
16265 the home score file.
16268 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
16271 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
16276 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
16279 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16280 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
16283 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
16284 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
16286 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
16288 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16289 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
16292 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
16293 Other functions include
16296 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
16297 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
16298 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
16299 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
16303 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
16304 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
16305 their own home score files:
16308 (setq gnus-home-score-file
16309 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
16310 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
16311 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
16312 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
16315 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
16316 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
16317 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
16318 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
16319 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
16321 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
16322 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
16323 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
16324 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
16325 precedence over this variable.
16328 @node Followups To Yourself
16329 @section Followups To Yourself
16331 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
16332 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
16333 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
16334 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
16335 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
16336 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
16340 @item gnus-score-followup-article
16341 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
16342 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
16345 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
16346 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
16347 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
16351 @vindex message-sent-hook
16352 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
16353 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
16355 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
16359 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
16360 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
16364 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16365 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
16368 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
16369 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
16374 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
16378 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
16379 is system-dependent.
16383 @section Scoring Tips
16384 @cindex scoring tips
16390 @cindex scoring crossposts
16391 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
16392 the @code{Xref} header.
16394 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
16397 @item Multiple crossposts
16398 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
16399 more than, say, 3 groups:
16401 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
16404 @item Matching on the body
16405 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
16406 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
16407 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
16408 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
16409 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
16410 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
16411 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
16414 @item Marking as read
16415 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
16416 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
16417 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
16421 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
16423 @item Negated character classes
16424 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
16425 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
16426 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
16430 @node Reverse Scoring
16431 @section Reverse Scoring
16432 @cindex reverse scoring
16434 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
16435 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
16436 like this in your score file:
16440 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
16445 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
16446 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
16449 @node Global Score Files
16450 @section Global Score Files
16451 @cindex global score files
16453 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
16454 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
16455 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
16457 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
16458 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
16459 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
16461 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
16462 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
16463 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
16464 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
16465 files are applicable to which group.
16467 Say you want to use the score file
16468 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
16469 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
16472 (setq gnus-global-score-files
16473 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
16474 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
16477 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
16478 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
16479 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
16480 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
16481 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
16483 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
16484 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
16486 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
16487 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
16488 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
16489 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
16490 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
16491 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
16493 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
16499 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
16501 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
16503 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
16505 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
16506 lowered out of existence.
16508 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
16509 articles completely.
16512 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
16513 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
16514 old articles for a long time.
16517 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
16518 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
16519 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
16520 holding our breath yet?
16524 @section Kill Files
16527 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
16528 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
16529 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
16531 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
16532 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
16533 files into score files.
16535 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
16536 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
16537 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
16538 that isn't a very good idea.
16540 Normal kill files look like this:
16543 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16544 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
16548 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
16549 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
16551 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
16552 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
16555 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
16560 @kindex M-k (Summary)
16561 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
16562 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
16565 @kindex M-K (Summary)
16566 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
16567 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
16570 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
16575 @kindex M-k (Group)
16576 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
16577 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
16580 @kindex M-K (Group)
16581 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
16582 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
16585 Kill file variables:
16588 @item gnus-kill-file-name
16589 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
16590 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
16591 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
16592 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
16593 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
16594 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
16596 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16597 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
16598 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
16599 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
16602 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
16603 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
16604 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
16605 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
16606 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
16607 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
16608 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
16609 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
16610 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
16612 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16613 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
16614 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
16619 @node Converting Kill Files
16620 @section Converting Kill Files
16622 @cindex converting kill files
16624 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
16625 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
16626 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
16629 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
16630 You can fetch it from
16631 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
16633 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
16634 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
16635 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
16643 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
16644 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
16645 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
16647 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
16648 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
16649 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
16650 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
16651 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
16652 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
16653 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
16654 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
16658 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
16659 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
16660 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
16661 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
16665 @node Using GroupLens
16666 @subsection Using GroupLens
16668 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
16670 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
16671 better bit in town at the moment.
16673 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
16677 @item gnus-use-grouplens
16678 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
16679 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
16680 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
16682 @item grouplens-pseudonym
16683 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
16684 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
16685 with the Better Bit Bureau.
16687 @item grouplens-newsgroups
16688 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
16689 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
16693 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
16694 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
16695 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
16696 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
16697 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
16698 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
16701 @node Rating Articles
16702 @subsection Rating Articles
16704 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
16705 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
16706 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
16707 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
16710 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
16715 @kindex r (GroupLens)
16716 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
16717 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
16720 @kindex k (GroupLens)
16721 @findex grouplens-score-thread
16722 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
16723 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
16724 threads in rec.humor.
16728 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
16729 the score of the article you're reading.
16734 @kindex n (GroupLens)
16735 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
16736 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
16739 @kindex , (GroupLens)
16740 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
16741 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
16745 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
16746 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
16749 @node Displaying Predictions
16750 @subsection Displaying Predictions
16752 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
16753 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
16754 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
16755 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
16756 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
16758 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
16759 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
16760 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
16761 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
16762 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
16763 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
16764 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
16765 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
16766 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
16767 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
16768 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
16769 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
16770 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
16772 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
16773 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
16774 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
16775 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
16777 The following are valid values for that variable.
16780 @item prediction-spot
16781 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
16784 @item confidence-interval
16785 A numeric confidence interval.
16787 @item prediction-bar
16788 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
16790 @item confidence-bar
16791 Numerical confidence.
16793 @item confidence-spot
16794 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
16796 @item prediction-num
16797 Plain-old numeric value.
16799 @item confidence-plus-minus
16800 Prediction +/- confidence.
16805 @node GroupLens Variables
16806 @subsection GroupLens Variables
16810 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
16811 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
16812 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
16813 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
16816 @item grouplens-bbb-host
16817 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
16820 @item grouplens-bbb-port
16821 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
16823 @item grouplens-score-offset
16824 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
16825 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
16828 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
16829 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
16830 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
16835 @node Advanced Scoring
16836 @section Advanced Scoring
16838 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
16839 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
16840 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
16841 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
16842 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
16844 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
16848 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
16849 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
16850 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
16854 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
16855 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
16857 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
16858 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
16859 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
16860 non-@code{nil} value.
16862 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
16863 operator, and various match operators.
16870 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16871 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
16872 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
16877 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
16878 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
16879 then this operator will return @code{false}.
16884 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
16885 logical negation of the value of its argument.
16889 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
16890 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
16891 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
16892 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
16893 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
16894 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
16895 the ancestry you want to go.
16897 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
16898 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
16899 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
16900 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
16901 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
16904 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
16905 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
16907 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
16908 when he's talking about Gnus:
16912 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16913 ("subject" "Gnus"))
16919 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
16923 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16930 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
16931 really don't want to read what he's written:
16935 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
16936 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
16940 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
16941 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
16942 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
16949 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
16950 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
16951 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
16952 ("body" "white.*socks"))
16956 The possibilities are endless.
16959 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
16960 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
16962 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
16963 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
16964 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
16965 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
16966 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
16967 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
16968 @samp{subject}) first.
16970 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
16971 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
16982 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
16983 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
16989 ("subject" "Gnus")))
16996 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
16997 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
17002 @section Score Decays
17003 @cindex score decays
17006 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
17007 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
17008 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
17009 use them in any sensible way.
17011 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
17012 @findex gnus-decay-score
17013 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
17014 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
17015 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
17016 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
17017 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
17018 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
17019 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
17020 definition of that function:
17023 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
17025 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
17026 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
17029 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
17031 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
17033 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
17036 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
17037 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
17038 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
17039 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
17043 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
17046 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
17049 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
17053 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
17054 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
17055 the new score, which should be an integer.
17057 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
17058 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
17065 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
17066 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
17067 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
17068 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
17069 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
17070 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
17071 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
17072 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
17073 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
17074 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
17075 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
17076 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
17077 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
17078 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
17079 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
17080 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
17081 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
17082 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
17086 @node Process/Prefix
17087 @section Process/Prefix
17088 @cindex process/prefix convention
17090 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
17091 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
17093 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
17094 command to be performed on.
17098 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
17099 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
17100 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
17101 with the current one.
17103 @vindex transient-mark-mode
17104 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
17105 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
17107 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
17108 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
17111 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
17112 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
17114 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
17117 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
17118 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
17119 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
17120 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
17122 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
17123 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
17124 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
17125 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
17126 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
17127 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
17128 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
17129 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
17131 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
17132 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
17133 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
17134 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
17135 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
17139 @section Interactive
17140 @cindex interaction
17144 @item gnus-novice-user
17145 @vindex gnus-novice-user
17146 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
17147 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
17148 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
17149 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
17152 @item gnus-expert-user
17153 @vindex gnus-expert-user
17154 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
17155 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
17156 matter how strange.
17158 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
17159 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
17160 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
17161 is @code{t} by default.
17163 @item gnus-interactive-exit
17164 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
17165 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
17170 @node Symbolic Prefixes
17171 @section Symbolic Prefixes
17172 @cindex symbolic prefixes
17174 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
17175 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
17176 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
17177 rule of 900 to the current article.
17179 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
17180 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
17181 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
17182 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
17183 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
17184 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
17185 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
17187 @kindex M-i (Summary)
17188 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
17189 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
17190 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
17191 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
17192 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
17193 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
17194 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
17195 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
17197 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
17198 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
17199 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
17201 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
17205 @node Formatting Variables
17206 @section Formatting Variables
17207 @cindex formatting variables
17209 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
17210 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
17211 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
17212 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
17213 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
17216 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
17217 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
17218 lots of percentages everywhere.
17221 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
17222 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
17223 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
17224 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
17225 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
17228 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
17229 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
17230 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
17231 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
17232 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
17233 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
17234 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
17235 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
17237 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
17238 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
17240 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
17241 @findex gnus-update-format
17242 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
17243 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
17244 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
17245 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
17249 @node Formatting Basics
17250 @subsection Formatting Basics
17252 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
17253 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
17254 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
17256 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
17257 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
17258 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
17259 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
17260 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
17263 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
17264 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
17265 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
17266 less than 4 characters wide.
17269 @node Mode Line Formatting
17270 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
17272 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
17273 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
17274 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
17275 with the following two differences:
17280 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
17283 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
17284 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
17285 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
17286 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
17287 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
17288 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
17289 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
17294 @node Advanced Formatting
17295 @subsection Advanced Formatting
17297 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
17298 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
17299 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
17300 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
17302 These are the valid modifiers:
17307 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
17311 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
17316 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
17319 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
17324 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
17327 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
17330 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
17333 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
17337 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
17338 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
17339 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
17340 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
17341 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
17342 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
17343 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
17345 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
17346 last operation, padding.
17348 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
17349 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
17350 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
17351 @xref{Compilation}.
17354 @node User-Defined Specs
17355 @subsection User-Defined Specs
17357 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
17358 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
17359 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
17360 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
17361 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
17362 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
17363 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
17364 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
17365 should protect against that.
17367 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
17368 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
17369 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
17370 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
17374 @node Formatting Fonts
17375 @subsection Formatting Fonts
17377 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
17378 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
17379 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
17380 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
17383 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
17384 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
17385 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
17386 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
17387 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
17388 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
17390 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
17391 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
17392 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
17393 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
17394 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
17395 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
17396 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
17397 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
17399 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
17402 ;; Create three face types.
17403 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
17404 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
17406 ;; We want the article count to be in
17407 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
17408 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
17409 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
17411 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
17412 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
17414 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
17415 (setq gnus-group-line-format
17416 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
17419 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
17420 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
17422 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
17423 mode-line variables.
17426 @node Windows Configuration
17427 @section Windows Configuration
17428 @cindex windows configuration
17430 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
17432 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
17433 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
17434 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
17435 @code{t} by default.
17437 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
17438 glitches. Use at your own peril.
17440 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
17441 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
17442 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
17445 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
17446 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
17447 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17451 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
17452 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
17453 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
17454 possible names is listed below.
17456 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
17457 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
17460 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
17464 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
17465 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
17466 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
17467 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
17468 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
17469 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
17470 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
17471 size spec per split.
17473 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
17474 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
17475 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
17476 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
17477 present) gets focus.
17479 Here's a more complicated example:
17482 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
17483 (summary 0.25 point)
17484 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
17488 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
17489 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
17490 occupy, not a percentage.
17492 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
17493 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
17494 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
17495 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
17496 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
17499 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
17502 (article (horizontal 1.0
17507 (summary 0.25 point)
17512 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
17513 @code{horizontal} thingie?
17515 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
17516 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
17517 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
17518 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
17519 the screen is to be given to this strip.
17521 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
17522 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
17523 lines from the splits.
17525 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
17529 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
17530 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
17531 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
17532 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
17533 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
17534 size = number | frame-params
17535 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
17538 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
17539 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
17540 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
17541 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
17543 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
17544 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
17545 @cindex window height
17546 @cindex window width
17547 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
17548 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
17549 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
17550 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
17551 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
17552 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
17554 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
17555 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
17556 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
17557 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
17559 @findex gnus-configure-frame
17560 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
17561 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
17562 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
17563 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
17564 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
17565 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
17566 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
17567 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
17568 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
17569 configuration list.
17572 (gnus-configure-frame
17576 (article 0.3 point))
17584 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
17585 @code{frame} split:
17588 (gnus-configure-frame
17591 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
17593 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
17594 (user-position . t)
17595 (left . -1) (top . 1))
17600 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
17601 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
17602 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
17603 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
17604 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
17605 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
17606 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
17607 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
17609 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
17610 be found in its default value.
17612 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
17613 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
17614 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
17618 (message (horizontal 1.0
17619 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
17621 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
17626 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
17627 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
17628 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
17631 (message (frame 1.0
17632 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
17633 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
17634 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
17635 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
17636 (name . "Message"))
17637 (message 1.0 point))))
17640 @findex gnus-add-configuration
17641 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
17642 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
17643 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
17644 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
17647 (gnus-add-configuration
17648 '(article (vertical 1.0
17650 (summary .25 point)
17654 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
17655 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
17656 Gnus has been loaded.
17658 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
17659 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
17660 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
17661 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
17662 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
17664 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
17665 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
17666 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
17669 @subsection Example Window Configurations
17673 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
17674 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
17689 (gnus-add-configuration
17692 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17694 (summary 0.16 point)
17697 (gnus-add-configuration
17700 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
17701 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
17707 @node Faces and Fonts
17708 @section Faces and Fonts
17713 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
17714 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
17715 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
17720 @section Compilation
17721 @cindex compilation
17722 @cindex byte-compilation
17724 @findex gnus-compile
17726 Remember all those line format specification variables?
17727 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
17728 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
17729 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
17730 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
17731 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
17734 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
17735 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
17736 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
17737 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
17738 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
17739 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
17740 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
17744 @section Mode Lines
17747 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
17748 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
17749 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
17750 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
17751 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
17752 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
17753 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
17756 @cindex display-time
17758 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
17759 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
17760 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
17761 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
17762 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
17763 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
17764 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
17765 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
17768 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
17770 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
17771 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
17773 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
17774 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
17775 (length display-time-string)))))
17778 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
17779 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
17780 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
17781 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
17782 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
17785 @node Highlighting and Menus
17786 @section Highlighting and Menus
17788 @cindex highlighting
17791 @vindex gnus-visual
17792 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
17793 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
17794 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
17797 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
17798 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
17801 @item group-highlight
17802 Do highlights in the group buffer.
17803 @item summary-highlight
17804 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
17805 @item article-highlight
17806 Do highlights in the article buffer.
17808 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
17810 Create menus in the group buffer.
17812 Create menus in the summary buffers.
17814 Create menus in the article buffer.
17816 Create menus in the browse buffer.
17818 Create menus in the server buffer.
17820 Create menus in the score buffers.
17822 Create menus in all buffers.
17825 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
17826 buffers, you could say something like:
17829 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
17832 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
17835 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
17838 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
17839 in all Gnus buffers.
17841 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
17844 @item gnus-mouse-face
17845 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
17846 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
17847 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
17851 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
17855 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
17856 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
17857 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
17859 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
17860 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
17861 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
17863 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
17864 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
17865 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
17867 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
17868 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
17869 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
17871 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
17872 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
17873 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
17875 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
17876 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
17877 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
17888 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
17889 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
17890 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
17891 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
17892 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
17896 @vindex gnus-carpal
17897 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
17898 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
17899 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
17904 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17905 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
17906 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
17908 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
17909 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
17910 Face used on buttons.
17912 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
17913 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
17914 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
17916 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17917 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
17918 Buttons in the group buffer.
17920 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17921 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
17922 Buttons in the summary buffer.
17924 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17925 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
17926 Buttons in the server buffer.
17928 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17929 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
17930 Buttons in the browse buffer.
17933 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
17934 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
17935 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
17943 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
17944 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
17945 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
17946 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
17947 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
17949 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
17950 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
17951 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
17953 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
17954 been idle for thirty minutes:
17957 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
17960 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
17964 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
17967 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
17968 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
17969 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17971 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
17972 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
17973 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
17974 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
17976 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
17977 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
17978 @var{idle} minutes.
17980 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
17981 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
17984 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
17985 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
17986 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
17988 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
17989 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
17990 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
17991 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
17993 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
17994 your @file{.gnus} file:
17996 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
17998 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
18001 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
18002 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
18003 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
18004 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
18005 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
18006 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
18007 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
18008 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
18009 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
18010 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
18011 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
18013 @findex gnus-demon-init
18014 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
18015 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
18016 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
18017 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
18018 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
18020 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
18021 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
18022 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
18031 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
18032 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
18034 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
18035 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
18036 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
18037 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
18040 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
18041 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
18042 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
18043 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
18045 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
18046 this will make spam disappear.
18048 There are some variables to customize, of course:
18051 @item gnus-use-nocem
18052 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
18053 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
18056 @item gnus-nocem-groups
18057 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
18058 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
18059 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
18060 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
18062 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
18063 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
18064 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
18065 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
18066 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
18067 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
18069 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
18070 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
18072 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
18073 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
18074 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
18075 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
18076 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
18077 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
18078 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
18079 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
18080 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
18081 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
18083 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
18084 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
18087 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
18090 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
18091 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
18094 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
18097 The specs are applied left-to-right.
18100 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
18101 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
18103 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
18104 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
18105 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
18106 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
18108 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
18109 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
18112 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
18114 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
18122 This might be dangerous, though.
18124 @item gnus-nocem-directory
18125 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
18126 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
18127 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
18129 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18130 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
18131 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
18132 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
18133 might then see old spam.
18135 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
18136 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
18137 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
18138 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
18139 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
18142 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18143 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
18144 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
18145 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
18149 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
18150 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
18151 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
18152 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
18159 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
18160 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
18161 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
18163 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
18164 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
18165 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
18166 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
18167 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
18168 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
18169 @code{undo} function.
18171 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
18172 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
18173 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
18174 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
18175 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
18176 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
18177 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
18178 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
18179 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
18180 never be totally undoable.
18182 @findex gnus-undo-mode
18183 @vindex gnus-use-undo
18185 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
18186 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
18187 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
18188 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
18193 @section Moderation
18196 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
18197 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
18198 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
18201 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
18205 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
18208 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18210 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
18215 You split your incoming mail by matching on
18216 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
18217 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
18220 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
18221 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
18224 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
18225 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
18229 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
18232 (setq gnus-moderated-list
18233 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
18237 @node XEmacs Enhancements
18238 @section XEmacs Enhancements
18241 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
18245 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
18246 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
18247 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
18248 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
18261 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
18262 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
18263 over your shoulder as you read news.
18266 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
18267 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
18268 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
18269 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
18270 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
18275 @subsubsection Picon Basics
18277 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
18286 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
18287 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
18288 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
18289 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
18290 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
18291 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
18292 @code{GIF} formats.
18295 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18296 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
18297 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
18298 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
18299 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
18301 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18302 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
18303 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
18304 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
18305 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
18306 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18309 @node Picon Requirements
18310 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
18312 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
18313 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
18316 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
18317 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
18318 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
18320 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18321 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
18322 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
18323 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
18324 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
18328 @subsubsection Easy Picons
18330 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
18331 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
18334 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
18335 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
18338 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
18339 containing the Picons databases.
18341 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
18344 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18345 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
18350 @subsubsection Hard Picons
18358 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
18359 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
18360 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
18361 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
18362 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
18367 @item gnus-picons-database
18368 @vindex gnus-picons-database
18369 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
18370 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
18371 subdirectories. This is only useful if
18372 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
18373 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
18375 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18376 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
18377 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
18378 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
18379 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
18380 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
18381 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
18383 @item gnus-picons-display-where
18384 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18385 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
18386 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
18387 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
18388 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
18389 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
18390 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
18392 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18393 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
18394 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
18399 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
18400 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
18402 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
18403 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
18406 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
18408 @item gnus-article-display-picons
18409 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18410 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
18411 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
18413 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
18414 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
18415 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
18421 @node Picon Useless Configuration
18422 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
18430 The following variables offer further control over how things are
18431 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
18432 don't need to worry about.
18436 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
18437 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
18438 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18439 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
18441 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
18442 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
18443 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
18444 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
18446 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
18447 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
18448 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
18449 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
18450 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
18452 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18453 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
18454 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
18455 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
18456 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
18457 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
18458 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
18460 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18461 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
18462 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
18463 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
18465 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18466 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
18467 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
18468 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
18469 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
18470 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
18471 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
18473 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18474 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
18475 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
18476 Defaults to @code{nil}.
18478 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
18479 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
18480 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
18481 Defaults to @code{t}.
18483 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18484 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
18485 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
18486 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
18488 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
18489 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
18490 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
18492 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18493 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
18494 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
18495 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
18497 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
18498 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
18500 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18501 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
18502 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
18503 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
18504 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
18505 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
18506 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
18507 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
18518 @subsection Smileys
18523 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
18528 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
18529 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
18531 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
18532 @file{.gnus.el} file:
18535 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
18538 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
18539 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
18540 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
18541 text and maps that to file names.
18543 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
18544 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
18545 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
18546 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
18547 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
18548 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
18550 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
18551 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
18553 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
18554 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
18555 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
18557 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
18558 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
18562 @item smiley-data-directory
18563 @vindex smiley-data-directory
18564 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
18566 @item smiley-flesh-color
18567 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
18568 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
18570 @item smiley-features-color
18571 @vindex smiley-features-color
18572 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18574 @item smiley-tongue-color
18575 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
18576 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
18578 @item smiley-circle-color
18579 @vindex smiley-circle-color
18580 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
18582 @item smiley-mouse-face
18583 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
18584 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
18590 @subsection Toolbar
18600 @item gnus-use-toolbar
18601 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
18602 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
18603 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
18604 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
18606 @item gnus-group-toolbar
18607 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
18608 The toolbar in the group buffer.
18610 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
18611 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
18612 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
18614 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18615 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
18616 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
18622 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
18625 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18626 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
18627 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
18628 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
18629 unusual directory structure.
18631 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18632 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
18633 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
18634 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
18636 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18637 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
18638 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
18639 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
18640 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
18641 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
18643 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18644 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
18645 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
18659 @node Fuzzy Matching
18660 @section Fuzzy Matching
18661 @cindex fuzzy matching
18663 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
18664 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
18666 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
18667 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
18668 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
18670 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
18671 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
18672 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
18673 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
18674 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
18677 @node Thwarting Email Spam
18678 @section Thwarting Email Spam
18682 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
18684 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
18685 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
18686 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
18687 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
18688 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
18689 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
18690 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
18691 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
18694 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
18695 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
18696 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
18697 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
18698 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
18699 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
18703 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
18704 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
18706 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
18707 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
18708 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
18709 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
18710 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
18711 part of the mail address.)
18714 (setq message-default-news-headers
18715 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
18718 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
18719 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
18724 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
18725 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
18726 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
18732 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
18733 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
18734 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
18735 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
18737 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
18738 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
18739 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
18740 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
18741 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
18742 your fancy split rule in this way:
18747 (to "larsi" "misc")
18751 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
18752 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
18753 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
18754 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
18755 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
18757 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
18758 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
18759 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
18760 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
18761 cosmic balance somewhat.
18763 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
18764 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
18765 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
18766 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
18769 @node Various Various
18770 @section Various Various
18776 @item gnus-home-directory
18777 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
18778 defaults to @file{~/}.
18780 @item gnus-directory
18781 @vindex gnus-directory
18782 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
18783 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
18784 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
18786 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
18787 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
18788 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
18789 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
18791 @item gnus-default-directory
18792 @vindex gnus-default-directory
18793 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
18794 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
18795 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
18796 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
18797 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
18798 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
18801 @vindex gnus-verbose
18802 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
18803 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
18804 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
18805 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
18806 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
18808 @item gnus-verbose-backends
18809 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
18810 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
18811 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
18813 @item nnheader-max-head-length
18814 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
18815 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
18816 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
18817 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
18818 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
18819 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
18820 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
18821 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
18822 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
18824 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
18825 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
18826 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
18827 read when doing the operation described above.
18829 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18830 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18832 @cindex invalid characters in file names
18833 @cindex characters in file names
18834 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
18835 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
18836 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
18839 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
18843 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
18844 Windows (phooey) systems.
18846 @item gnus-hidden-properties
18847 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
18848 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
18849 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
18850 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
18852 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
18853 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
18854 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
18855 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
18856 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
18858 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
18859 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
18860 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
18862 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18863 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
18865 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
18866 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
18867 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
18868 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
18871 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
18880 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
18881 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
18883 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
18885 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
18891 Not because of victories @*
18894 but for the common sunshine,@*
18896 the largess of the spring.
18900 but for the day's work done@*
18901 as well as I was able;@*
18902 not for a seat upon the dais@*
18903 but at the common table.@*
18908 @chapter Appendices
18911 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
18912 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
18913 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
18914 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
18915 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
18916 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
18917 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
18918 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
18926 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
18927 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
18929 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
18930 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
18931 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
18932 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
18933 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
18935 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
18936 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
18937 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
18938 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
18939 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
18940 appropriate name, don't you think?)
18942 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
18943 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
18944 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
18945 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
18948 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
18949 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
18950 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
18951 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
18952 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
18953 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
18954 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
18955 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
18956 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
18960 @node Gnus Versions
18961 @subsection Gnus Versions
18962 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
18964 @cindex September Gnus
18965 @cindex Quassia Gnus
18967 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
18968 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
18969 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
18971 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
18972 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
18974 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
18975 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
18977 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
18978 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
18980 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
18981 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
18984 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
18986 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
18987 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
18988 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
18989 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
18990 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
18991 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
18994 @node Other Gnus Versions
18995 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
18998 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
18999 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
19000 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
19001 @sc{mime} capabilities.
19003 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
19004 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
19005 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
19006 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
19013 What's the point of Gnus?
19015 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
19016 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
19017 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
19018 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
19019 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
19020 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
19021 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
19022 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
19023 keep track of millions of people who post?
19025 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
19026 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
19027 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
19028 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
19029 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
19030 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
19031 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
19032 every one of you to explore and invent.
19034 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
19035 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
19038 @node Compatibility
19039 @subsection Compatibility
19041 @cindex compatibility
19042 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
19043 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
19044 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
19049 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
19053 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
19056 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
19059 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
19060 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
19061 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
19062 important variables have their values copied into their global
19063 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
19064 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
19066 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
19067 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
19068 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
19069 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
19070 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
19074 @cindex highlighting
19075 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
19076 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
19077 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
19078 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
19079 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
19080 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
19083 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
19084 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
19085 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
19086 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
19088 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
19089 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
19090 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
19091 to stop doing it the old way.
19093 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
19095 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
19097 @cindex reporting bugs
19099 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
19100 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
19101 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
19103 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
19104 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
19105 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
19106 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
19111 @subsection Conformity
19113 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
19114 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
19121 There are no known breaches of this standard.
19125 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
19127 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
19128 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
19129 We do have some breaches to this one.
19135 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
19136 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
19137 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
19138 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
19139 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
19144 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
19145 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
19146 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
19147 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
19151 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
19152 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
19157 @subsection Emacsen
19163 Gnus should work on :
19171 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
19175 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
19176 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
19179 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
19180 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
19181 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
19185 @node Gnus Development
19186 @subsection Gnus Development
19188 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
19189 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
19190 propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
19191 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
19192 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
19193 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
19194 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
19195 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
19197 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
19198 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
19199 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
19200 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
19201 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
19204 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
19205 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
19206 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
19207 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
19208 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
19210 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
19211 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
19212 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
19213 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
19214 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
19215 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
19216 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
19217 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
19218 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
19219 can't be assumed to do so.
19224 @subsection Contributors
19225 @cindex contributors
19227 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
19228 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
19229 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
19230 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
19231 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
19232 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
19233 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
19234 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
19235 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
19236 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
19238 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
19244 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
19247 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
19248 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
19249 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
19250 functionality and stuff.
19253 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
19254 well as numerous other things).
19257 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
19260 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
19263 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
19266 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
19267 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
19270 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
19273 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
19274 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19277 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
19280 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
19283 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
19286 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
19289 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
19290 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
19293 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
19296 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
19299 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
19302 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
19306 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
19309 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
19312 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
19315 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
19316 well as autoconf support.
19320 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
19321 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
19323 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
19332 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
19336 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
19346 Alexei V. Barantsev,
19361 Massimo Campostrini,
19366 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
19367 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
19371 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
19374 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
19380 Michael Welsh Duggan,
19385 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
19389 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
19397 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
19399 Michelangelo Grigni,
19403 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
19405 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
19407 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
19414 François Felix Ingrand,
19415 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
19416 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
19418 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
19429 Peter Skov Knudsen,
19430 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
19432 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
19433 Thor Kristoffersen,
19436 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
19454 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
19455 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
19462 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
19467 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
19471 John McClary Prevost,
19477 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
19482 Christian von Roques,
19485 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
19492 Philippe Schnoebelen,
19494 Randal L. Schwartz,
19508 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
19513 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
19529 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
19534 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
19535 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
19536 (550kB and counting).
19538 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
19541 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
19542 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
19546 @subsection New Features
19547 @cindex new features
19550 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
19551 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
19552 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
19553 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
19554 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
19557 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
19558 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
19559 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
19562 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
19564 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
19569 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
19570 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
19573 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
19574 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
19577 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
19580 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
19581 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
19582 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
19585 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
19586 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
19587 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
19588 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19591 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
19592 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19595 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
19596 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
19597 (@pxref{The Active File}).
19600 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
19601 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
19604 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
19605 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
19606 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19609 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
19610 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
19611 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
19614 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
19615 the @file{.emacs} file.
19618 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
19619 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19622 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
19623 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
19626 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
19627 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19630 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
19631 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
19634 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
19635 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19638 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
19641 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
19642 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
19645 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
19646 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
19649 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
19650 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
19653 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
19656 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
19657 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19660 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
19664 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
19668 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
19669 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
19672 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
19678 @node September Gnus
19679 @subsubsection September Gnus
19683 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
19687 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
19692 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
19693 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
19697 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
19698 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
19702 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
19706 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
19707 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
19710 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
19714 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
19717 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
19720 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
19723 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
19727 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
19728 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
19731 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
19735 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
19739 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
19743 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
19747 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
19750 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
19751 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
19754 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
19758 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
19759 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
19762 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
19765 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
19766 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
19767 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
19770 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
19774 The Gnus cache is much faster.
19777 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
19781 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
19782 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19785 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
19786 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
19789 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
19790 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19793 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
19794 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
19795 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
19798 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
19799 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
19802 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
19805 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19808 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
19811 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
19814 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
19815 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
19818 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
19822 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
19825 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
19830 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
19833 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
19837 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
19840 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
19844 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
19847 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
19850 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
19851 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
19854 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
19855 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
19859 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
19860 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
19863 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
19867 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
19868 buffer to allow easier treatment.
19871 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
19874 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
19878 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
19882 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
19883 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
19886 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
19890 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
19891 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
19894 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
19895 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19898 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
19902 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
19905 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
19908 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
19914 @subsubsection Red Gnus
19916 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
19920 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
19927 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
19930 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
19931 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
19934 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
19935 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
19939 Article washing status can be displayed in the
19940 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
19943 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
19946 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
19947 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
19950 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
19954 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
19955 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
19959 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
19960 Server Internals}).
19963 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
19967 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
19970 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
19971 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
19974 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
19975 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
19976 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
19979 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
19980 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
19983 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
19984 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
19987 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
19991 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
19992 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19995 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
19996 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
19999 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
20003 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
20006 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
20010 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
20011 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
20014 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
20015 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
20018 A new command for reading collections of documents
20019 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
20020 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
20023 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
20027 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
20028 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
20031 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
20032 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
20033 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
20036 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
20037 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
20041 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
20045 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
20049 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
20054 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
20058 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
20062 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
20063 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
20066 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
20072 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
20074 New features in Gnus 5.6:
20079 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
20080 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
20081 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
20084 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
20085 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
20086 group, which is created automatically.
20089 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
20093 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
20096 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
20097 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
20100 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
20104 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
20107 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
20108 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
20111 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
20114 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
20115 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
20118 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
20119 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
20122 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
20123 control over simplification.
20126 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
20129 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
20133 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
20136 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
20139 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
20140 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
20141 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
20144 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
20145 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
20148 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
20152 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
20153 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
20156 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
20157 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
20160 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
20164 A history of where mails have been split is available.
20167 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
20170 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
20171 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
20174 A new function for citing in Message has been
20175 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
20178 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
20181 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
20185 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
20186 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
20189 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
20190 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
20193 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
20196 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
20200 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
20201 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
20203 New features in Gnus 5.8:
20207 @item The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
20208 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
20210 If you used procmail like in
20213 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
20214 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
20215 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
20216 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
20219 this now has changed to
20223 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
20227 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
20228 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
20230 @item Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader. This affects many parts of
20231 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
20233 @item Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
20234 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
20236 @item @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
20237 called to position point.
20239 @item The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
20240 summary buffers and NOV files.
20242 @item @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
20243 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
20245 @item The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
20246 subtly different manner.
20248 @item New web-based backends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
20249 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
20250 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
20252 @item Gnus can now read IMAP mail via @code{nnimap}.
20260 @section The Manual
20264 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
20265 either @code{texi2dvi}
20267 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
20268 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
20270 to get what you hold in your hands now.
20272 The following conventions have been used:
20277 This is a @samp{string}
20280 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
20283 This is a @file{file}
20286 This is a @code{symbol}
20290 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
20294 (setq flargnoze "yes")
20297 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
20300 (setq flumphel 'yes)
20303 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
20304 ever get them confused.
20308 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
20309 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
20310 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
20311 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
20312 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
20313 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
20314 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
20320 @node On Writing Manuals
20321 @section On Writing Manuals
20323 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
20324 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
20325 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
20326 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
20327 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
20328 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
20331 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
20332 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
20333 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
20336 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
20337 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
20342 @section Terminology
20344 @cindex terminology
20349 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
20350 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
20351 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
20352 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
20353 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
20357 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
20358 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
20359 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
20360 not posting, and replying is not following up.
20364 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
20368 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
20373 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
20374 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
20375 is all done by the backends.
20379 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
20380 default, way of getting news.
20384 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
20385 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
20390 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
20391 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
20395 A message that has been posted as news.
20398 @cindex mail message
20399 A message that has been mailed.
20403 A mail message or news article
20407 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
20412 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
20417 A line from the head of an article.
20421 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
20422 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
20426 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
20427 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
20428 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
20429 normal @sc{head} format.
20433 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
20434 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
20435 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
20436 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
20437 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
20438 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
20440 @item killed groups
20441 @cindex killed groups
20442 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
20443 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
20445 @item zombie groups
20446 @cindex zombie groups
20447 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
20450 @cindex active file
20451 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
20452 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
20453 is rather large, as you might surmise.
20456 @cindex bogus groups
20457 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
20458 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
20459 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
20462 @cindex activating groups
20463 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
20464 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
20465 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
20469 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
20471 @item select method
20472 @cindex select method
20473 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
20476 @item virtual server
20477 @cindex virtual server
20478 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
20479 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
20480 whole is a virtual server.
20484 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
20485 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
20488 @item ephemeral groups
20489 @cindex ephemeral groups
20490 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
20491 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
20492 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
20495 @cindex solid groups
20496 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
20497 group buffer are solid groups.
20499 @item sparse articles
20500 @cindex sparse articles
20501 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
20502 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
20506 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
20507 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
20511 @cindex thread root
20512 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
20513 articles in the thread.
20517 An article that has responses.
20521 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
20525 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
20526 specified by RFC 1153.
20532 @node Customization
20533 @section Customization
20534 @cindex general customization
20536 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
20537 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
20538 for some quite common situations.
20541 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
20542 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
20543 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
20544 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
20548 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
20549 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
20551 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
20552 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
20553 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
20557 @item gnus-read-active-file
20558 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
20559 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
20560 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20561 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
20562 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
20564 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
20565 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
20566 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
20567 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
20571 @node Slow Terminal Connection
20572 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
20574 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
20575 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
20576 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
20580 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
20581 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
20582 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
20583 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
20584 horizontal and vertical recentering.
20586 @item gnus-visible-headers
20587 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
20588 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
20589 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
20590 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
20592 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
20594 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
20595 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
20596 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
20599 @item gnus-use-full-window
20600 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
20601 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
20602 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
20603 want to read them anyway.
20605 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
20606 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
20609 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
20610 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
20611 lines, which might save some time.
20615 @node Little Disk Space
20616 @subsection Little Disk Space
20619 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
20620 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
20624 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
20625 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
20626 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20627 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20630 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
20631 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
20632 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
20633 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20636 @item gnus-save-killed-list
20637 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
20638 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
20639 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
20640 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
20646 @subsection Slow Machine
20647 @cindex slow machine
20649 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
20650 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
20652 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
20653 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
20655 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
20656 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
20657 summary buffer faster.
20661 @node Troubleshooting
20662 @section Troubleshooting
20663 @cindex troubleshooting
20665 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
20673 Make sure your computer is switched on.
20676 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
20677 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
20681 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
20682 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
20683 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
20684 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
20687 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
20691 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
20692 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
20693 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
20694 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
20695 something like that.
20698 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
20701 @cindex reporting bugs
20703 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
20705 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
20706 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
20707 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
20708 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
20710 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
20711 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
20712 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
20713 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
20716 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
20717 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
20718 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
20719 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
20720 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
20721 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
20723 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
20724 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
20725 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
20728 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
20729 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
20731 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
20732 @cindex ding mailing list
20733 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
20734 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
20738 @node Gnus Reference Guide
20739 @section Gnus Reference Guide
20741 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
20742 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
20743 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
20744 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
20747 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
20748 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
20749 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
20750 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
20751 and general methods of operation.
20754 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
20755 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
20756 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
20757 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
20758 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
20759 * Group Info:: The group info format.
20760 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
20761 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
20762 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
20766 @node Gnus Utility Functions
20767 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
20768 @cindex Gnus utility functions
20769 @cindex utility functions
20771 @cindex internal variables
20773 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
20774 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
20775 Below is a list of the most common ones.
20779 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
20780 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
20781 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
20783 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
20784 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
20785 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
20787 @item gnus-group-real-name
20788 @findex gnus-group-real-name
20789 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
20792 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
20793 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
20794 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
20795 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
20797 @item gnus-get-info
20798 @findex gnus-get-info
20799 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
20801 @item gnus-group-unread
20802 @findex gnus-group-unread
20803 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
20807 @findex gnus-active
20808 The active entry for @var{group}.
20810 @item gnus-set-active
20811 @findex gnus-set-active
20812 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
20814 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20815 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
20816 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
20819 @item gnus-continuum-version
20820 @findex gnus-continuum-version
20821 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
20822 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
20825 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
20826 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
20827 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
20829 @item gnus-news-group-p
20830 @findex gnus-news-group-p
20831 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
20833 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20834 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
20835 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
20837 @item gnus-server-to-method
20838 @findex gnus-server-to-method
20839 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
20841 @item gnus-server-equal
20842 @findex gnus-server-equal
20843 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
20845 @item gnus-group-native-p
20846 @findex gnus-group-native-p
20847 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
20849 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
20850 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
20851 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
20853 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
20854 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
20855 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
20857 @item group-group-find-parameter
20858 @findex group-group-find-parameter
20859 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
20860 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
20862 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
20863 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
20864 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
20866 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
20867 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
20868 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
20870 @item gnus-check-backend-function
20871 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
20872 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
20873 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
20876 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
20880 @item gnus-read-method
20881 @findex gnus-read-method
20882 Prompts the user for a select method.
20887 @node Backend Interface
20888 @subsection Backend Interface
20890 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
20891 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
20892 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
20893 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
20894 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
20895 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
20897 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
20898 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
20899 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
20900 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
20901 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
20902 been opened, the function should fail.
20904 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
20905 name. Take this example:
20909 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
20910 (nntp-port-number 4324))
20913 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
20914 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
20916 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
20917 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
20918 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
20920 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
20921 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
20922 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
20924 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
20925 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
20926 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
20927 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
20928 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
20929 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
20932 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
20933 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
20934 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
20935 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
20938 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
20941 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
20944 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
20945 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
20946 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
20947 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
20948 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
20949 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
20953 @node Required Backend Functions
20954 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
20958 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
20960 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
20961 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
20962 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
20963 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
20965 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
20966 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
20967 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
20968 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
20970 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
20971 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
20972 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
20973 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
20974 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
20975 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
20976 number, do maximum fetches.
20978 Here's an example HEAD:
20981 221 1056 Article retrieved.
20982 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
20983 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
20984 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
20985 Subject: Re: Something very droll
20986 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
20987 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
20989 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
20990 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
20991 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
20995 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
20996 these in the data buffer.
20998 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
21002 head = error / valid-head
21003 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
21004 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
21005 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
21006 header = <text> eol
21009 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
21010 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
21014 nov-buffer = *nov-line
21015 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
21016 field = <text except TAB>
21019 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
21023 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
21025 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
21026 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
21028 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
21029 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
21030 server. In fact, it should do so.
21032 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
21033 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
21036 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
21038 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
21039 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
21042 There should be no data returned.
21045 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
21047 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
21048 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
21049 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
21050 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
21052 There should be no data returned.
21055 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
21057 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
21058 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
21059 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
21060 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
21062 There should be no data returned.
21065 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
21067 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
21069 There should be no data returned.
21072 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
21074 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
21075 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
21076 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
21077 it would be nice if that were possible.
21079 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
21080 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
21081 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
21082 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
21083 into its article buffer.
21085 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
21086 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
21087 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
21088 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
21089 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
21090 on successful article retrieval.
21093 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
21095 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
21096 making @var{group} the current group.
21098 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
21101 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
21104 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
21107 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
21108 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
21109 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
21110 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
21111 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
21112 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
21113 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
21114 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
21117 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
21118 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
21119 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
21123 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21125 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
21126 a no-op on most backends.
21128 There should be no data returned.
21131 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
21133 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
21136 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
21139 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
21140 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
21143 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
21144 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
21147 active-file = *active-line
21148 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
21150 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
21153 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
21154 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
21155 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
21158 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
21160 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
21161 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
21162 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
21163 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
21164 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
21165 clear if the posting could not be completed.
21167 There should be no result data from this function.
21172 @node Optional Backend Functions
21173 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
21177 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
21179 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
21180 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
21181 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
21183 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
21184 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
21185 former is in the same format as the data from
21186 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
21187 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
21190 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
21194 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
21196 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
21197 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
21198 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
21199 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
21200 should return the (altered) group info.
21202 There should be no result data from this function.
21205 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
21207 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
21208 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
21209 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
21210 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
21211 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
21212 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
21213 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
21214 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
21216 There should be no result data from this function.
21219 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
21221 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
21222 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
21223 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some backends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
21224 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
21225 propagate the mark information to the server.
21227 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
21230 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
21233 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
21234 @code{set}, @code{add} or @code{del}, respectively used for removing all
21235 existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving the
21236 marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks not
21237 mentioned) marks. MARK is a list of marks; where each mark is a symbol.
21238 Currently used marks are @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply},
21239 @code{expire}, @code{killed}, @code{dormant}, @code{save},
21240 @code{download} and @code{unsend}, but your backend should, if possible,
21241 not limit itself to these.
21243 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
21244 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
21245 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
21246 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
21248 An example action list:
21251 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
21252 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
21253 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
21256 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
21257 mark on (currently not used for anything).
21259 There should be no result data from this function.
21261 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
21263 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
21264 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
21265 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
21266 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
21267 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
21269 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
21270 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
21271 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
21274 There should be no result data from this function.
21277 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
21279 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
21280 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
21281 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
21282 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
21283 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
21284 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
21285 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
21287 There should be no result data from this function.
21290 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
21292 The result data from this function should be a description of
21296 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
21298 description = <text>
21301 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
21303 The result data from this function should be the description of all
21304 groups available on the server.
21307 description-buffer = *description-line
21311 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
21313 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
21314 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
21315 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
21318 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
21320 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
21322 There should be no return data.
21325 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
21327 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
21328 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
21329 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
21330 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
21331 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
21334 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
21337 There should be no result data returned.
21340 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
21343 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
21344 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
21346 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
21347 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
21348 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
21349 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
21350 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
21351 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
21353 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
21354 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
21357 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21358 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21360 There should be no data returned.
21363 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
21365 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
21366 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
21367 this function in short order.
21369 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
21370 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
21372 There should be no data returned.
21375 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
21377 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
21378 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
21380 There should be no data returned.
21383 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
21385 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
21386 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
21387 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
21389 There should be no data returned.
21392 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
21394 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
21395 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
21397 There should be no data returned.
21402 @node Error Messaging
21403 @subsubsection Error Messaging
21405 @findex nnheader-report
21406 @findex nnheader-get-report
21407 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
21408 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
21409 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
21410 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
21411 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
21412 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
21415 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
21417 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
21420 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
21421 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
21422 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
21423 takes one argument---the server symbol.
21425 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
21426 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
21427 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
21430 @node Writing New Backends
21431 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
21433 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
21434 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
21435 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
21436 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
21437 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
21440 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
21441 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
21442 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
21444 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
21445 package called @code{nnoo}.
21447 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
21448 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
21454 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
21455 parameters. For instance:
21458 (nnoo-declare nndir
21462 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
21463 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
21466 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
21467 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
21468 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
21470 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
21471 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
21472 a function in those backends.
21475 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21476 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21477 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21480 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
21481 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
21482 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
21484 @item nnoo-define-basics
21485 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
21489 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21493 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
21494 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
21495 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
21497 @item nnoo-map-functions
21498 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
21499 functions from the parent backends.
21502 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21503 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21504 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
21507 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
21508 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
21509 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
21510 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
21513 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
21514 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
21515 haven't already been defined.
21521 nnmh-request-newgroups)
21525 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
21526 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
21527 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
21532 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
21535 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
21536 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
21540 (require 'nnheader)
21544 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
21546 (nnoo-declare nndir
21549 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
21550 "Where nndir will look for groups."
21551 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
21553 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
21554 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
21557 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
21558 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
21559 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
21561 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
21562 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
21564 ;;; Interface functions.
21566 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
21568 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
21569 (setq nndir-directory
21570 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
21572 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
21573 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
21574 (push `(nndir-current-group
21575 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21577 (push `(nndir-top-directory
21578 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
21580 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
21582 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
21583 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21584 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
21585 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
21586 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
21590 nnmh-status-message
21592 nnmh-request-newgroups))
21598 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21599 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
21601 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
21602 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
21603 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
21604 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
21606 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
21607 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
21612 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
21615 The abilities can be:
21619 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
21621 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
21623 This backend supports both mail and news.
21625 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
21628 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
21629 articles and groups.
21631 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
21632 true for almost all backends.
21633 @item prompt-address
21634 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
21635 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
21636 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
21640 @node Mail-like Backends
21641 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
21643 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
21644 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
21645 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
21646 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
21649 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
21650 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
21651 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
21654 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
21655 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
21658 This function takes four parameters.
21662 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
21665 @item exit-function
21666 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
21668 @item temp-directory
21669 Where the temporary files should be stored.
21672 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
21673 performed for one group only.
21676 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
21677 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
21678 find the article number assigned to this article.
21680 The function also uses the following variables:
21681 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
21682 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
21683 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
21684 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
21688 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
21689 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
21693 @node Score File Syntax
21694 @subsection Score File Syntax
21696 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
21697 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
21698 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
21700 Here's a typical score file:
21704 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
21711 BNF definition of a score file:
21714 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
21715 element = rule / atom
21716 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
21717 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
21718 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
21719 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
21721 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
21722 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
21723 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
21724 date-header = "date"
21725 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21726 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21727 score = "nil" / <integer>
21728 date = "nil" / <natural number>
21729 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
21730 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
21731 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
21732 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
21733 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21734 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21735 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
21736 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
21737 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
21738 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
21739 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
21740 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
21741 exclude-files / read-only / touched
21742 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
21743 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
21744 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
21745 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
21746 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
21747 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
21748 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
21749 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
21750 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
21751 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
21752 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
21753 eval = "eval" space <form>
21754 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
21757 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
21760 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
21761 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
21762 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
21763 one looong line, then that's ok.
21765 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
21766 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
21770 @subsection Headers
21772 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
21773 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
21774 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
21775 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
21777 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
21778 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
21779 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
21780 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
21781 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
21782 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
21783 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
21785 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
21786 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
21787 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
21788 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
21789 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
21791 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
21792 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
21798 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
21799 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
21801 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
21802 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
21803 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
21804 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
21806 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
21810 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
21813 is transformed into
21816 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
21819 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
21820 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
21823 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
21826 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
21827 is slightly tricky:
21830 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
21836 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
21839 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
21845 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
21852 and is equal to the previous range.
21854 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
21855 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
21856 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
21860 range = simple-range / normal-range
21861 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
21862 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
21863 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
21864 number *[ " " contents ]
21867 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
21868 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
21869 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
21870 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
21871 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
21876 @subsection Group Info
21878 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
21879 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
21880 describes the group.
21882 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
21883 second is a more complex one:
21886 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
21888 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
21889 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
21891 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
21894 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
21895 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
21896 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
21897 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
21898 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
21899 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
21900 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
21901 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
21902 this section is about.
21904 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
21905 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
21906 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
21908 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
21911 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
21912 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
21913 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
21914 group = quote <string> quote
21915 ralevel = rank / level
21916 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21917 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
21918 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
21920 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
21921 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
21922 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
21923 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
21926 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
21927 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
21930 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
21931 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
21934 @item gnus-info-group
21935 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
21936 @findex gnus-info-group
21937 @findex gnus-info-set-group
21938 Get/set the group name.
21940 @item gnus-info-rank
21941 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
21942 @findex gnus-info-rank
21943 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
21944 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
21946 @item gnus-info-level
21947 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
21948 @findex gnus-info-level
21949 @findex gnus-info-set-level
21950 Get/set the group level.
21952 @item gnus-info-score
21953 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
21954 @findex gnus-info-score
21955 @findex gnus-info-set-score
21956 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
21958 @item gnus-info-read
21959 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
21960 @findex gnus-info-read
21961 @findex gnus-info-set-read
21962 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
21964 @item gnus-info-marks
21965 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
21966 @findex gnus-info-marks
21967 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
21968 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
21970 @item gnus-info-method
21971 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
21972 @findex gnus-info-method
21973 @findex gnus-info-set-method
21974 Get/set the group select method.
21976 @item gnus-info-params
21977 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
21978 @findex gnus-info-params
21979 @findex gnus-info-set-params
21980 Get/set the group parameters.
21983 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
21984 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
21986 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
21987 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
21988 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
21989 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
21992 @node Extended Interactive
21993 @subsection Extended Interactive
21994 @cindex interactive
21995 @findex gnus-interactive
21997 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
21998 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
21999 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
22002 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
22003 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
22008 The best thing to do would have been to implement
22009 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
22010 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
22011 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
22012 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
22013 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
22014 @code{interactive}.
22016 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
22021 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
22022 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
22026 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
22027 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
22028 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
22031 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
22035 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
22039 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
22045 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
22046 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
22050 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
22051 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
22052 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
22054 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
22055 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
22056 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
22057 Gnus, that's very useful.
22059 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
22060 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
22061 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
22062 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
22063 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
22064 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
22065 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
22066 following function:
22069 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
22073 (,function ,@@args))
22077 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
22078 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
22079 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
22082 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
22083 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
22084 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
22086 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
22087 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
22088 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
22091 @node Various File Formats
22092 @subsection Various File Formats
22095 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
22096 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
22100 @node Active File Format
22101 @subsubsection Active File Format
22103 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
22104 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
22107 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
22110 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
22111 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
22112 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
22113 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
22114 no.general 1000 900 y
22117 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
22120 active = *group-line
22121 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
22122 group = <non-white-space string>
22124 high-number = <non-negative integer>
22125 low-number = <positive integer>
22126 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
22129 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
22130 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
22133 @node Newsgroups File Format
22134 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
22136 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
22137 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
22138 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
22141 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
22142 Here's the definition:
22146 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
22147 group = <non-white-space string>
22149 description = <string>
22154 @node Emacs for Heathens
22155 @section Emacs for Heathens
22157 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
22158 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
22159 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
22160 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
22161 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
22162 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
22163 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
22167 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
22168 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
22173 @subsection Keystrokes
22177 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
22180 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
22183 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
22184 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
22185 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
22186 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
22187 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
22188 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
22190 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
22191 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
22192 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
22193 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
22194 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
22195 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
22196 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
22198 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
22199 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
22200 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
22201 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
22202 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
22203 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
22204 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
22206 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
22207 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
22208 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
22209 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
22210 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
22216 @subsection Emacs Lisp
22218 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
22219 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
22220 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
22221 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
22223 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
22224 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
22225 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
22226 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
22227 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
22228 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
22229 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
22232 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
22233 write the following:
22236 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
22239 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
22240 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
22241 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
22244 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
22245 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
22246 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
22247 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
22248 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
22250 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
22251 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
22252 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
22256 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
22260 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
22263 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
22264 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
22267 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
22270 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
22271 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
22274 @include gnus-faq.texi
22295 % LocalWords: Backend BNF mucho Backends backends detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
22296 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
22297 % LocalWords: nnmbox backend newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
22298 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
22299 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref