10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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295 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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304 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
306 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
309 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
310 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
311 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
312 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
313 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
314 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
315 License'' in the Emacs manual.
317 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
318 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
319 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
321 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
322 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
323 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
324 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
332 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
334 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
335 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
337 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
338 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
339 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
340 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
341 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
342 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
343 License'' in the Emacs manual.
345 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
346 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
347 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
349 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
350 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
351 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
352 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
360 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
363 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
364 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
366 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
368 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
369 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
370 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
371 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
372 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
373 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
374 License'' in the Emacs manual.
376 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
377 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
378 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
380 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
381 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
382 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
383 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
392 @top The Gnus Newsreader
396 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
397 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
398 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
401 This manual corresponds to Gnus v5.10.6.
412 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
413 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
415 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
416 being accused of plagiarism:
418 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
419 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
420 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
421 can even read news with it!
423 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
424 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
425 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
426 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
427 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
433 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
434 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
435 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
436 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
437 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
438 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
439 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
440 * Various:: General purpose settings.
441 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
442 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
443 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
444 * Key Index:: Key Index.
446 Other related manuals
448 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
449 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
450 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
451 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
452 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
455 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
459 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
460 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
461 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
462 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
463 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
464 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
465 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
466 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
467 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
468 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
469 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
473 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
474 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
475 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
479 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
480 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
481 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
482 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
483 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
484 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
485 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
486 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
487 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
488 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
489 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
490 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
491 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
492 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
493 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
494 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
495 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
499 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
500 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
501 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
505 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
506 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
507 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
508 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
509 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
513 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
514 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
515 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
516 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
517 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
521 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
522 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
523 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
524 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
525 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
526 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
527 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
528 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
529 * Threading:: How threads are made.
530 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
531 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
532 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
533 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
534 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
535 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
536 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
537 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
538 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
539 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
540 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
541 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
542 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
543 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
544 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
545 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
546 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
547 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
548 or reselecting the current group.
549 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
550 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
551 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
552 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
554 Summary Buffer Format
556 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
557 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
558 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
559 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
563 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
564 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
566 Reply, Followup and Post
568 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
569 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
570 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
571 * Canceling and Superseding::
575 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
576 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
577 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
581 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
582 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
583 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
587 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
588 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
590 Customizing Threading
592 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
593 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
594 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
595 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
599 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
600 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
601 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
602 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
603 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
604 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
608 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
609 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
610 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
614 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
615 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
616 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
617 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
618 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
619 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
620 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
621 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
622 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
623 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
624 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
626 Alternative Approaches
628 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
629 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
631 Various Summary Stuff
633 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
634 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
635 * Summary Generation Commands::
636 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
640 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
641 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
642 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
643 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
644 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
648 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
649 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
650 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
651 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
652 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
653 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
654 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
655 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
656 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
660 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
661 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
662 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
663 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
664 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
665 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
666 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
667 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
671 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
672 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
673 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
674 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
675 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
676 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
677 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
681 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
682 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
686 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
687 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
688 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
692 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
693 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
694 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
695 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
696 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
697 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
698 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
699 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
700 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
701 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
702 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
703 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
704 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
708 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
709 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
710 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
712 Choosing a Mail Back End
714 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
715 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
716 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
717 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
718 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
719 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
720 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
725 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
726 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
727 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
728 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
729 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
730 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
734 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
735 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
736 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
737 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
738 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
739 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
743 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
744 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
745 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
746 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
747 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
751 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
755 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
756 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
757 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
761 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
762 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
766 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
767 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
768 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
769 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
770 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
771 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
772 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
773 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
774 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
775 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
776 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
777 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
778 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
782 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
783 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
784 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
788 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
789 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
790 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
794 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
795 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
796 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
797 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
798 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
799 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
800 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
801 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
802 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
803 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
804 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
805 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
806 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
807 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
808 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
809 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
813 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
814 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
815 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
819 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
820 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
821 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
822 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
823 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
824 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
825 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
826 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
827 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
828 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
829 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
830 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
831 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
832 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
833 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
834 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
835 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
836 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
837 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
838 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
842 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
843 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
844 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
845 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
846 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
847 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
848 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
849 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
853 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
854 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
855 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
856 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
857 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
861 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
862 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
863 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
864 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
865 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
866 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
868 Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
870 * Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events::
871 * Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail::
872 * Spam ELisp Package Global Variables::
873 * Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples::
874 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
876 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
877 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
879 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
881 * ifile spam filtering::
882 * spam-stat spam filtering::
884 * Extending the Spam ELisp package::
886 Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
888 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
889 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
890 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
894 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
895 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
896 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
897 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
898 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
899 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
900 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
901 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
902 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
906 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
907 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
908 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
909 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
910 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
911 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
912 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
913 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
914 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
918 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
919 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
920 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
921 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
922 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
923 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
924 * No Gnus:: Lars, FIXME!
928 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
929 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
930 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
931 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
935 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
936 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
937 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
938 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
939 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
940 * Group Info:: The group info format.
941 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
942 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
943 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
947 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
948 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
949 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
950 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
951 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
952 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
956 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
957 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
961 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
962 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
968 @chapter Starting Gnus
973 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
974 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
977 @findex gnus-other-frame
978 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
979 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
980 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
982 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
983 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
984 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
986 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
987 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
990 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
991 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
992 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
993 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
994 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
995 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
996 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
997 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
998 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
999 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
1000 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
1004 @node Finding the News
1005 @section Finding the News
1006 @cindex finding news
1008 @vindex gnus-select-method
1010 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
1011 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
1012 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
1013 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
1016 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
1017 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1020 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1023 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1026 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1029 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1030 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1031 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1033 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1035 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1036 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1037 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1038 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1039 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1040 If that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1041 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1043 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1044 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1045 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1046 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1048 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1049 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1050 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1051 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1052 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1053 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1054 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1055 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1056 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1059 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1061 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1062 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1063 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1064 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1065 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1066 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1068 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1070 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1071 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1072 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1073 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1074 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1075 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1078 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1079 you would typically set this variable to
1082 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1086 @node The First Time
1087 @section The First Time
1088 @cindex first time usage
1090 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1091 be subscribed by default.
1093 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1094 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1095 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1096 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1099 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1100 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1101 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1103 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1104 help you with most common problems.
1106 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1107 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1111 @node The Server is Down
1112 @section The Server is Down
1113 @cindex server errors
1115 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1116 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1117 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1119 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1120 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1121 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1122 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1123 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1124 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1125 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1127 @findex gnus-no-server
1128 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1130 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1131 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1132 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1133 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1134 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1135 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1136 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1140 @section Slave Gnusae
1143 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1144 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1145 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1146 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1148 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1149 @file{.newsrc} file.
1151 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1152 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1153 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1154 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1155 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1156 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1157 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1160 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1161 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1162 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1163 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1164 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1165 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1166 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1167 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1169 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1170 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1172 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1173 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1174 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1175 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1176 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1178 @node Fetching a Group
1179 @section Fetching a Group
1180 @cindex fetching a group
1182 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1183 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1184 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1185 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1186 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1187 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1193 @cindex subscription
1195 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1196 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1197 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1198 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1199 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1200 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1201 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1202 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1203 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1206 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1207 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1208 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1212 @node Checking New Groups
1213 @subsection Checking New Groups
1215 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1216 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1217 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1218 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1219 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1220 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1221 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1222 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1223 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1224 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1226 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1227 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1228 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1229 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1230 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1231 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1232 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1233 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1234 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1235 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1236 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1238 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1239 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1240 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1241 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1242 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1243 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1246 @node Subscription Methods
1247 @subsection Subscription Methods
1249 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1250 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1251 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1253 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1254 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1256 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1260 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1261 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1262 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1263 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1264 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1266 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1267 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1268 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1269 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1271 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1272 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1273 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1275 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1276 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1277 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1278 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1279 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1280 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1281 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1282 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1283 up. Or something like that.
1285 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1286 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1287 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1288 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1289 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1291 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1292 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1293 Kill all new groups.
1295 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1296 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1297 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1298 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1299 topic parameter that looks like
1305 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1308 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1313 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1314 A closely related variable is
1315 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1316 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1317 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1318 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1321 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1322 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1323 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1324 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1327 @node Filtering New Groups
1328 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1330 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1331 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1332 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1335 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1338 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1339 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1340 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1341 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1342 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1343 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1344 subscribing these groups.
1345 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1346 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1348 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1349 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1350 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1351 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1352 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1353 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1354 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1355 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1357 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1358 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1359 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1360 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1361 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1362 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1363 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1364 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1365 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1366 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1369 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1370 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1373 @node Changing Servers
1374 @section Changing Servers
1375 @cindex changing servers
1377 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1378 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1379 very flaky and you want to use another.
1381 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1382 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1386 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1387 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1388 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1389 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1392 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1393 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1394 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1395 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1397 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1398 @findex gnus-change-server
1399 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1400 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1401 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1402 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1403 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1405 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1406 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1407 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1408 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1409 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1411 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1412 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1413 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1414 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1415 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1416 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1418 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1419 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1420 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1421 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1423 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1424 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1425 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1426 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1427 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1428 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1429 cache for all groups).
1433 @section Startup Files
1434 @cindex startup files
1439 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1440 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1442 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1443 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1444 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1445 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1446 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1447 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1448 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1450 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1451 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1452 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1453 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1454 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1455 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1457 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1458 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1459 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1460 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1461 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1462 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1463 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1464 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1465 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1466 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1468 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1469 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1470 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1471 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1472 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1473 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1474 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1475 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1476 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1477 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1478 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1479 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1481 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1482 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1483 @vindex version-control
1484 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1485 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1486 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1487 If you want version control for this file, set
1488 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1489 @code{version-control} variable.
1491 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1492 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1493 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1494 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1495 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1496 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1497 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1498 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1499 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1500 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1503 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1504 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1506 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1507 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1510 @vindex gnus-init-file
1511 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1512 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1513 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1514 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1515 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1516 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1517 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1518 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1519 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1520 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1526 @cindex dribble file
1529 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1530 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1531 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1532 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1533 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1536 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1537 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1540 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1541 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1542 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1544 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1545 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1546 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1547 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1548 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1549 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1551 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1552 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1553 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1556 @node The Active File
1557 @section The Active File
1559 @cindex ignored groups
1561 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1562 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1563 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1565 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1566 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1567 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1568 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1569 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1570 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1571 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1574 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1575 @c if you set it to anything else.
1577 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1579 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1580 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1581 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1583 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1584 you actually subscribe to.
1586 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1587 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1588 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1589 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1591 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1592 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1593 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1594 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1595 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1596 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1598 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1599 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1600 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1603 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1604 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1605 @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1606 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1607 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1608 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1610 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1611 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1613 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1614 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1616 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1617 secondary select methods.
1620 @node Startup Variables
1621 @section Startup Variables
1625 @item gnus-load-hook
1626 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1627 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1628 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1629 times you start Gnus.
1631 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1632 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1633 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1635 @item gnus-startup-hook
1636 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1637 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1639 @item gnus-started-hook
1640 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1641 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1644 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1645 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1646 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1647 generating the group buffer.
1649 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1650 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1651 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1652 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1653 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1654 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1655 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1656 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1658 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1659 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1660 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1661 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1662 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1663 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1665 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1666 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1667 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1669 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1670 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1671 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1673 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1674 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1675 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1676 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1682 @chapter Group Buffer
1683 @cindex group buffer
1685 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1687 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1688 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1689 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1690 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1691 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1692 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1693 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1694 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1695 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1696 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1697 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1698 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1699 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1700 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1701 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1702 @c human rights at 9...
1705 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1706 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1707 long as Gnus is active.
1711 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1712 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1713 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1714 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1715 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1716 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1717 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1718 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1724 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1725 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1726 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1727 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1728 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1729 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1730 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1731 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1732 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1733 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1734 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1735 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1736 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1737 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1738 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1739 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1740 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1744 @node Group Buffer Format
1745 @section Group Buffer Format
1748 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1749 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1750 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1754 @node Group Line Specification
1755 @subsection Group Line Specification
1756 @cindex group buffer format
1758 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1759 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1761 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1764 25: news.announce.newusers
1765 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1770 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1771 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1772 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1773 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1775 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1776 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1777 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1778 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1779 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1780 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1782 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1784 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1785 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1786 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1787 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1788 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1790 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1791 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1792 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1794 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1799 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1802 Whether the group is subscribed.
1805 Level of subscribedness.
1808 Number of unread articles.
1811 Number of dormant articles.
1814 Number of ticked articles.
1817 Number of read articles.
1820 Number of unseen articles.
1823 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1824 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1826 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1827 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1828 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1829 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1830 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1831 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1832 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1833 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1836 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1839 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1848 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1849 comment element in the group parameters.
1852 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1853 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1854 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1858 @samp{m} if moderated.
1861 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1867 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1873 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1877 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1880 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1881 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1882 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1883 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1884 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1887 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1889 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1893 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1896 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1900 The disk space used by the articles fetched by both the cache and
1901 agent. The value is automatically scaled to bytes(B), kilobytes(K),
1902 megabytes(M), or gigabytes(G) to minimize the column width. A format
1903 of %7F is sufficient for a fixed-width column.
1906 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1907 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1908 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1909 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1910 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1911 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1916 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1917 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1918 group, or a bogus native group.
1921 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1922 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1923 @cindex group mode line
1925 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1926 The mode line can be changed by setting
1927 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1928 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1932 The native news server.
1934 The native select method.
1938 @node Group Highlighting
1939 @subsection Group Highlighting
1940 @cindex highlighting
1941 @cindex group highlighting
1943 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1944 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1945 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1946 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1947 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1949 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1953 (cond (window-system
1954 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1955 (defface my-group-face-1
1956 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1957 (defface my-group-face-2
1958 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1959 "Second group face")
1960 (defface my-group-face-3
1961 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1962 (defface my-group-face-4
1963 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1964 (defface my-group-face-5
1965 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1967 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1968 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1969 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1970 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1971 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1972 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1975 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1977 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1984 The number of unread articles in the group.
1988 Whether the group is a mail group.
1990 The level of the group.
1992 The score of the group.
1994 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1996 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1997 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1999 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
2000 topic being inserted.
2003 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
2004 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
2005 functions for snarfing info on the group.
2007 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
2008 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
2009 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
2010 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
2011 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
2014 @node Group Maneuvering
2015 @section Group Maneuvering
2016 @cindex group movement
2018 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
2019 expected, hopefully.
2025 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
2026 Go to the next group that has unread articles
2027 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2033 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2034 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2035 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2039 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2040 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2044 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2045 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2049 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2050 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2051 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2055 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2056 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2057 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2060 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2066 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2067 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2068 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2073 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2074 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2075 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2079 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2080 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2081 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2084 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2085 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2086 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2087 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2091 @node Selecting a Group
2092 @section Selecting a Group
2093 @cindex group selection
2098 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2099 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2100 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2101 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2102 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2103 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2104 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2105 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2106 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2107 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2109 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2110 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2111 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2113 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2114 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2119 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2120 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2121 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2122 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2123 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2127 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2128 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2129 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2130 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2131 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2132 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2133 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2134 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2135 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2136 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2139 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2140 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2141 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2142 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2143 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2146 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2147 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2148 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2149 doing any processing of its contents
2150 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2151 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2152 manner will have no permanent effects.
2156 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2157 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2158 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2159 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2160 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2161 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2162 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2163 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2164 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2165 most recently will be fetched.
2167 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2168 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2169 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2172 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2173 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2174 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2175 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2176 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2177 Which article this is is controlled by the
2178 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2184 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2187 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2190 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2192 @item unseen-or-unread
2193 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2194 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2198 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2202 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2203 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2205 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2206 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2207 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2208 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2212 @node Subscription Commands
2213 @section Subscription Commands
2214 @cindex subscription
2222 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2223 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2224 Toggle subscription to the current group
2225 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2231 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2232 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2233 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2234 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2240 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2241 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2242 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2248 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2249 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2252 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2253 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2254 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2255 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2256 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2262 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2263 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2267 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2268 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2271 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2272 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2273 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2274 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2275 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2276 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2277 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2278 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2279 @file{.newsrc} file.
2283 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2293 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2294 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2295 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2296 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2297 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2298 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2303 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2304 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2305 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2309 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2310 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2311 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2313 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2314 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2315 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2316 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2317 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2318 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2325 @section Group Levels
2329 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2330 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2331 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2332 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2333 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2335 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2341 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2342 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2343 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2344 prompted for a level.
2347 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2348 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2349 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2350 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2351 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2352 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2353 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2354 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2355 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2356 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2357 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2358 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2359 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2360 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2361 reasons of efficiency.
2363 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2364 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2366 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2367 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2368 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2369 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2370 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2371 groups are hidden, in a way.
2373 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2374 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2375 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2376 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2377 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2378 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2380 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2381 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2382 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2383 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2384 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2385 list of killed groups.)
2387 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2388 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2389 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2391 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2392 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2393 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2394 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2395 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2396 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2397 relevant valid ranges.
2399 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2400 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2401 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2402 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2403 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2404 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2407 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2408 one with the best level.
2410 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2411 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2412 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2415 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2416 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2417 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2418 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2421 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2422 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2423 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2424 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2426 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2427 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2428 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2429 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2430 to 5. The default is 6.
2434 @section Group Score
2439 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2440 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2441 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2444 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2445 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2446 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2447 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2448 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2449 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2450 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2451 least significant part.))
2453 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2454 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2455 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2456 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2457 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2458 action after each summary exit, you can add
2459 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2460 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2461 slow things down somewhat.
2464 @node Marking Groups
2465 @section Marking Groups
2466 @cindex marking groups
2468 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2469 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2470 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2471 bidding on those groups.
2473 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2474 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2475 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2483 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2484 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2490 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2491 Remove the mark from the current group
2492 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2496 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2497 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2501 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2502 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2506 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2507 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2511 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2512 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2513 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2516 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2518 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2519 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2520 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2521 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2522 the command to be executed.
2525 @node Foreign Groups
2526 @section Foreign Groups
2527 @cindex foreign groups
2529 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2530 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2531 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2532 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2539 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2540 @cindex making groups
2541 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2542 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2543 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2547 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2548 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2549 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2553 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2554 @cindex renaming groups
2555 Rename the current group to something else
2556 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2557 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2563 @findex gnus-group-customize
2564 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2568 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2569 @cindex renaming groups
2570 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2571 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2575 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2576 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2577 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2581 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2582 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2583 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2587 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2589 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2590 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2595 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2596 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2600 @cindex (ding) archive
2601 @cindex archive group
2602 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2603 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2604 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2605 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2606 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2607 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2608 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2612 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2614 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2615 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2616 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2617 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2621 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2623 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2624 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2625 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2629 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2630 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2632 Make a group based on some file or other
2633 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2634 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2635 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2636 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2637 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2638 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2639 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2640 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2641 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2645 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2646 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2647 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2648 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2652 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2656 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2657 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2658 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2659 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2660 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2661 @xref{Web Searches}.
2663 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2664 to a particular group by using a match string like
2665 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2669 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2670 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2671 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2675 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2676 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2677 This function will delete the current group
2678 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2679 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2680 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2681 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2682 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2686 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2687 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2688 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2692 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2693 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2694 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2697 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2700 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2701 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2702 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2703 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2704 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2705 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2709 @node Group Parameters
2710 @section Group Parameters
2711 @cindex group parameters
2713 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2714 Here's an example group parameter list:
2717 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2721 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2722 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2723 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2724 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2726 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2727 is an alist of regexps and values.
2729 The following group parameters can be used:
2734 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2737 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2740 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2741 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2742 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2743 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2744 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2746 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2747 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2748 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2749 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2750 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2751 list address instead.
2753 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2757 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2760 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2763 It is totally ignored
2764 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2765 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2767 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2768 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2769 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2770 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2771 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2773 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2774 @cindex mail list groups
2775 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2776 entering summary buffer.
2778 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2783 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2784 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2785 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2786 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2787 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2788 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2789 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2790 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2793 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2794 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2797 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2798 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2802 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2803 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2804 of whether it has any unread articles.
2806 @item broken-reply-to
2807 @cindex broken-reply-to
2808 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2809 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2810 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2811 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2812 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2813 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2817 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2818 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2822 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2823 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2824 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2829 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2830 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2831 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2832 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2833 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2834 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2835 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2837 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2838 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2839 doesn't accept articles.
2843 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2844 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2845 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2847 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2850 @cindex total-expire
2851 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2852 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2853 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2854 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2857 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2861 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2862 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2863 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2864 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2865 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2866 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2867 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2870 @cindex expiry-target
2871 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2872 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2875 @cindex score file group parameter
2876 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2877 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2878 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2881 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2882 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2883 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2884 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2887 @cindex admin-address
2888 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2889 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2890 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2891 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2895 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2896 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2900 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2903 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2904 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
2907 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2911 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2913 Here are some examples:
2917 Display only unread articles.
2920 Display everything except expirable articles.
2922 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2923 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2927 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2928 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2929 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2930 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2931 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2935 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2936 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2937 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2941 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2942 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2943 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2947 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2948 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2949 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2951 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2953 @item ignored-charsets
2954 @cindex ignored-charset
2955 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2956 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2957 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2959 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2962 @cindex posting-style
2963 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2964 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2965 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2966 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2967 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2969 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2970 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2971 like this in the group parameters:
2976 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2977 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2982 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2983 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2987 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
2988 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
2989 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2990 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2991 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2995 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2996 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2997 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2998 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
3000 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
3001 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
3002 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
3003 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3006 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
3007 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
3011 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3012 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3014 @item (agent parameters)
3015 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of the its parameters
3016 to control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3017 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3018 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3019 minimize the configuration effort.
3021 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3022 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3023 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3024 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3025 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3026 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3027 @code{eval}ed there.
3029 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
3030 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3031 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3032 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3033 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3034 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3035 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3036 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3039 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3042 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3043 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3044 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3047 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3050 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3051 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3052 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3053 into the group parameters for the group.
3055 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
3056 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
3057 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
3058 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
3059 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
3063 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
3064 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
3065 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
3066 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
3067 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
3069 @vindex gnus-parameters
3070 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3071 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
3075 (setq gnus-parameters
3077 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3078 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3079 (gnus-summary-line-format
3080 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3084 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3088 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3092 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3095 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3096 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3099 @node Listing Groups
3100 @section Listing Groups
3101 @cindex group listing
3103 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3111 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3112 List all groups that have unread articles
3113 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3114 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3115 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3116 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3123 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3124 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3125 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3126 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3127 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3128 unsubscribed groups).
3132 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3133 List all unread groups on a specific level
3134 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3135 with no unread articles.
3139 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3140 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3141 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3142 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3147 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3148 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3152 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3153 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3154 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3158 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3159 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3163 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3164 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3165 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3166 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3167 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3168 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3169 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3170 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3174 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3175 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3176 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3180 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3181 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3182 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3186 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3187 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3191 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3192 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3196 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3197 List groups limited within the current selection
3198 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3202 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3203 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3207 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3208 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3212 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3213 @cindex visible group parameter
3214 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3215 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3216 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3217 get the same effect.
3219 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3220 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3221 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3222 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3223 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3226 @node Sorting Groups
3227 @section Sorting Groups
3228 @cindex sorting groups
3230 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3231 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3232 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3233 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3234 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3235 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3240 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3241 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3242 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3244 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3245 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3246 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3248 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3249 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3250 Sort by group level.
3252 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3253 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3254 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3256 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3257 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3258 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3259 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3261 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3262 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3263 Sort by number of unread articles.
3265 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3266 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3267 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3269 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3270 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3271 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3276 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3277 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3281 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3282 some sorting criteria:
3286 @kindex G S a (Group)
3287 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3288 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3289 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3292 @kindex G S u (Group)
3293 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3294 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3295 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3298 @kindex G S l (Group)
3299 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3300 Sort the group buffer by group level
3301 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3304 @kindex G S v (Group)
3305 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3306 Sort the group buffer by group score
3307 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3310 @kindex G S r (Group)
3311 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3312 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3313 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3316 @kindex G S m (Group)
3317 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3318 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3319 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3322 @kindex G S n (Group)
3323 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3324 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3325 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3329 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3330 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3332 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3333 commands will sort in reverse order.
3335 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3339 @kindex G P a (Group)
3340 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3341 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3342 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3345 @kindex G P u (Group)
3346 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3347 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3348 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3351 @kindex G P l (Group)
3352 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3353 Sort the groups by group level
3354 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3357 @kindex G P v (Group)
3358 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3359 Sort the groups by group score
3360 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3363 @kindex G P r (Group)
3364 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3365 Sort the groups by group rank
3366 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3369 @kindex G P m (Group)
3370 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3371 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3372 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3375 @kindex G P n (Group)
3376 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3377 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3378 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3381 @kindex G P s (Group)
3382 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3383 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3387 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3391 @node Group Maintenance
3392 @section Group Maintenance
3393 @cindex bogus groups
3398 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3399 Find bogus groups and delete them
3400 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3404 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3405 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3406 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3407 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3408 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3412 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3413 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3414 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3415 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3416 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3417 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3420 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3421 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3422 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3423 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3428 @node Browse Foreign Server
3429 @section Browse Foreign Server
3430 @cindex foreign servers
3431 @cindex browsing servers
3436 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3437 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3438 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3439 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3442 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3443 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3444 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3445 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3447 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3452 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3453 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3457 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3458 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3461 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3462 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3463 Enter the current group and display the first article
3464 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3467 @kindex RET (Browse)
3468 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3469 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3473 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3474 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3475 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3481 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3482 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3486 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3487 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3491 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3492 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3493 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3498 @section Exiting Gnus
3499 @cindex exiting Gnus
3501 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3506 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3507 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3508 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3509 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3513 @findex gnus-group-exit
3514 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3515 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3519 @findex gnus-group-quit
3520 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3521 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3524 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3525 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3526 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3527 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3528 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3529 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3535 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3536 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3537 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3543 @section Group Topics
3546 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3547 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3548 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3549 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3550 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3551 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3555 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3556 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3567 2: alt.religion.emacs
3570 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3572 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3573 13: comp.sources.unix
3576 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3578 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3579 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3580 is a toggling command.)
3582 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3583 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3584 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3585 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3588 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3589 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3590 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3593 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3597 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3598 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3599 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3600 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3601 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3605 @node Topic Commands
3606 @subsection Topic Commands
3607 @cindex topic commands
3609 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3610 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3611 definitions slightly.
3613 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3614 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3615 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3616 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3617 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3618 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3620 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3627 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3628 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3629 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3633 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3635 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3636 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3637 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3638 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3641 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3642 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3643 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3644 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3648 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3649 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3650 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3651 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3657 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3658 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3659 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3663 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3664 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3665 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3668 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3669 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3670 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3671 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3672 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3674 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3675 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3679 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3680 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3687 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3689 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3690 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3691 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3692 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3693 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3694 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3698 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3704 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3705 Move the current group to some other topic
3706 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3707 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3711 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3712 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3716 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3717 Copy the current group to some other topic
3718 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3719 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3723 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3724 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3725 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3729 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3730 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3731 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3735 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3736 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3737 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3738 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3739 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3740 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3741 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3744 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3745 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3749 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3750 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3751 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3755 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3756 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3757 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3761 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3762 Toggle hiding empty topics
3763 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3767 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3768 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3769 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3770 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3773 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3774 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3775 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3776 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3777 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3780 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3781 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3782 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3783 expiry process (if any)
3784 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3788 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3789 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3792 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3793 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3794 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3798 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3799 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3800 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3803 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3804 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3805 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3808 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3809 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3810 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3814 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3815 @cindex group parameters
3816 @cindex topic parameters
3818 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3819 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3824 @node Topic Variables
3825 @subsection Topic Variables
3826 @cindex topic variables
3828 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3829 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3831 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3832 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3833 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3846 Number of groups in the topic.
3848 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3850 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3853 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3854 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3855 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3858 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3859 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3861 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3862 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3863 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3867 @subsection Topic Sorting
3868 @cindex topic sorting
3870 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3876 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3877 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3878 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3879 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3882 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3883 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3884 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3885 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3888 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3889 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3890 Sort the current topic by group level
3891 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3894 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3895 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3896 Sort the current topic by group score
3897 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3900 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3901 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3902 Sort the current topic by group rank
3903 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3906 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3907 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3908 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3909 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3912 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3913 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3914 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3915 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3918 @kindex T S s (Topic)
3919 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3920 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3921 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3922 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3926 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3927 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3931 @node Topic Topology
3932 @subsection Topic Topology
3933 @cindex topic topology
3936 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3943 2: alt.religion.emacs
3946 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3948 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3949 13: comp.sources.unix
3953 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3954 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3955 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3960 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3961 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3965 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3966 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3967 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3968 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3969 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3970 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3972 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3973 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3974 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3977 @node Topic Parameters
3978 @subsection Topic Parameters
3979 @cindex topic parameters
3981 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
3982 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
3983 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
3984 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
3985 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
3987 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3992 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3993 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3994 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3997 @item subscribe-level
3998 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3999 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4000 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4004 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4005 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4006 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4007 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4014 2: alt.religion.emacs
4018 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4020 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4021 13: comp.sources.unix
4026 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4027 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4028 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4029 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4030 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4031 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4033 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4034 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4035 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4036 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4037 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4039 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4040 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4041 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4042 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4043 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4044 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4045 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4046 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4049 @node Misc Group Stuff
4050 @section Misc Group Stuff
4053 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
4054 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
4055 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
4056 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
4057 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4064 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4065 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4066 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4070 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4071 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4072 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4073 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4074 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4075 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4076 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4080 @findex gnus-group-mail
4081 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4082 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4083 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4084 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4088 @findex gnus-group-news
4089 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4090 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4091 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4093 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4094 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4095 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4096 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4097 for this to work though.
4101 Variables for the group buffer:
4105 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4106 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4107 is called after the group buffer has been
4110 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4111 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4112 is called after the group buffer is
4113 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4116 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4117 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4118 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4119 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4121 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4122 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4123 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4124 whether they are empty or not.
4126 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4127 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4128 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4129 non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4133 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4134 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4137 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4138 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4139 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4140 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4141 is used to show non-@acronym{ASCII} group names. @code{((".*"
4142 utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the
4143 default is @code{nil}.
4147 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4148 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4153 @node Scanning New Messages
4154 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4155 @cindex new messages
4156 @cindex scanning new news
4162 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4163 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4164 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4165 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4166 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4167 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4172 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4173 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4174 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4175 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4176 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4177 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4178 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4180 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4181 @cindex activating groups
4183 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4184 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4189 @findex gnus-group-restart
4190 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4191 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4192 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4196 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4197 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4199 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4200 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4204 @node Group Information
4205 @subsection Group Information
4206 @cindex group information
4207 @cindex information on groups
4214 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4215 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4218 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4219 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4220 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4221 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4222 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4223 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4224 used for fetching the file.
4226 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4227 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4231 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4232 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4234 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4235 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4238 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4239 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4240 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4244 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4245 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4246 @cindex control message
4247 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4248 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4249 group if given a prefix argument.
4251 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4252 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4253 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4254 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4256 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4257 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4258 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4262 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4264 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4265 @cindex describing groups
4266 @cindex group description
4267 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4268 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4269 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4273 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4274 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4275 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4282 @findex gnus-version
4283 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4287 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4288 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4291 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4294 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4295 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4299 @node Group Timestamp
4300 @subsection Group Timestamp
4302 @cindex group timestamps
4304 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4305 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4306 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4309 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4312 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4314 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4315 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4318 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4319 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4322 This will result in lines looking like:
4325 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4326 0: custom 19961002T012713
4329 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4330 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4334 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4335 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4338 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4339 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4343 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4344 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4345 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4346 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4348 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4354 @subsection File Commands
4355 @cindex file commands
4361 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4362 @vindex gnus-init-file
4363 @cindex reading init file
4364 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4365 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4369 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4370 @cindex saving .newsrc
4371 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4372 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4373 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4376 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4377 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4378 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4383 @node Sieve Commands
4384 @subsection Sieve Commands
4385 @cindex group sieve commands
4387 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4388 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4389 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4390 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4391 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4393 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4394 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4395 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4396 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4397 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4398 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4399 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4400 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4401 regenerate the Sieve script.
4403 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4404 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4405 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4406 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4407 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4408 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4409 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4410 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4411 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4412 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4415 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4416 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4421 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4427 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4428 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4429 @cindex generating sieve script
4430 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4431 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4435 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4436 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4437 @cindex updating sieve script
4438 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4439 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4440 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4445 @node Summary Buffer
4446 @chapter Summary Buffer
4447 @cindex summary buffer
4449 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4450 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4452 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4453 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4455 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4458 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4459 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4460 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4461 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4462 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4463 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4464 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4465 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4466 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4467 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4468 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4469 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4470 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4471 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4472 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4473 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4474 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4475 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4476 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4477 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4478 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4479 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4480 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4481 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4482 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4483 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4484 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4485 or reselecting the current group.
4486 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4487 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4488 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4489 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4493 @node Summary Buffer Format
4494 @section Summary Buffer Format
4495 @cindex summary buffer format
4499 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4500 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4501 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4507 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4508 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4509 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4510 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4513 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4514 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4515 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4516 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4517 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4518 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4519 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4520 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4521 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4522 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4523 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4526 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4527 'mail-extract-address-components)
4530 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4531 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4532 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4533 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4536 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4537 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4539 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4540 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4541 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4542 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4543 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4545 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4546 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4547 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4548 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4549 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4550 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4552 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4554 The following format specification characters and extended format
4555 specification(s) are understood:
4561 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4562 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4564 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4565 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4566 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4568 Full @code{From} header.
4570 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4572 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4575 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4576 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4577 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4578 may be more thorough.
4580 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4583 Number of lines in the article.
4585 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4586 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4588 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4589 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4591 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4593 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4594 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4607 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4608 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4609 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4610 line-drawing glyphs.
4612 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4613 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4614 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4615 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4617 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4618 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4619 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4620 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4622 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4623 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4624 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4625 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4627 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4628 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4629 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4631 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4632 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4633 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4635 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4636 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4637 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4639 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4640 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4641 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4646 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4647 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4649 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4650 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4652 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4653 for adopted articles.
4655 One space for each thread level.
4657 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4659 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4662 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4663 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4664 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4667 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4669 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4670 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4671 default level. If the difference between
4672 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4673 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4681 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4683 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4689 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4690 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4692 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4693 article has any children.
4699 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4700 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4702 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4703 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4704 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
4705 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4706 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4707 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4710 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4711 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4712 There can only be one such area.
4714 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4715 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4716 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4717 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4718 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4719 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4721 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4722 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4724 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4727 @node To From Newsgroups
4728 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4732 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4733 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4734 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4735 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4736 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4740 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4741 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4742 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4746 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4747 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4750 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4751 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4754 @findex gnus-extra-header
4755 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4756 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4757 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4760 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4764 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4765 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4766 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4767 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4768 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4769 headers are used instead.
4773 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4774 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4775 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
4776 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4777 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4778 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4781 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4782 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4783 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4784 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4786 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4790 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4792 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4793 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4794 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4795 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4799 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4802 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4803 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4806 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4807 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4808 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4814 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4815 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4818 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4819 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4821 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4822 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4823 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4824 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4826 Here are the elements you can play with:
4832 Unprefixed group name.
4834 Current article number.
4836 Current article score.
4840 Number of unread articles in this group.
4842 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4845 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4846 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4847 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4848 and no unselected ones.
4850 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4851 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4853 Subject of the current article.
4855 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4857 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4859 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4861 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4863 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4865 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4869 @node Summary Highlighting
4870 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4874 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4875 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4876 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4877 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4878 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4880 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4881 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4882 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4883 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4885 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4886 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4887 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4888 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4890 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4891 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4892 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4893 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4894 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4895 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4898 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4899 ((> score default) . bold))
4901 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4902 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4906 @node Summary Maneuvering
4907 @section Summary Maneuvering
4908 @cindex summary movement
4910 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4911 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4913 None of these commands select articles.
4918 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4919 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4920 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4921 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4922 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4926 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4927 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4928 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4929 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4930 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4933 @kindex G g (Summary)
4934 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4935 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4936 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4939 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4940 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4941 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4942 to the group buffer.
4944 Variables related to summary movement:
4948 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4949 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4950 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4951 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4952 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4953 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4954 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4955 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4956 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4957 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4958 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4959 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4960 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4961 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4963 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4964 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4965 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4966 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4967 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4968 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4969 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4971 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4973 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4974 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4975 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4976 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4977 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4979 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4980 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4981 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4982 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4983 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4984 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4985 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4986 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4989 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4990 the given number of lines from the top.
4995 @node Choosing Articles
4996 @section Choosing Articles
4997 @cindex selecting articles
5000 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5001 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5005 @node Choosing Commands
5006 @subsection Choosing Commands
5008 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5009 and they all select and display an article.
5011 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5012 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5016 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5017 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5018 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
5019 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5021 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
5022 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
5023 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
5028 @kindex G n (Summary)
5029 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
5030 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
5031 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
5036 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
5037 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
5038 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
5043 @kindex G N (Summary)
5044 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
5045 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
5050 @kindex G P (Summary)
5051 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
5052 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
5055 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
5056 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
5057 Go to the next article with the same subject
5058 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5061 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5062 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5063 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5064 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5068 @kindex G f (Summary)
5070 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5071 Go to the first unread article
5072 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5076 @kindex G b (Summary)
5078 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5079 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5080 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5081 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5086 @kindex G l (Summary)
5087 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5088 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5091 @kindex G o (Summary)
5092 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5094 @cindex article history
5095 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5096 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5097 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5098 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5099 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5100 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5105 @kindex G j (Summary)
5106 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5107 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5108 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5113 @node Choosing Variables
5114 @subsection Choosing Variables
5116 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5119 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5120 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5121 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5122 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5123 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5124 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5126 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5127 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5128 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5129 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5130 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5131 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5133 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5134 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5135 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5136 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5137 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5138 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5139 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5140 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5141 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5142 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5143 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5144 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5145 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5146 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5151 @node Paging the Article
5152 @section Scrolling the Article
5153 @cindex article scrolling
5158 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5159 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5160 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5161 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5162 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5164 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5165 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5166 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5167 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5168 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5169 what is considered uninteresting with
5170 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5171 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5174 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5175 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5176 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5179 @kindex RET (Summary)
5180 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5181 Scroll the current article one line forward
5182 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5185 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5186 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5187 Scroll the current article one line backward
5188 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5192 @kindex A g (Summary)
5194 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5195 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5196 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5197 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5198 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5199 the way it came from the server.
5201 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5202 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5203 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5206 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5211 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5216 @kindex A < (Summary)
5217 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5218 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5219 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5224 @kindex A > (Summary)
5225 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5226 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5230 @kindex A s (Summary)
5232 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5233 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5234 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5238 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5239 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5244 @node Reply Followup and Post
5245 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5248 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5249 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5250 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5251 * Canceling and Superseding::
5255 @node Summary Mail Commands
5256 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5258 @cindex composing mail
5260 Commands for composing a mail message:
5266 @kindex S r (Summary)
5268 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5269 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5270 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5271 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5272 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5277 @kindex S R (Summary)
5278 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5279 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5280 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5281 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5282 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5285 @kindex S w (Summary)
5286 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5287 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5288 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5289 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5290 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
5291 present, that's used instead.
5294 @kindex S W (Summary)
5295 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5296 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5297 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5298 the process/prefix convention.
5301 @kindex S v (Summary)
5302 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5303 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5304 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5305 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5306 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5307 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5310 @kindex S V (Summary)
5311 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5312 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5313 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5314 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5317 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5318 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5319 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5320 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5321 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5322 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5323 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5324 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5327 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5328 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5329 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5330 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5331 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5335 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5336 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5337 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5338 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5339 Forward the current article to some other person
5340 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5341 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5342 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5343 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5344 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5345 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5346 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5347 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5348 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME}
5354 @kindex S m (Summary)
5355 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5356 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5357 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5358 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5359 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5364 @kindex S i (Summary)
5365 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5366 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5367 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5368 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5370 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5371 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5372 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5373 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5374 for this to work though.
5377 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5378 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5379 @cindex bouncing mail
5380 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5381 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5382 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5383 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5384 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5385 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5386 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5387 very well fail, though.
5390 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5391 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5392 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5393 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5394 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5395 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5396 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5397 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5398 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5399 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5401 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5402 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5403 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5404 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5405 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5407 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5408 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5411 @kindex S D e (Summary)
5412 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
5414 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
5415 if it were a new message before resending.
5418 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5419 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5420 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5421 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5422 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5425 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5426 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5427 @cindex crossposting
5428 @cindex excessive crossposting
5429 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5430 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5432 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5433 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5434 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5435 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5436 command understands the process/prefix convention
5437 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5441 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5442 Manual}, for more information.
5445 @node Summary Post Commands
5446 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5448 @cindex composing news
5450 Commands for posting a news article:
5456 @kindex S p (Summary)
5457 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5458 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5459 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5460 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5461 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5466 @kindex S f (Summary)
5467 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5468 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5469 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5473 @kindex S F (Summary)
5475 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5476 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5477 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5478 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5479 process/prefix convention.
5482 @kindex S n (Summary)
5483 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5484 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5485 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5488 @kindex S N (Summary)
5489 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5490 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5491 message through mail and include the original message
5492 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5493 the process/prefix convention.
5496 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5497 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5498 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5499 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5500 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5501 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5502 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5503 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5504 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5505 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5506 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5507 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5508 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section.
5511 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5512 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5514 @cindex making digests
5515 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5516 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
5517 process/prefix convention.
5520 @kindex S u (Summary)
5521 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5522 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5523 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5524 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5527 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5528 Manual}, for more information.
5531 @node Summary Message Commands
5532 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5536 @kindex S y (Summary)
5537 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5538 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5539 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5540 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5541 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5546 @node Canceling and Superseding
5547 @subsection Canceling Articles
5548 @cindex canceling articles
5549 @cindex superseding articles
5551 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5552 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5554 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5556 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5558 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5559 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5560 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5561 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5562 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5563 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5565 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5566 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5569 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5570 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5571 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5573 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
5574 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
5575 message, Message Manual}).
5577 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5578 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5579 your original article.
5581 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5583 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5584 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5585 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5588 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5589 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5590 have posted almost the same article twice.
5592 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5593 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5594 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5595 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5596 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5597 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5598 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5599 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5600 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5601 canceled/superseded.
5603 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5605 @node Delayed Articles
5606 @section Delayed Articles
5607 @cindex delayed sending
5608 @cindex send delayed
5610 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5611 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5612 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5613 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5616 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5619 @findex gnus-delay-article
5620 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5621 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5622 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5623 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5627 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5628 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5629 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5630 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5633 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5634 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5635 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5638 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5639 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5640 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5641 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5642 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5643 that means a time tomorrow.
5646 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5647 couple of variables:
5650 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5651 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5652 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5653 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5655 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5656 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5657 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5658 formats described above.
5660 @item gnus-delay-group
5661 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5662 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5663 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5664 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5666 @item gnus-delay-header
5667 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5668 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5669 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5670 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5673 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5674 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5675 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5676 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5677 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5679 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5680 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5681 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5682 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5683 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5684 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5685 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5688 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5689 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5690 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5691 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5692 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5693 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5694 argument is ignored.
5696 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5697 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5698 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5702 @node Marking Articles
5703 @section Marking Articles
5704 @cindex article marking
5705 @cindex article ticking
5708 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5710 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5711 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5712 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5714 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5717 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5718 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5719 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5723 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5727 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5728 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5729 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5733 @node Unread Articles
5734 @subsection Unread Articles
5736 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5741 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5742 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5744 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5745 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5746 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5747 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5748 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5749 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5750 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5753 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5754 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5756 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5757 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5758 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5759 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5763 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5764 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5766 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5771 @subsection Read Articles
5772 @cindex expirable mark
5774 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5779 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5780 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5781 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5784 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5785 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5788 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5789 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5790 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5793 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5794 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5797 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5798 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5801 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5802 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5805 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5806 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5809 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5810 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5813 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5814 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5817 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5818 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5822 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5823 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5824 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5828 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5829 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5831 One more special mark, though:
5835 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5836 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5838 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5839 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5840 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5841 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5847 @subsection Other Marks
5848 @cindex process mark
5851 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5857 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5858 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5859 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5860 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5861 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5864 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5865 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5866 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5867 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5870 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5871 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5872 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5875 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5876 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5877 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5880 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5881 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5882 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5883 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5886 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5887 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5888 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5889 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5890 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5891 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5894 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5895 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5896 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5897 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5900 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5901 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
5902 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5903 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5904 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5908 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5909 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
5910 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5911 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5912 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5913 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5916 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5917 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
5918 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5919 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5920 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5921 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5925 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5926 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5927 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5928 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5929 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5932 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5933 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5934 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5935 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5936 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5937 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5941 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5942 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5943 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5945 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5946 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5947 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5951 @subsection Setting Marks
5952 @cindex setting marks
5954 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5959 @kindex M c (Summary)
5960 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5961 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5962 @cindex mark as unread
5963 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5964 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5970 @kindex M t (Summary)
5971 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5972 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5973 @xref{Article Caching}.
5978 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5979 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5980 Mark the current article as dormant
5981 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5985 @kindex M d (Summary)
5987 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5988 Mark the current article as read
5989 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5993 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5994 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5995 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
6000 @kindex M k (Summary)
6001 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
6002 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
6003 and then select the next unread article
6004 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6008 @kindex M K (Summary)
6009 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6010 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6011 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6012 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6015 @kindex M C (Summary)
6016 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6017 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6018 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
6021 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
6022 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
6023 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
6024 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
6027 @kindex M H (Summary)
6028 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
6029 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
6030 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
6033 @kindex M h (Summary)
6034 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
6035 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
6036 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
6039 @kindex C-w (Summary)
6040 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
6041 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
6042 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
6045 @kindex M V k (Summary)
6046 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
6047 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
6048 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
6052 @kindex M e (Summary)
6054 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
6055 Mark the current article as expirable
6056 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
6059 @kindex M b (Summary)
6060 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
6061 Set a bookmark in the current article
6062 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
6065 @kindex M B (Summary)
6066 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
6067 Remove the bookmark from the current article
6068 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
6071 @kindex M V c (Summary)
6072 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
6073 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
6074 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6077 @kindex M V u (Summary)
6078 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
6079 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
6080 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
6083 @kindex M V m (Summary)
6084 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
6085 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
6086 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
6087 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6090 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6091 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6092 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6093 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6094 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6095 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6096 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6097 The default is @code{t}.
6100 @node Generic Marking Commands
6101 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6103 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6104 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6105 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6106 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6107 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6110 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6111 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6114 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6115 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6116 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6117 to list in this manual.
6119 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6120 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6121 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6122 article, you could say something like:
6126 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6127 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6128 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6136 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6137 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6141 @node Setting Process Marks
6142 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6143 @cindex setting process marks
6145 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6146 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6147 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6148 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6149 commands into the cache. For more information,
6150 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6157 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6158 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6159 Mark the current article with the process mark
6160 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6161 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6165 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6166 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6167 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6168 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6171 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6172 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6173 Remove the process mark from all articles
6174 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6177 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6178 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6179 Invert the list of process marked articles
6180 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6183 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6184 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6185 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6186 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6189 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6190 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6191 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6192 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6195 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6196 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6197 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6200 @kindex M P g (Summary)
6201 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6202 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6205 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6206 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6207 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6208 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6211 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6212 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6213 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6214 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6217 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6218 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6219 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6220 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6223 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6224 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6225 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6228 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6229 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6230 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6231 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6234 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6235 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6236 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6239 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6240 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6241 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6242 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6245 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6246 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6247 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6248 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6251 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6252 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6253 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6254 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6257 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6258 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6259 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6260 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6264 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
6265 set process marks based on article body contents.
6272 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6273 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6274 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6277 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6278 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6279 additional articles.
6285 @kindex / / (Summary)
6286 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6287 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6288 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6292 @kindex / a (Summary)
6293 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6294 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6295 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6299 @kindex / x (Summary)
6300 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6301 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6302 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6303 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6308 @kindex / u (Summary)
6310 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6311 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6312 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6313 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6314 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6317 @kindex / m (Summary)
6318 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6319 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6320 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6323 @kindex / t (Summary)
6324 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6325 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6326 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6327 articles younger than that number of days.
6330 @kindex / n (Summary)
6331 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6332 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6333 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6334 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6337 @kindex / w (Summary)
6338 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6339 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6340 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6344 @kindex / . (Summary)
6345 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6346 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6347 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6350 @kindex / v (Summary)
6351 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6352 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6353 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6356 @kindex / p (Summary)
6357 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6358 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6359 group parameter predicate
6360 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
6361 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
6364 @kindex / r (Summary)
6365 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
6366 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
6367 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
6372 @kindex M S (Summary)
6373 @kindex / E (Summary)
6374 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6375 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6376 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6379 @kindex / D (Summary)
6380 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6381 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6382 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6385 @kindex / * (Summary)
6386 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6387 Include all cached articles in the limit
6388 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6391 @kindex / d (Summary)
6392 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6393 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6394 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6397 @kindex / M (Summary)
6398 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6399 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6402 @kindex / T (Summary)
6403 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6404 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6407 @kindex / c (Summary)
6408 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6409 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6410 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6413 @kindex / C (Summary)
6414 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6415 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6416 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6417 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6420 @kindex / N (Summary)
6421 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6422 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6423 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6426 @kindex / o (Summary)
6427 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6428 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6429 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6437 @cindex article threading
6439 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6440 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6441 hierarchical fashion.
6443 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6444 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6445 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6446 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6447 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6448 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6449 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
6451 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6455 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6458 A tree-like article structure.
6461 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6464 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6465 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6466 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6467 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6468 called loose threads.
6470 @item thread gathering
6471 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6473 @item sparse threads
6474 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6475 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6481 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6482 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6486 @node Customizing Threading
6487 @subsection Customizing Threading
6488 @cindex customizing threading
6491 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6492 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6493 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6494 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6499 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6502 @cindex loose threads
6505 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6506 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6507 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6508 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6509 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6510 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6512 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6513 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6514 There are four possible values:
6518 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6519 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6520 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6521 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6522 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6527 @cindex adopting articles
6532 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6533 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6534 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6535 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6538 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6539 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6540 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6541 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6542 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6543 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6544 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6545 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6546 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6547 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6550 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6551 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6552 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6556 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6557 display them after one another.
6560 Don't gather loose threads.
6563 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6564 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6565 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6566 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6567 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6568 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6569 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6570 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6571 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6572 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6573 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6575 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6576 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6577 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6580 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6581 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6582 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6583 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6584 simplification is used.
6586 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6587 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6588 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6589 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6591 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6593 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6599 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6600 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6601 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6602 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6607 (mapconcat 'identity
6608 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6610 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6613 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6616 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6617 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6618 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6619 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6620 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6621 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6623 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6626 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6627 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6628 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6630 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6631 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6634 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6635 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6636 Remove excessive whitespace.
6638 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6639 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6640 Remove all whitespace.
6643 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6646 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6647 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6648 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6649 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6650 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6651 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6652 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6653 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6655 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6656 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6657 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6658 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6659 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6660 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6661 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6662 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6663 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6667 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6668 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6669 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6670 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6672 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6673 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6674 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6677 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6681 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6682 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6688 @node Filling In Threads
6689 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6692 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6693 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6694 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6695 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
6696 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
6697 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
6698 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
6699 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
6700 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
6701 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6702 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6703 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
6706 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6707 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6708 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6710 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6711 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6712 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
6715 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6716 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6717 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6718 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6719 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6720 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6721 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6722 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6723 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6724 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6725 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6726 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6727 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6728 @code{nil} by default.
6730 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6731 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6732 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6733 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6734 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6735 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6736 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6738 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6739 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6740 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6745 @node More Threading
6746 @subsubsection More Threading
6749 @item gnus-show-threads
6750 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6751 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6752 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6753 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6754 slower and more awkward.
6756 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6757 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6758 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6761 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6762 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6763 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
6768 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6769 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6770 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6773 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6774 unread, but you get my drift.)
6777 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6778 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6779 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6780 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6781 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6782 threads are expunged.
6784 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6785 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6786 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6789 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6790 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6791 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6792 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6793 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6794 result in a new thread.
6796 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6797 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6798 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6801 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6802 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6803 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6804 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6805 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6806 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6807 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6808 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6809 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6810 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6811 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6816 @node Low-Level Threading
6817 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6821 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6822 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6823 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6825 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6826 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6827 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6828 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6829 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6830 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6831 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6832 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6833 meaningful. Here's one example:
6836 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6838 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6839 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6841 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6843 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6850 @node Thread Commands
6851 @subsection Thread Commands
6852 @cindex thread commands
6858 @kindex T k (Summary)
6859 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6860 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6861 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6862 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6863 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6868 @kindex T l (Summary)
6869 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6870 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6871 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6872 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6875 @kindex T i (Summary)
6876 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6877 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6878 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6881 @kindex T # (Summary)
6882 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6883 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6884 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6887 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6888 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6889 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6890 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6893 @kindex T T (Summary)
6894 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6895 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6898 @kindex T s (Summary)
6899 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6900 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
6901 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6904 @kindex T h (Summary)
6905 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6906 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6909 @kindex T S (Summary)
6910 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6911 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6914 @kindex T H (Summary)
6915 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6916 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6919 @kindex T t (Summary)
6920 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6921 Re-thread the current article's thread
6922 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6923 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6926 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6927 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6928 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6929 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6933 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6934 understand the numeric prefix.
6939 @kindex T n (Summary)
6941 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6943 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6944 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6945 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6948 @kindex T p (Summary)
6950 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6952 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6953 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6954 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6957 @kindex T d (Summary)
6958 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6959 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6962 @kindex T u (Summary)
6963 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6964 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6967 @kindex T o (Summary)
6968 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6969 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6972 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6973 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6974 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6975 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6976 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6977 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6978 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6979 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6980 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6981 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6982 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6983 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6987 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6988 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6990 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6991 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6992 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6993 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6994 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6995 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6996 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6997 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6998 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
6999 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
7000 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
7001 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
7002 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
7003 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
7005 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
7006 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
7007 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
7008 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
7009 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
7010 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
7011 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
7012 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
7014 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
7015 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
7016 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
7018 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
7019 last function in the list. You should probably always include
7020 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
7021 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
7022 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
7023 ascending article order.
7025 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
7026 by number, you could do something like:
7029 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7030 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7031 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7032 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
7035 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
7036 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
7037 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
7038 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
7039 which the articles arrived.
7041 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
7045 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7047 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
7048 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
7051 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
7052 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
7053 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
7054 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
7057 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
7058 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
7059 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
7060 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
7061 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
7062 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
7063 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
7064 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
7065 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
7066 variable. It is very similar to the
7067 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
7068 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
7069 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
7070 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
7071 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
7072 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
7073 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
7075 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
7079 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
7080 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
7081 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
7086 @node Asynchronous Fetching
7087 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
7088 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
7089 @cindex article pre-fetch
7092 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7093 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7094 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7095 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7096 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7098 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7099 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
7101 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7102 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7103 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7104 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7105 connection is blocked.
7107 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7108 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7109 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7110 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
7112 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7113 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7114 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7115 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7118 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7121 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7122 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7123 happen automatically.
7125 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7126 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7127 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7128 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7129 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7130 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7131 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7133 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7134 @findex gnus-async-read-p
7135 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7136 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7137 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7138 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7139 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which
7140 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7141 article data structure as the only parameter.
7143 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7144 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7147 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7148 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7149 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7150 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7153 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7156 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7157 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
7158 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7160 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7161 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7162 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7163 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7167 Remove articles when they are read.
7170 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7173 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7175 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7176 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7177 @c from the next group.
7180 @node Article Caching
7181 @section Article Caching
7182 @cindex article caching
7185 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7186 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7187 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7188 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7189 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7191 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7193 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7194 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7195 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7196 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7197 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7198 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7199 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7200 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7202 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7203 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7204 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7205 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7206 as dormant, and don't worry.
7208 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7210 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7211 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7212 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7213 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7214 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7215 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7216 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7217 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7218 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7219 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7221 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7222 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7223 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7224 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7225 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7226 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7227 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7228 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7229 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7230 not then be downloaded by this command.
7232 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7233 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7234 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7235 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7236 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7237 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7239 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7240 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7241 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7242 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7243 variables, the group is not cached.
7245 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7246 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7247 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7248 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7249 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7250 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7251 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7252 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7253 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7256 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7257 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7258 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7259 where, isn't that cool?
7261 @node Persistent Articles
7262 @section Persistent Articles
7263 @cindex persistent articles
7265 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7266 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7267 useful in my opinion.
7269 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7270 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7271 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7272 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7273 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7274 the expiry going on at the news server.
7276 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7277 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7278 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7284 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7285 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7288 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7289 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7290 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7291 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7295 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7297 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7298 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7299 interested in persistent articles:
7302 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7306 @node Article Backlog
7307 @section Article Backlog
7309 @cindex article backlog
7311 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7312 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7313 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7314 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7315 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7316 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7317 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7318 increase memory usage some.
7320 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7321 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7322 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7323 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7324 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7325 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7326 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7328 The default value is 20.
7331 @node Saving Articles
7332 @section Saving Articles
7333 @cindex saving articles
7335 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7336 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7337 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7338 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7339 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7341 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7342 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7343 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7345 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7346 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7347 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7349 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7350 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7351 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7352 deleted before saving.
7358 @kindex O o (Summary)
7360 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7361 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7362 Save the current article using the default article saver
7363 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7366 @kindex O m (Summary)
7367 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7368 Save the current article in mail format
7369 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7372 @kindex O r (Summary)
7373 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7374 Save the current article in Rmail format
7375 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7378 @kindex O f (Summary)
7379 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7380 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7381 Save the current article in plain file format
7382 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7385 @kindex O F (Summary)
7386 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7387 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7388 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7391 @kindex O b (Summary)
7392 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7393 Save the current article body in plain file format
7394 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7397 @kindex O h (Summary)
7398 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7399 Save the current article in mh folder format
7400 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7403 @kindex O v (Summary)
7404 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7405 Save the current article in a VM folder
7406 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7410 @kindex O p (Summary)
7412 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7413 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7414 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7415 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7416 complete headers in the piped output.
7419 @kindex O P (Summary)
7420 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7421 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7422 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7423 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7424 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7425 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7426 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7430 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7431 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7432 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7433 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7434 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7435 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7436 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7437 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7438 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7439 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7440 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7441 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7445 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7446 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7447 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7448 functions below, or you can create your own.
7452 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7453 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7454 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7455 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7456 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
7457 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7458 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7460 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7461 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7462 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7463 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7464 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7465 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7467 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7468 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7469 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7470 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7471 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7472 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7473 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7475 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7476 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7477 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7478 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7479 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7480 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7482 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7483 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7484 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7485 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7486 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7488 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7489 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7490 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7491 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7492 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7495 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7496 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7497 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7498 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7499 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7501 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7502 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7503 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7504 reader to use this setting.
7507 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7508 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7509 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7510 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7513 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7514 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7515 available functions that generate names:
7519 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7520 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7521 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7523 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7524 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7525 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7527 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7528 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7529 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7531 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7532 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7533 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7535 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7536 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7537 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7540 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7541 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7542 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7543 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7544 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7548 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7549 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7550 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7551 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7554 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7555 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7556 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7557 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7558 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7559 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7560 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7561 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7562 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7564 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7565 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7566 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7567 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7569 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7570 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7571 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7574 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7575 lots of mail groups called things like
7576 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7577 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7578 following will do just that:
7581 (defun my-save-name (group)
7582 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7583 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7585 (setq gnus-split-methods
7586 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7591 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7592 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7593 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7594 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7595 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7596 all the files in the top level directory
7597 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7598 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7599 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7600 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7602 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7603 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7604 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7605 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7606 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7609 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7613 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
7614 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7615 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
7618 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7619 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7620 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7621 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7624 @node Decoding Articles
7625 @section Decoding Articles
7626 @cindex decoding articles
7628 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7629 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7632 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7633 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7634 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7635 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7636 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7637 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7641 @cindex article series
7642 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7643 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7644 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7645 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7646 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7648 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7649 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7650 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7652 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7653 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7654 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7656 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7657 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7658 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7661 @node Uuencoded Articles
7662 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7664 @cindex uuencoded articles
7669 @kindex X u (Summary)
7670 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7671 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7672 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7675 @kindex X U (Summary)
7676 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7677 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7678 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7681 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7682 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7683 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7686 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7687 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7688 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7689 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7693 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7694 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7695 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7696 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7697 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7699 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7700 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7701 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7702 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7705 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7706 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7707 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7708 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7709 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7710 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7714 @node Shell Archives
7715 @subsection Shell Archives
7717 @cindex shell archives
7718 @cindex shared articles
7720 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7721 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7722 some commands to deal with these:
7727 @kindex X s (Summary)
7728 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7729 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7732 @kindex X S (Summary)
7733 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7734 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7737 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7738 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7739 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7742 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7743 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7744 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7745 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7749 @node PostScript Files
7750 @subsection PostScript Files
7756 @kindex X p (Summary)
7757 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7758 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7761 @kindex X P (Summary)
7762 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7763 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7764 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7767 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7768 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7769 View the current PostScript series
7770 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7773 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7774 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7775 View and save the current PostScript series
7776 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7781 @subsection Other Files
7785 @kindex X o (Summary)
7786 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7787 Save the current series
7788 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7791 @kindex X b (Summary)
7792 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7793 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7794 doesn't really work yet.
7798 @node Decoding Variables
7799 @subsection Decoding Variables
7801 Adjective, not verb.
7804 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7805 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7806 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7810 @node Rule Variables
7811 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7812 @cindex rule variables
7814 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7815 variables are of the form
7818 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7825 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7826 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7828 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7829 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7832 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7833 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7836 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7837 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7838 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7839 user and default view rules.
7841 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7842 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7843 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7848 @node Other Decode Variables
7849 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7852 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7854 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7855 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7856 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7857 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7858 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7862 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7863 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7866 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7867 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7868 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7871 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7872 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7873 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7874 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7875 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7878 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7879 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7880 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7882 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7883 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7884 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7885 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7886 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
7889 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7890 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7891 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7893 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7894 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7895 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7896 looking for files to display.
7898 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7899 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7900 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7903 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7904 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7905 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7908 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7909 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7910 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7913 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7914 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7915 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7918 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7919 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7920 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7921 decoded articles as unread.
7923 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7924 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7925 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7926 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7928 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7929 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7930 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7932 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7933 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7935 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7936 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
7937 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7938 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7940 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7941 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7942 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7943 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7944 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7945 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7946 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7947 simply dropped them.
7952 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7953 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7957 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7958 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7959 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7960 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7961 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7962 for you when you post the article.
7964 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7965 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7966 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7967 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7969 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7970 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7971 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7972 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7973 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7974 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7975 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
7977 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7978 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7979 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7980 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7981 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7982 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7983 Default is @code{t}.
7989 @subsection Viewing Files
7990 @cindex viewing files
7991 @cindex pseudo-articles
7993 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7994 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7995 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7996 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7997 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7998 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7999 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
8001 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
8002 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
8003 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
8004 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
8006 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
8007 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
8008 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
8010 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
8011 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
8012 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
8013 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
8014 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
8016 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
8017 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
8018 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
8019 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
8020 a list of parameters to that command.
8022 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
8023 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
8024 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
8026 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
8027 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
8028 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
8031 @node Article Treatment
8032 @section Article Treatment
8034 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
8035 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
8036 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
8037 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
8038 these articles easier.
8041 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
8042 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
8043 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
8044 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
8045 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
8046 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
8047 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
8048 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
8049 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
8050 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
8051 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
8055 @node Article Highlighting
8056 @subsection Article Highlighting
8057 @cindex highlighting
8059 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
8060 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
8065 @kindex W H a (Summary)
8066 @findex gnus-article-highlight
8067 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8068 Do much highlighting of the current article
8069 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
8070 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
8073 @kindex W H h (Summary)
8074 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
8075 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
8076 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
8077 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
8078 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
8079 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
8080 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
8081 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
8082 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
8083 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
8084 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
8087 @kindex W H c (Summary)
8088 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
8089 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
8091 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8094 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8096 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8097 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
8098 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8100 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8101 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8102 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8104 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8105 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8106 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8107 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8108 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8109 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8111 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8112 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8113 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8115 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8116 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8117 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8119 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8120 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8121 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8122 that it's a citation.
8124 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8125 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8126 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8128 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8129 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8130 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8132 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8133 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8134 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8135 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8141 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8142 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8143 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8144 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8145 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8146 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8147 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8148 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8153 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8156 @node Article Fontisizing
8157 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8159 @cindex article emphasis
8161 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8162 @kindex W e (Summary)
8163 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8164 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8165 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8166 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8168 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8169 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8170 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8171 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8172 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8173 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8174 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8175 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8179 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8180 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8181 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8190 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8191 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8192 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8193 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8194 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8195 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8196 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8197 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8198 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8199 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8200 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8201 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8202 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8204 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8205 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8206 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8210 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8213 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8215 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8216 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8217 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8218 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8220 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8223 @node Article Hiding
8224 @subsection Article Hiding
8225 @cindex article hiding
8227 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8228 too much cruft in most articles.
8233 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8234 @findex gnus-article-hide
8235 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8236 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8237 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8240 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8241 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8242 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8246 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8247 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8248 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8249 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8252 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8253 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8254 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8258 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8259 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8260 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8261 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8262 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8263 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8264 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8265 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8269 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8270 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8271 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8272 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8277 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8278 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8279 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8280 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8283 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8284 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8285 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8286 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8289 @cindex stripping advertisements
8290 @cindex advertisements
8291 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8292 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8293 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8294 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8295 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8296 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8297 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8298 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8299 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8300 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8303 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8304 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8305 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8309 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8310 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8311 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8312 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8313 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8314 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8315 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8316 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8317 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8318 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8319 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8322 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8323 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8329 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8330 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8331 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8332 customizing the hiding:
8336 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8337 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8338 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8339 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8340 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8341 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8342 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8347 Starting point of the hidden text.
8349 Ending point of the hidden text.
8351 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8353 Number of lines of hidden text.
8356 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8357 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8358 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8359 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8360 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8365 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8366 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8368 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8369 following two variables:
8372 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8373 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8374 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8375 50), hide the cited text.
8377 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8378 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8379 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8384 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8385 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8386 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8387 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8388 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8389 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8393 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8394 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8395 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8397 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8398 citation customization.
8400 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8404 @node Article Washing
8405 @subsection Article Washing
8407 @cindex article washing
8409 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8410 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8412 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8413 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8416 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8417 articles by default.
8422 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8423 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8427 Force redisplaying of the current article
8428 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8429 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8430 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8431 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8434 @kindex W l (Summary)
8435 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8436 Remove page breaks from the current article
8437 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8441 @kindex W r (Summary)
8442 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8443 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8444 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8445 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8446 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8447 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8449 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8450 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8451 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8452 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8455 @kindex W m (Summary)
8456 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8457 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8461 @kindex W t (Summary)
8463 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8464 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8465 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8468 @kindex W v (Summary)
8469 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8470 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8471 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8474 @kindex W o (Summary)
8475 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8476 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8479 @kindex W d (Summary)
8480 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8481 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8483 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8485 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8486 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8487 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8488 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8491 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8492 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8493 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8494 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8497 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8498 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8499 @cindex Outlook Express
8500 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8501 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8502 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8505 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8506 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8507 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8508 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8509 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8510 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8511 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8512 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8513 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8514 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8517 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8518 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8519 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
8520 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8523 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8524 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8525 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8526 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8529 @kindex W w (Summary)
8530 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8531 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8533 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8537 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8538 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8539 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8542 @kindex W C (Summary)
8543 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8544 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8545 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8548 @kindex W c (Summary)
8549 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8550 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8551 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8552 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8553 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8556 @kindex W q (Summary)
8557 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8558 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8559 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
8560 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
8561 makes strings like @samp{d@'ej@`a vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu},
8562 which doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually
8563 done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8564 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8565 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8568 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8569 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8570 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
8571 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
8572 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
8573 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8574 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8575 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8578 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8579 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8580 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8581 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8582 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8585 @kindex W A (Summary)
8586 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
8587 @cindex @acronym{ANSI} control sequences
8588 Translate @acronym{ANSI} SGR control sequences into overlays or
8589 extents (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). @acronym{ANSI}
8590 sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
8593 @kindex W u (Summary)
8594 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8595 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8596 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8597 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8598 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8601 @kindex W h (Summary)
8602 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8603 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8604 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8605 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
8607 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8609 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8610 The default is to use the function specified by
8611 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
8612 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
8613 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
8614 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8622 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
8625 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
8628 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
8631 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
8636 @kindex W b (Summary)
8637 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8638 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8639 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8642 @kindex W B (Summary)
8643 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8644 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8645 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8648 @kindex W p (Summary)
8649 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8650 Verify a signed control message
8651 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
8652 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
8653 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
8654 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8655 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
8656 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8659 @kindex W s (Summary)
8660 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8661 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
8662 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
8663 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8666 @kindex W a (Summary)
8667 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8668 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8669 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8672 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8673 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8674 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8675 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8678 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8679 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8680 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8681 lines with a single empty line.
8682 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8685 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8686 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8687 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8688 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8691 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8692 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8693 Do all the three commands above
8694 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8697 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8698 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8699 Remove all blank lines
8700 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8703 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8704 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8705 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8706 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8709 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8710 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8711 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8712 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8716 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8719 @node Article Header
8720 @subsection Article Header
8722 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8727 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8728 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8729 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8732 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8733 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8734 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8735 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8738 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8739 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8740 Fold all the message headers
8741 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8744 @kindex W E w (Summary)
8745 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8746 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8747 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8752 @node Article Buttons
8753 @subsection Article Buttons
8756 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8757 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8758 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8759 button on these references.
8761 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8762 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8763 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
8764 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
8765 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
8769 @item gnus-button-alist
8770 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8771 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8774 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8780 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8781 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8782 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8783 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8784 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
8787 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8788 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8789 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8792 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8793 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8794 avoid false matches. Often variables named
8795 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
8796 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
8798 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
8801 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8804 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8805 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8809 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8812 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8815 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8816 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8817 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8818 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8819 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8822 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8825 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8828 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
8831 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
8832 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
8834 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
8836 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8837 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8838 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8839 default values of the variables above.
8841 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
8843 @item gnus-button-man-handler
8844 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8845 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
8846 argument with a string naming the man page.
8848 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
8850 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8851 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8852 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
8854 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8855 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8856 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
8857 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
8858 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
8859 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
8860 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
8861 @code{ask}, always query the user what do do. If it is a function, this
8862 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
8863 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
8864 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
8865 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8867 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8868 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8869 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
8870 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
8871 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
8874 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8875 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8876 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
8877 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8879 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
8881 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
8882 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
8883 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
8884 argument, the string naming the URL.
8887 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
8888 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
8889 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
8893 @item gnus-article-button-face
8894 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8895 Face used on buttons.
8897 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8898 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8899 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8903 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8906 @node Article Button Levels
8907 @subsection Article button levels
8908 @cindex button levels
8909 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
8910 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
8911 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
8912 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
8913 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
8914 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
8915 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
8916 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
8919 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
8920 (setq gnus-parameters
8921 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
8922 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
8923 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
8928 @item gnus-button-browse-level
8929 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
8930 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
8931 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
8932 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
8933 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
8935 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
8936 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
8937 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
8938 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
8939 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
8940 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
8941 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
8942 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
8943 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
8944 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
8945 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
8946 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
8947 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
8949 @item gnus-button-man-level
8950 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
8951 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
8952 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
8954 @item gnus-button-message-level
8955 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
8956 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
8957 Related variables and functions include
8958 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
8959 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
8960 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
8961 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
8963 @item gnus-button-tex-level
8964 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
8965 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
8966 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
8967 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
8968 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
8969 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
8975 @subsection Article Date
8977 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8978 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8979 when the article was sent.
8984 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8985 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8986 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8987 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8990 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8991 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8993 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8994 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8997 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8998 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8999 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
9002 @kindex W T p (Summary)
9003 @findex gnus-article-date-english
9004 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
9005 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
9008 @kindex W T s (Summary)
9009 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
9010 @findex gnus-article-date-user
9011 @findex format-time-string
9012 Display the date using a user-defined format
9013 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
9014 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
9015 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
9016 for a list of possible format specs.
9019 @kindex W T e (Summary)
9020 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
9021 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
9022 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
9023 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
9024 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
9027 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
9030 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
9031 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
9032 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
9035 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
9036 into wonderful absurdities.
9038 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
9041 (gnus-start-date-timer)
9044 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
9045 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
9049 @kindex W T o (Summary)
9050 @findex gnus-article-date-original
9051 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
9052 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
9053 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
9054 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
9055 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
9059 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
9060 preferred format automatically.
9063 @node Article Display
9064 @subsection Article Display
9069 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
9070 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
9072 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
9073 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
9075 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
9076 headers (@pxref{Face}).
9078 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
9079 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
9081 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
9082 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
9084 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
9089 @kindex W D x (Summary)
9090 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
9091 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
9092 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
9095 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9096 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9097 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9098 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9101 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9102 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9103 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9106 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9107 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9108 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9111 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9112 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9113 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9114 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9117 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9118 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9119 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9120 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9123 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9124 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9125 Remove all images from the article buffer
9126 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9132 @node Article Signature
9133 @subsection Article Signature
9135 @cindex article signature
9137 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9138 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9139 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9140 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9141 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9142 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9143 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9144 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9145 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9148 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9149 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9150 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9151 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9152 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9153 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9154 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9155 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9158 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9161 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9162 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9163 signature when displaying articles.
9167 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9170 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9173 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9174 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9176 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9177 in question is not a signature.
9180 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9181 listed above. Here's an example:
9184 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9185 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9188 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9189 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9190 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9191 signature after all.
9194 @node Article Miscellanea
9195 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9199 @kindex A t (Summary)
9200 @findex gnus-article-babel
9201 Translate the article from one language to another
9202 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9208 @section MIME Commands
9209 @cindex MIME decoding
9211 @cindex viewing attachments
9213 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9214 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9220 @kindex K v (Summary)
9221 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9224 @kindex K o (Summary)
9225 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9228 @kindex K c (Summary)
9229 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9232 @kindex K e (Summary)
9233 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9236 @kindex K i (Summary)
9237 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9240 @kindex K | (Summary)
9241 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9244 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9249 @kindex K b (Summary)
9250 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9251 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9255 @kindex K m (Summary)
9256 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9257 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9258 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9259 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9260 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9263 @kindex X m (Summary)
9264 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9265 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9266 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9267 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9270 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9271 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9272 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9273 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9276 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9277 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9278 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9279 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9282 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9283 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9284 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9285 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9287 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9288 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9289 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9290 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9291 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9292 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9295 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9296 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9297 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9298 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9305 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9306 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9307 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9308 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9311 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9314 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9318 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9319 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9320 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9321 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9322 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9323 default is @code{nil}.
9325 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9326 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9327 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9328 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9329 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9330 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9331 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9333 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9334 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9335 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9336 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9337 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9338 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9339 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9340 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9342 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9343 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9344 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9345 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9346 displayed. This variable overrides
9347 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9348 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9351 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9352 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9353 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9355 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9356 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9357 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9358 default value is @code{nil}.
9360 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9361 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9362 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9363 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9364 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9365 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9366 save all jpegs into some directory).
9368 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9371 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9372 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9374 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9375 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9376 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9377 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9378 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9381 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9382 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9383 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9385 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9386 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9387 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9388 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9390 Ready-made functions include@*
9391 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9392 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9393 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9394 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9395 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9396 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9397 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9398 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9399 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9400 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9401 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9402 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9404 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9405 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9407 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9408 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9409 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9412 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9413 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9414 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9415 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9419 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9428 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9429 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9430 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9431 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9432 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9433 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9434 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9436 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9437 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9438 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9439 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9441 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9442 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
9443 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9444 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9445 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9446 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9447 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9448 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9449 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9451 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9452 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9453 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
9454 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9455 quoted-printable header encoding.
9457 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9458 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9459 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9463 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9466 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9467 means encode all charsets),
9469 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9470 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9471 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9478 @cindex coding system aliases
9479 @cindex preferred charset
9481 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9483 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9484 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9487 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9488 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9491 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9492 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
9494 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9497 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9500 This will almost do the right thing.
9502 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9506 (codepage-setup 1251)
9507 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9511 @node Article Commands
9512 @section Article Commands
9519 @kindex A P (Summary)
9520 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9521 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9522 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9523 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9524 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9525 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9530 @node Summary Sorting
9531 @section Summary Sorting
9532 @cindex summary sorting
9534 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9535 can't really see why you'd want that.
9540 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9541 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9542 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9545 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9546 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9547 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9550 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9551 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9552 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9555 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9556 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9557 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9560 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9561 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9562 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9565 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9566 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9567 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9570 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9571 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9572 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9575 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9576 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9577 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9580 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9581 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9582 Sort using the default sorting method
9583 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9586 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9587 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9588 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9589 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9590 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9594 @node Finding the Parent
9595 @section Finding the Parent
9596 @cindex parent articles
9597 @cindex referring articles
9602 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9603 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9604 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9605 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
9606 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9607 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9608 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9609 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9610 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9612 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9613 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9614 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
9615 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9616 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9620 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9621 @kindex A R (Summary)
9622 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9623 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9626 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9627 @kindex A T (Summary)
9628 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9629 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9630 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9631 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9632 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9633 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9634 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9636 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9637 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9638 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9639 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9640 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9641 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9644 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9645 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9647 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9648 You can also ask the @acronym{NNTP} server for an arbitrary article, no
9649 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9650 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9651 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9652 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9653 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9656 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9657 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9658 by giving this command a prefix.
9660 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9661 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9662 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9663 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
9664 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
9665 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9668 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9669 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9670 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9673 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9674 then ask Google if that fails:
9677 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9679 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9682 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9683 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9684 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
9685 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9686 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
9687 group. (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does
9688 not support this at all.
9691 @node Alternative Approaches
9692 @section Alternative Approaches
9694 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9695 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9698 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9699 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9704 @subsection Pick and Read
9705 @cindex pick and read
9707 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9708 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9709 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9710 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9712 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9713 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9714 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9715 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9716 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9717 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9719 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9724 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9725 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9726 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9727 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9728 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9729 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9730 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9731 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9734 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9735 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9736 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9737 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9741 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9742 Unpick the thread or article
9743 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9744 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9745 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9746 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9747 the thread or article at that line.
9751 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9752 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9753 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9754 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9755 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9756 will still be visible when you are reading.
9760 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9761 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9762 which is mapped to the same function
9763 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9765 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9768 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9771 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9772 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9774 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9775 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9776 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9778 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9779 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9780 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9781 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9782 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9783 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9784 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9788 @subsection Binary Groups
9789 @cindex binary groups
9791 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9792 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9793 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9794 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9795 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9796 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9797 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9800 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9801 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9802 command, when you have turned on this mode
9803 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9805 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9806 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9810 @section Tree Display
9813 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9814 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
9815 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9816 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9819 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9822 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9823 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9824 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9826 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9827 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9828 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9829 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9830 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9832 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9833 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9834 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9835 default is @code{modeline}.
9837 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9838 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9839 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9840 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9841 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9842 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9843 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9849 The name of the poster.
9851 The @code{From} header.
9853 The number of the article.
9855 The opening bracket.
9857 The closing bracket.
9862 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9864 Variables related to the display are:
9867 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9868 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9869 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9870 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
9872 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9873 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
9874 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
9876 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9878 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9879 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9880 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9881 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9885 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9886 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9887 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
9888 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
9889 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9890 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9891 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9892 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9893 other windows displayed next to it.
9895 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9899 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9900 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9903 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9904 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9905 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9906 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9907 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9908 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9909 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9913 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9916 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9926 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9931 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9932 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9934 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9936 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9942 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9943 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9944 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
9947 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9948 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9949 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9950 (gnus-add-configuration
9954 (summary 0.75 point)
9959 @xref{Window Layout}.
9962 @node Mail Group Commands
9963 @section Mail Group Commands
9964 @cindex mail group commands
9966 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9967 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9969 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9970 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9975 @kindex B e (Summary)
9976 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9977 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9978 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9979 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9980 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9983 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9984 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9985 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9986 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9987 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9988 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9991 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9992 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9993 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9994 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9995 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9996 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9999 @kindex B m (Summary)
10001 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
10002 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
10003 Move the article from one mail group to another
10004 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10005 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10008 @kindex B c (Summary)
10010 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
10011 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
10012 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
10013 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10014 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10017 @kindex B B (Summary)
10018 @cindex crosspost mail
10019 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
10020 Crosspost the current article to some other group
10021 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
10022 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
10023 be properly updated.
10026 @kindex B i (Summary)
10027 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
10028 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
10029 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
10030 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10033 @kindex B I (Summary)
10034 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
10035 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
10036 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
10037 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10040 @kindex B r (Summary)
10041 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
10042 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
10043 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
10044 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
10045 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
10046 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
10047 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
10048 (which is the default).
10052 @kindex B w (Summary)
10053 @kindex e (Summary)
10054 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
10055 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
10056 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
10057 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
10058 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
10059 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
10060 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
10063 @kindex B q (Summary)
10064 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
10065 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
10066 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
10067 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
10070 @kindex B t (Summary)
10071 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
10072 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
10073 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
10076 @kindex B p (Summary)
10077 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
10078 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
10079 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
10080 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
10081 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
10082 article from your news server (or rather, from
10083 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
10084 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
10085 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
10086 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
10087 just not have arrived yet.
10090 @kindex K E (Summary)
10091 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
10092 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
10093 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
10094 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
10095 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10099 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10100 @cindex moving articles
10101 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
10102 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10103 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10104 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10105 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10106 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10107 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10110 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10111 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10112 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10113 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10117 @node Various Summary Stuff
10118 @section Various Summary Stuff
10121 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10122 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10123 * Summary Generation Commands::
10124 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10128 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10129 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10130 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10131 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10132 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10133 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10135 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10136 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10137 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10140 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10141 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10142 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10144 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10145 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10146 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10147 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10148 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10149 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10152 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10153 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10154 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10155 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10156 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10158 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10159 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10160 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10163 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10164 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10165 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10166 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10167 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10168 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10169 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
10170 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10171 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10172 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10174 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10175 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10176 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10177 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10178 list of articles to be selected.
10180 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10181 the list in one particular group:
10184 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10185 (if (string= group "some.group")
10186 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10190 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10191 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10192 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10193 variables and their default expressions to be evalled (when the default
10194 values are not @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary
10197 Note: The default expressions will be evaluated (using function
10198 @code{eval}) before assignment to the local variable rather than just
10199 assigned to it. If the default expression is the symbol @code{global},
10200 that symbol will not be evaluated but the global value of the local
10201 variable will be used instead.
10203 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
10204 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
10205 buffers. For example:
10208 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10209 '(message-use-followup-to
10210 (gnus-visible-headers .
10211 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10214 Also @pxref{Group Parameters}.
10218 @node Summary Group Information
10219 @subsection Summary Group Information
10224 @kindex H f (Summary)
10225 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10226 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10227 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
10228 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
10229 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
10230 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
10231 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
10232 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
10233 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
10236 @kindex H d (Summary)
10237 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10238 Give a brief description of the current group
10239 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10240 rereading the description from the server.
10243 @kindex H h (Summary)
10244 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10245 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10246 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10249 @kindex H i (Summary)
10250 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10251 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10255 @node Searching for Articles
10256 @subsection Searching for Articles
10261 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10262 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10263 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10264 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10267 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10268 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10269 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10270 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10273 @kindex & (Summary)
10274 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10275 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10276 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10277 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10278 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10279 search backward instead.
10281 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
10282 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10285 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10286 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10287 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10288 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10291 @node Summary Generation Commands
10292 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10297 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10298 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10299 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10302 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10303 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10304 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10305 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10308 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10309 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10310 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10311 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10316 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10317 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10323 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10324 @kindex A D (Summary)
10325 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10326 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10327 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10328 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10329 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10330 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10331 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10332 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10336 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10337 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10338 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10339 several documents into one biiig group
10340 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10341 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10342 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10343 command understands the process/prefix convention
10344 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10347 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10348 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10349 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10350 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10351 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10352 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10355 @kindex = (Summary)
10356 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10357 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10358 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10361 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10362 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10363 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10364 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10367 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10368 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10369 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10370 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10375 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10376 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10377 @cindex summary exit
10378 @cindex exiting groups
10380 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10381 group and return you to the group buffer.
10388 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10389 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
10390 @kindex q (Summary)
10391 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10392 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10393 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10394 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10395 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10396 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10397 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10398 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10399 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10400 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10401 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10402 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10406 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10407 @kindex Q (Summary)
10408 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10409 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10410 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10414 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10415 @kindex c (Summary)
10416 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10417 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10418 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10419 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10422 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10423 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10424 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10425 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10428 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10429 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10430 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10431 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10435 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10436 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
10437 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10438 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10439 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10440 all articles, both read and unread.
10444 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10445 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10446 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10447 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10448 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10449 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10450 articles, both read and unread.
10453 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10454 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10455 Exit the group and go to the next group
10456 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10459 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10460 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10461 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10462 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10465 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10466 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10467 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10468 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10469 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10470 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10473 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10474 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10475 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10476 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10478 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10479 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10480 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10481 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10482 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10483 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10484 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10485 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10486 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10487 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10488 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10489 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10491 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10493 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10494 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10495 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10496 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10497 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10498 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10499 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10500 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10501 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10504 @node Crosspost Handling
10505 @section Crosspost Handling
10509 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10510 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10511 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10512 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10513 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10514 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10517 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10518 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10519 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10520 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10521 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10523 @cindex cross-posting
10525 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
10526 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10527 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
10528 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10529 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
10530 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10531 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10532 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10533 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10534 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10535 the cross reference mechanism.
10537 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10538 @cindex overview.fmt
10539 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10540 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10541 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10542 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10543 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10544 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10547 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10548 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10549 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10554 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10557 @node Duplicate Suppression
10558 @section Duplicate Suppression
10560 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10561 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10562 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10563 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10568 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10569 is evil and not very common.
10572 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10573 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10576 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10577 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
10580 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10583 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10584 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10586 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10587 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10588 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10589 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10590 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10591 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10592 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10595 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10596 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10597 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10598 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10599 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10600 saw the article in.
10603 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10604 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10605 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10607 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10608 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10609 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10610 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10611 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
10612 session are suppressed.
10614 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10615 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10616 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10617 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10619 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10620 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10621 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10622 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10625 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
10626 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10627 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10628 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10629 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
10630 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10631 to you to figure out, I think.
10636 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10637 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
10638 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
10643 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
10644 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
10645 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
10646 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10649 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10650 or newer is recommended.
10654 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10655 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10658 @item mm-verify-option
10659 @vindex mm-verify-option
10660 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10661 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10662 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10664 @item mm-decrypt-option
10665 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10666 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10667 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10668 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10671 @vindex mml1991-use
10672 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10673 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10674 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10678 @vindex mml2015-use
10679 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10680 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10681 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10686 @cindex snarfing keys
10687 @cindex importing PGP keys
10688 @cindex PGP key ring import
10689 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
10690 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
10691 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
10692 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
10693 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
10694 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
10695 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
10696 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
10697 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
10700 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
10703 This happens to also be the default action defined in
10704 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
10707 @section Mailing List
10708 @cindex mailing list
10711 @kindex A M (summary)
10712 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10713 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10714 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10715 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10718 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10723 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10724 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10725 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10728 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10729 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10730 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10733 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10734 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10735 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10739 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10740 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10741 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10744 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10745 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10746 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10749 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10750 @findex gnus-mailing-list-archive
10751 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10756 @node Article Buffer
10757 @chapter Article Buffer
10758 @cindex article buffer
10760 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10761 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10762 tell Gnus otherwise.
10765 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10766 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
10767 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10768 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10769 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10773 @node Hiding Headers
10774 @section Hiding Headers
10775 @cindex hiding headers
10776 @cindex deleting headers
10778 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10779 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10781 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10782 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10783 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10784 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10785 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10786 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10787 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
10788 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10789 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10791 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10795 @item gnus-visible-headers
10796 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10797 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10798 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10799 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10801 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10802 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10805 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10808 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10811 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10812 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10813 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10814 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10815 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10816 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10818 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
10819 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
10822 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10825 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10828 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10829 variable will have no effect.
10833 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10834 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10835 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10836 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10837 the headers are to be displayed.
10839 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10840 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10843 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10846 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10847 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10849 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10850 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10851 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10852 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10853 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10854 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
10855 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10858 These conditions are:
10861 Remove all empty headers.
10863 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10864 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10866 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
10867 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
10870 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10873 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10874 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
10876 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10877 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
10879 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
10880 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
10882 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10885 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10887 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10890 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10893 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10894 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10897 This is also the default value for this variable.
10901 @section Using MIME
10902 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
10904 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10905 while people stand around yawning.
10907 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10908 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10910 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10911 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10912 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10914 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
10915 @findex gnus-display-mime
10916 Gnus pushes @acronym{MIME} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
10917 to display the @acronym{MIME} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
10918 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
10919 display, save and manipulate the @acronym{MIME} objects.
10921 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
10922 @acronym{MIME} button:
10925 @findex gnus-article-press-button
10926 @item RET (Article)
10927 @kindex RET (Article)
10928 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
10929 Toggle displaying of the @acronym{MIME} object
10930 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If built-in viewers can not display
10931 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
10932 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
10933 object is displayed inline.
10935 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
10936 @item M-RET (Article)
10937 @kindex M-RET (Article)
10939 Prompt for a method, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
10940 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
10942 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
10944 @kindex t (Article)
10945 View the @acronym{MIME} object as if it were a different @acronym{MIME} media type
10946 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
10948 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
10950 @kindex C (Article)
10951 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
10952 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
10954 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
10956 @kindex o (Article)
10957 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @acronym{MIME} object
10958 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
10960 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
10961 @item C-o (Article)
10962 @kindex C-o (Article)
10963 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} object and strip it from
10964 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
10965 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
10966 like. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred via the
10967 message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
10968 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
10970 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
10972 @kindex d (Article)
10973 Delete the @acronym{MIME} object from the article and replace it with some
10974 information about the removed @acronym{MIME} object
10975 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
10977 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
10979 @kindex c (Article)
10980 Copy the @acronym{MIME} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
10981 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
10982 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
10983 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
10984 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
10986 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
10988 @kindex p (Article)
10989 Print the @acronym{MIME} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
10990 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
10991 @file{.mailcap} file.
10993 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
10995 @kindex i (Article)
10996 Insert the contents of the @acronym{MIME} object into the buffer
10997 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
10998 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
10999 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
11000 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @ref{Paging the
11003 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
11005 @kindex E (Article)
11006 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
11007 viewer is available, use an external viewer
11008 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
11010 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
11012 @kindex e (Article)
11013 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an external viewer.
11014 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
11016 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
11018 @kindex | (Article)
11019 Output the @acronym{MIME} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
11021 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
11023 @kindex . (Article)
11024 Interactively run an action on the @acronym{MIME} object
11025 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
11029 Gnus will display some @acronym{MIME} objects automatically. The way Gnus
11030 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
11031 @acronym{MIME} manual.
11033 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
11034 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
11035 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @acronym{MIME} has
11036 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
11037 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
11038 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
11039 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
11040 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
11041 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
11043 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
11045 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
11048 @node Customizing Articles
11049 @section Customizing Articles
11050 @cindex article customization
11052 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
11053 exist. You can call these functions interactively
11054 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
11055 called automatically when you select the articles.
11057 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
11058 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
11059 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
11060 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
11062 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
11063 for sensible values.
11067 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
11070 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
11073 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
11076 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
11079 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
11083 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
11084 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
11085 regexps in the list.
11088 A list where the first element is not a string:
11090 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
11091 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
11092 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
11096 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
11101 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
11102 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
11103 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
11104 considered to contain just a single part.
11106 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
11107 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
11108 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
11109 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
11110 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
11111 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
11112 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
11114 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
11115 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
11116 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
11117 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
11120 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
11121 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
11123 @xref{Article Buttons}.
11125 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
11126 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
11127 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
11128 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
11129 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
11130 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
11131 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
11132 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
11133 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
11134 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
11136 @xref{Article Washing}.
11138 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
11139 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
11140 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
11141 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
11142 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
11143 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
11144 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
11146 @xref{Article Date}.
11148 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
11149 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
11150 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
11154 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
11156 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
11158 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
11159 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
11160 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
11164 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
11168 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
11172 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
11173 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
11174 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
11175 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
11176 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
11177 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
11178 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
11179 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
11180 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
11181 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
11183 @xref{Article Hiding}.
11185 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
11186 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
11187 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
11189 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
11191 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
11192 @item gnus-treat-translate
11193 @item gnus-treat-ansi-sequences (t)
11194 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
11196 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
11197 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
11198 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
11199 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
11201 @xref{Article Header}.
11206 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
11207 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
11208 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
11209 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
11210 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11214 @node Article Keymap
11215 @section Article Keymap
11217 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11218 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11219 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11220 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11223 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11228 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11229 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11230 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11231 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11234 @kindex DEL (Article)
11235 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11236 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11237 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11240 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11241 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11242 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11243 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11244 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11247 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11248 @findex gnus-article-mail
11249 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11250 given a prefix, include the mail.
11253 @kindex s (Article)
11254 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11255 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11256 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11259 @kindex ? (Article)
11260 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11261 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11262 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11265 @kindex TAB (Article)
11266 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11267 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11268 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11271 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11272 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11273 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11276 @kindex R (Article)
11277 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11278 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11279 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
11280 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11284 @kindex F (Article)
11285 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11286 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11287 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
11288 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11296 @section Misc Article
11300 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11301 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11302 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11303 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11306 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11307 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11308 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11309 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
11310 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11312 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11313 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11314 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11315 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11316 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11317 the contents of the article buffer.
11319 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11320 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11321 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11323 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11324 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11325 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11326 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11328 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11329 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11330 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11331 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11333 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11334 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11335 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11336 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Summary Buffer Mode
11337 Line}). It accepts the same format specifications as that variable,
11338 with two extensions:
11343 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11344 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11345 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11350 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11353 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11356 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11357 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11358 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11361 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11364 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11367 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11372 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
11376 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11378 @item gnus-break-pages
11379 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11380 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11381 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11382 paging will not be done.
11384 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11385 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11386 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11390 @cindex internationalized domain names
11391 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11392 @item gnus-use-idna
11393 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11394 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
11395 @samp{Cc} headers. This requires
11396 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
11397 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
11402 @node Composing Messages
11403 @chapter Composing Messages
11404 @cindex composing messages
11407 @cindex sending mail
11412 @cindex using s/mime
11413 @cindex using smime
11415 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11416 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11417 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11418 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11419 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11420 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11423 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11424 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11425 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
11426 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11427 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11428 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11429 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11430 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11431 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11434 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11435 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11441 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11444 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11445 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11446 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11447 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11448 @code{nil} include all headers.
11450 @item gnus-add-to-list
11451 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11452 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11453 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11455 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11456 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11457 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11458 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11459 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11460 confirmation is should be asked for.
11462 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11463 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11465 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11466 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11467 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11468 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11469 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11474 @node Posting Server
11475 @section Posting Server
11477 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11478 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11480 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11482 It can be quite complicated.
11484 @vindex gnus-post-method
11485 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11486 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11487 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11488 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11489 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11490 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11491 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11492 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11493 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11496 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11499 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11500 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11501 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11502 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11504 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11505 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11507 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11508 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11511 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11512 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11514 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11515 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11516 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11517 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11518 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @acronym{SMTP}
11519 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11520 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11521 package correctly. An example:
11524 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11525 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11528 To the thing similar to this, there is
11529 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}. It is useful if your @acronym{ISP}
11530 requires the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication.
11531 @xref{POP before SMTP}.
11533 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11534 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11535 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11537 @node POP before SMTP
11538 @section POP before SMTP
11539 @cindex pop before smtp
11540 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
11541 @findex mail-source-touch-pop
11543 Does your @acronym{ISP} require the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP}
11544 authentication? It is whether you need to connect to the @acronym{POP}
11545 mail server within a certain time before sending mails. If so, there is
11546 a convenient way. To do that, put the following lines in your
11547 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
11550 (setq message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
11551 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook 'mail-source-touch-pop)
11555 It means to let Gnus connect to the @acronym{POP} mail server in advance
11556 whenever you send a mail. The @code{mail-source-touch-pop} function
11557 does only a @acronym{POP} authentication according to the value of
11558 @code{mail-sources} without fetching mails, just before sending a mail.
11559 Note that you have to use @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} which runs
11560 @code{message-send-mail-hook} rather than @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
11561 set the value of @code{mail-sources} for a @acronym{POP} connection
11562 correctly. @xref{Mail Sources}.
11564 If you have two or more @acronym{POP} mail servers set in
11565 @code{mail-sources}, you may want to specify one of them to
11566 @code{mail-source-primary-source} as the @acronym{POP} mail server to be
11567 used for the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. If it
11568 is your primary @acronym{POP} mail server (i.e., you are fetching mails
11569 mainly from that server), you can set it permanently as follows:
11572 (setq mail-source-primary-source
11573 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11574 :password "secret"))
11578 Otherwise, bind it dynamically only when performing the
11579 @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication as follows:
11582 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook
11584 (let ((mail-source-primary-source
11585 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11586 :password "secret")))
11587 (mail-source-touch-pop))))
11590 @node Mail and Post
11591 @section Mail and Post
11593 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11597 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11598 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11599 @cindex mailing lists
11601 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11602 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
11603 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11604 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11605 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11606 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11607 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11608 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11609 still a pain, though.
11611 @item gnus-user-agent
11612 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11615 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11616 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11617 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11618 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11619 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11620 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11621 use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
11625 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11626 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11627 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11630 @findex ispell-message
11632 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11635 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11636 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11639 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11643 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11644 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11646 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11649 Modify to suit your needs.
11652 @node Archived Messages
11653 @section Archived Messages
11654 @cindex archived messages
11655 @cindex sent messages
11657 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11658 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11659 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11660 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11663 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11664 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11667 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11668 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
11669 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11672 (nnfolder "archive"
11673 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11674 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11675 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11676 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11679 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11680 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11681 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11682 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11685 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11686 '(nnfolder "archive"
11687 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11688 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11689 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11692 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11694 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11695 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11696 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11698 This variable can be used to do the following:
11702 Messages will be saved in that group.
11704 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11705 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11706 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11707 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11708 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11709 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11710 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11711 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11714 @item a list of strings
11715 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11717 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11718 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11721 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11726 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11728 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11731 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11733 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11736 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11738 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11739 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11740 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11741 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11744 More complex stuff:
11746 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11747 '((if (message-news-p)
11752 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11753 messages in one file per month:
11756 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11757 '((if (message-news-p)
11759 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11762 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11763 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11765 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11766 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11767 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11768 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11769 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11770 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11771 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11772 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11773 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11774 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11776 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11777 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11778 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11779 this will disable archiving.
11782 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11783 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11784 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11785 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11786 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11789 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11790 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11791 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11794 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11795 but the latter is the preferred method.
11797 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11798 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11799 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11801 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11802 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11803 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11804 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11805 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11806 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11807 changed in the future.
11812 @node Posting Styles
11813 @section Posting Styles
11814 @cindex posting styles
11817 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11819 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11820 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11821 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11824 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11825 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11826 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11827 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11828 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11833 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11834 (organization "What me?"))
11836 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11837 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11838 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11841 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11842 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11843 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11844 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11845 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11846 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11847 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11848 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11850 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11851 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11852 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
11853 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
11854 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
11855 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
11856 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
11857 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11858 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
11859 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11860 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11861 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
11862 said to @dfn{match}.
11864 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11865 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11866 attribute name can be one of:
11869 @item @code{signature}
11870 @item @code{signature-file}
11871 @item @code{x-face-file}
11872 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
11873 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
11877 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
11878 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
11879 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
11880 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
11881 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
11883 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11884 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11885 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11886 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11887 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11888 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11889 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11890 references chars lines xref extra.
11892 @vindex message-reply-headers
11894 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11895 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11896 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11898 @findex message-mail-p
11899 @findex message-news-p
11901 So here's a new example:
11904 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11906 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11908 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11909 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11911 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11912 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
11913 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11914 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
11915 (signature my-news-signature))
11916 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
11917 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11918 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
11919 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11920 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11921 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
11922 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11923 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11924 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11925 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11927 (From (save-excursion
11928 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11929 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11931 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11934 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11935 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11936 if you fill many roles.
11943 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11944 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11945 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11946 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11947 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11949 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11950 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11951 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11952 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11953 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11957 @vindex nndraft-directory
11958 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11959 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11960 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11961 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11962 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11963 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11965 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11966 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11967 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
11968 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
11969 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
11970 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
11971 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
11972 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
11973 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
11975 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11976 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11977 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11978 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11979 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11980 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11981 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11982 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11983 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11984 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11985 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11986 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11987 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11988 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11990 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11991 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11992 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11994 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11995 @kindex D e (Draft)
11996 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11997 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11998 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
12000 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
12003 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
12004 @kindex D s (Draft)
12005 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
12006 @kindex D S (Draft)
12007 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
12008 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
12009 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
12010 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
12011 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
12014 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
12015 @kindex D t (Draft)
12016 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
12017 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
12018 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
12021 @node Rejected Articles
12022 @section Rejected Articles
12023 @cindex rejected articles
12025 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
12026 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
12027 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
12028 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
12030 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
12031 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
12032 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
12033 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
12034 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
12036 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
12037 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
12038 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
12040 @node Signing and encrypting
12041 @section Signing and encrypting
12043 @cindex using s/mime
12044 @cindex using smime
12046 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
12047 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
12048 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
12049 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
12051 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
12052 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
12053 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
12054 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
12055 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
12056 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
12057 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
12058 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
12059 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
12060 automatically encrypted messages.
12062 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
12063 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
12064 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
12069 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
12070 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
12072 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12075 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
12076 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12078 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12081 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
12082 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12084 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12087 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
12088 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
12090 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12093 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
12094 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
12096 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12099 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
12100 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
12102 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12105 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
12106 @findex mml-unsecure-message
12107 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
12111 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
12113 @node Select Methods
12114 @chapter Select Methods
12115 @cindex foreign groups
12116 @cindex select methods
12118 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
12119 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
12120 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
12121 personal mail group.
12123 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
12124 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
12125 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
12126 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
12127 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
12128 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
12130 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
12131 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
12133 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
12136 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
12137 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
12138 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
12139 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
12140 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
12142 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
12145 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
12146 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
12147 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
12148 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
12149 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
12150 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
12151 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
12152 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
12156 @node Server Buffer
12157 @section Server Buffer
12159 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
12160 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
12161 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
12162 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
12163 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
12164 back end represents a virtual server.
12166 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
12167 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
12168 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
12169 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
12171 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
12172 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
12173 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
12174 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
12175 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
12176 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
12177 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
12179 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
12180 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
12183 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
12184 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
12185 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
12186 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
12187 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
12188 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
12189 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
12192 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
12193 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
12196 @node Server Buffer Format
12197 @subsection Server Buffer Format
12198 @cindex server buffer format
12200 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
12201 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
12202 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
12203 variable, with some simple extensions:
12208 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
12211 The name of this server.
12214 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
12217 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
12220 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
12221 The mode line can also be customized by using the
12222 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
12223 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
12233 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
12236 @node Server Commands
12237 @subsection Server Commands
12238 @cindex server commands
12244 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12245 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12249 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12250 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12253 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12254 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12255 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12259 @findex gnus-server-exit
12260 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
12264 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
12265 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
12269 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
12270 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
12274 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
12275 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
12279 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
12280 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
12284 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
12285 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
12286 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
12291 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
12292 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
12293 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
12294 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
12299 @node Example Methods
12300 @subsection Example Methods
12302 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
12305 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
12308 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
12314 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
12315 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
12318 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
12319 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
12321 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
12322 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12326 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12329 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12330 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12332 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12333 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12334 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12338 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12341 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12344 Here's the method for a public spool:
12348 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12349 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12355 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
12356 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12357 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12358 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12359 should probably look something like this:
12363 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12364 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12365 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12366 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12369 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12370 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12371 configuration to the example above:
12374 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12377 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
12379 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12380 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12381 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12385 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12386 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12387 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12388 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12391 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12392 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12393 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12394 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12397 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12398 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12400 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12401 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12403 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12404 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
12405 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12407 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
12409 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
12410 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12411 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12412 will contain the following:
12422 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
12423 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12426 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12427 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12428 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12431 @node Server Variables
12432 @subsection Server Variables
12433 @cindex server variables
12434 @cindex server parameters
12436 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12437 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12438 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12439 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12440 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12442 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12443 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12444 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12445 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12446 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12447 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12448 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12449 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12450 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12454 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12455 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12456 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12459 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
12461 @node Servers and Methods
12462 @subsection Servers and Methods
12464 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12465 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12466 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12467 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12471 @node Unavailable Servers
12472 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12474 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12475 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12476 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12477 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12478 actually the case or not.
12480 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12481 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12482 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12483 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12484 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12485 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12486 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12487 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12489 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12490 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12492 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12493 with the following commands:
12499 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12500 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12501 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12505 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12506 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12507 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12511 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12512 Mark the current server as unreachable
12513 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12516 @kindex M-o (Server)
12517 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12518 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12519 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12522 @kindex M-c (Server)
12523 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12524 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12525 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12529 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12530 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12531 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12535 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12536 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12542 @section Getting News
12543 @cindex reading news
12544 @cindex news back ends
12546 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12547 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
12548 or it can read from a local spool.
12551 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12552 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12560 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
12561 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
12562 server as the, uhm, address.
12564 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12565 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12566 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12567 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12569 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12570 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12571 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12573 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12578 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12579 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12580 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12582 @cindex authentification
12583 @cindex nntp authentification
12584 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12585 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12586 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12587 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
12588 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12589 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12590 present in this hook.
12592 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12593 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12594 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12595 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12596 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
12597 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12598 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12599 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12600 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12601 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12602 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12603 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12607 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12610 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12612 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12613 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12614 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12615 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12616 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12617 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12618 @samp{force} is explained below.
12622 Here's an example file:
12625 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12626 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12629 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12630 have to be first, for instance.
12632 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12633 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12634 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12635 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12636 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12637 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12638 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12640 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12641 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12647 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12648 previously mentioned.
12650 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12652 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12653 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12654 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12655 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12656 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12659 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12660 '(("innd" (ding))))
12663 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12665 The default value is
12668 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12669 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12670 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12673 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12674 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12676 @item nntp-maximum-request
12677 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12678 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
12679 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12680 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12681 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12682 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12683 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12685 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12686 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12687 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12688 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
12689 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12690 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12691 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12692 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12693 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12694 no timeouts are done.
12696 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12697 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12698 @c @cindex PPP connections
12699 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12700 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12701 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12702 @c changes after connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will simply sit
12703 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12704 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12705 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12706 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12707 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12708 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12710 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12711 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12712 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12713 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12714 @c described above.
12716 @item nntp-server-hook
12717 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12718 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @acronym{NNTP}
12721 @item nntp-buggy-select
12722 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12723 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12725 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12726 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12727 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
12728 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
12731 @item nntp-xover-commands
12732 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12733 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
12735 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
12736 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12740 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12741 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
12742 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12743 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12744 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
12745 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12746 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12747 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12748 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12749 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12750 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12752 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12753 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12754 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12756 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12757 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12758 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12759 server closes connection.
12761 @item nntp-record-commands
12762 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12763 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12764 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12765 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
12766 that doesn't seem to work.
12768 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12769 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12770 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12771 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12772 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12773 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12774 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12775 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12777 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12778 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12779 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12780 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12781 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12782 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12783 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12786 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12789 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12790 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12792 @item nntp-read-timeout
12793 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12794 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12795 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12796 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12797 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12803 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12804 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12805 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12809 @node Direct Functions
12810 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12811 @cindex direct connection functions
12813 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12814 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
12815 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12816 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12819 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12820 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12821 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12824 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
12825 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
12826 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12827 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
12828 installed. You then define a server as follows:
12831 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12832 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
12834 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12835 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
12836 (nntp-port-number )
12837 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12840 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12841 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12842 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12843 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
12844 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
12845 then define a server as follows:
12848 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
12849 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
12851 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12852 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12853 (nntp-port-number 563)
12854 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12857 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12858 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12859 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12860 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12861 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12862 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12863 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12864 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12868 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12869 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12870 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12873 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12874 session, which is not a good idea.
12878 @node Indirect Functions
12879 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12880 @cindex indirect connection functions
12882 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12883 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12884 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12885 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
12886 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12887 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12890 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12891 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12892 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12893 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12894 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12896 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12899 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12900 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12901 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12902 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12904 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12905 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12906 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12907 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12908 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12909 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12910 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
12911 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
12915 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
12916 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12918 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
12919 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
12920 Does essentially the same, but uses
12921 @uref{http://netcat.sourceforge.net/, netcat} instead of @samp{telnet}
12922 to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the intermediate host.
12924 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat}-specific variables:
12927 @item nntp-via-netcat-command
12928 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-command
12929 Command used to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the
12930 intermediate host. The default is @samp{nc}. You can also use other
12931 programs like @uref{http://www.imasy.or.jp/~gotoh/ssh/connect.html,
12934 @item nntp-via-netcat-switches
12935 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-switches
12936 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12937 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @code{nil}.
12939 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12940 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12941 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12942 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12944 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12945 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12946 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12947 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}.
12950 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12951 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12952 Does essentially also the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12953 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12955 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12958 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12959 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12960 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12963 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12964 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12965 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12966 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12968 @item nntp-via-user-password
12969 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12970 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12972 @item nntp-via-envuser
12973 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12974 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12975 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12976 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12978 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12979 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12980 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12981 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12985 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
12986 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12990 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12995 @item nntp-via-user-name
12996 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12997 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12999 @item nntp-via-address
13000 @vindex nntp-via-address
13001 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
13006 @node Common Variables
13007 @subsubsection Common Variables
13009 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
13010 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
13015 @item nntp-pre-command
13016 @vindex nntp-pre-command
13017 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
13018 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
13019 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is
13020 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
13023 @vindex nntp-address
13024 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13026 @item nntp-port-number
13027 @vindex nntp-port-number
13028 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13029 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
13030 @acronym{tls}/@acronym{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
13031 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
13032 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
13033 not work with named ports.
13035 @item nntp-end-of-line
13036 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
13037 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
13038 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
13039 using a non native telnet connection function.
13041 @item nntp-telnet-command
13042 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
13043 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
13044 @samp{telnet}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
13045 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13048 @item nntp-telnet-switches
13049 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
13050 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
13057 @subsection News Spool
13061 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
13062 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
13063 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
13066 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
13067 anything else) as the address.
13069 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
13070 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
13071 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
13072 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
13076 @item nnspool-inews-program
13077 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
13078 Program used to post an article.
13080 @item nnspool-inews-switches
13081 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
13082 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
13084 @item nnspool-spool-directory
13085 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
13086 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
13087 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
13089 @item nnspool-nov-directory
13090 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
13091 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
13092 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
13094 @item nnspool-lib-dir
13095 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
13096 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
13098 @item nnspool-active-file
13099 @vindex nnspool-active-file
13100 The name of the active file.
13102 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
13103 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
13104 The name of the group descriptions file.
13106 @item nnspool-history-file
13107 @vindex nnspool-history-file
13108 The name of the news history file.
13110 @item nnspool-active-times-file
13111 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
13112 The name of the active date file.
13114 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
13115 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
13116 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
13119 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13120 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13122 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
13123 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
13124 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
13131 @section Getting Mail
13132 @cindex reading mail
13135 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
13139 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
13140 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
13141 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
13142 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
13143 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
13144 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
13145 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
13146 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
13147 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
13148 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
13149 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
13150 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
13151 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
13155 @node Mail in a Newsreader
13156 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
13158 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
13159 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
13160 of a culture shock.
13162 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
13163 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
13165 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
13166 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
13167 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
13168 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
13170 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
13172 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
13173 deleted? How awful!
13175 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
13176 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
13177 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
13178 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
13181 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
13182 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
13183 they want to treat a message.
13185 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
13186 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
13187 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
13188 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
13189 archived somewhere else.
13191 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
13192 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
13193 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
13194 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
13195 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
13197 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
13198 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
13199 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
13201 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
13202 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
13205 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
13206 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
13207 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
13208 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
13209 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
13211 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
13212 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
13213 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
13214 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
13215 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
13216 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
13220 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
13221 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
13223 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
13224 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
13225 and things will happen automatically.
13227 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
13228 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
13231 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
13234 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
13235 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
13236 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
13237 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
13238 like any other group.
13240 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
13243 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13244 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13245 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13249 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
13250 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
13251 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
13254 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
13255 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
13256 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
13259 @node Splitting Mail
13260 @subsection Splitting Mail
13261 @cindex splitting mail
13262 @cindex mail splitting
13263 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
13265 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
13266 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
13267 to be split into groups.
13270 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13271 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13272 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13273 ("mail.other" "")))
13276 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
13277 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
13278 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
13279 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
13280 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
13281 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
13282 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
13285 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
13288 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13289 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
13290 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
13291 mail belongs in that group.
13293 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
13294 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{*} so that it matches any mails
13295 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
13296 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
13297 rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled.
13298 In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.)
13300 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
13301 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
13302 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
13303 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
13304 thinks should carry this mail message.
13306 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
13307 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
13308 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
13309 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
13311 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
13312 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
13313 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
13314 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
13315 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{*}) group.
13317 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
13320 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
13321 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
13322 links. If that's the case for you, set
13323 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
13324 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13326 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13327 @findex nnmail-split-history
13328 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13329 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13330 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13331 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13334 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13335 Header lines longer than the value of
13336 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13339 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13340 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13341 By default the splitting codes @acronym{MIME} decodes headers so you
13342 can match on non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. The
13343 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset} variable specifies the default
13344 charset for decoding. The behaviour can be turned off completely by
13345 binding @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to @code{nil}, which is
13346 useful if you want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13348 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13349 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
13350 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
13351 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
13352 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13353 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
13354 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
13355 other kinds of entries.)
13357 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13358 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13359 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13360 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13361 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13362 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13363 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13364 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13365 month's rent money.
13369 @subsection Mail Sources
13371 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
13372 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
13373 maildir, for instance.
13376 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13377 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13378 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13382 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13383 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13385 @cindex mail server
13388 @cindex mail source
13390 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13391 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13396 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13399 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13400 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13401 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13404 The following mail source types are available:
13408 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13414 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
13415 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13416 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13420 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13423 An example file mail source:
13426 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13429 Or using the default file name:
13435 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
13436 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
13437 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
13438 mail spool while moving the mail.
13440 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13444 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13447 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13451 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13454 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13456 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13459 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13463 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13464 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
13465 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
13466 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
13467 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
13468 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
13469 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13470 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
13471 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
13472 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13474 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13475 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13476 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
13477 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13483 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13487 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13491 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13492 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13493 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13494 predicate are considered.
13498 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13502 An example directory mail source:
13505 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13510 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
13516 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
13517 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13520 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
13521 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13522 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13523 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13524 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13527 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
13531 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
13532 the user is prompted.
13535 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
13536 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13539 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13542 The valid format specifier characters are:
13546 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13547 included in this string.
13550 The name of the server.
13553 The port number of the server.
13556 The user name to use.
13559 The password to use.
13562 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13563 corresponding keywords.
13566 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13567 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13570 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13571 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13574 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
13575 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
13576 mail should be moved to.
13578 @item :authentication
13579 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13580 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13585 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13586 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13588 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server,
13589 using the default user name, and default fetcher:
13595 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13598 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13599 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13602 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13605 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13609 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13610 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13611 contains exactly one mail.
13617 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13618 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13621 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13622 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13624 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13625 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13626 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13629 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13630 from locking problems).
13634 Two example maildir mail sources:
13637 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13638 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13642 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13647 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
13648 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
13649 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
13650 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
13651 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
13653 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
13654 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13660 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
13661 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13664 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13665 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
13668 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
13672 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
13676 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13677 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13678 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
13679 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13681 @item :authentication
13682 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13683 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13684 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13685 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13688 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13689 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13690 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13696 The valid format specifier characters are:
13700 The name of the server.
13703 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13706 The port number of the server.
13709 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13710 corresponding keywords.
13713 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13714 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13717 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13718 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13719 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
13720 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13721 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13722 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13725 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13726 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13727 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13728 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13731 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
13732 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
13736 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
13739 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13741 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13745 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{http://www.hotmail.com/},
13746 @uref{http://webmail.netscape.com/}, @uref{http://www.netaddress.com/},
13747 @uref{http://mail.yahoo.com/}.
13749 NOTE: Webmail largely depends on cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13750 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13752 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13758 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13759 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13762 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13766 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13770 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
13771 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
13775 An example webmail source:
13778 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13780 :password "secret")
13785 @item Common Keywords
13786 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13792 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
13793 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
13798 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13803 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13804 useful when you use local mail and news.
13809 @subsubsection Function Interface
13811 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13812 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13813 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13814 consider the following mail-source setting:
13817 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13818 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13821 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13822 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13823 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13824 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13825 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13827 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13830 @node Mail Source Customization
13831 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13833 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13834 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13838 @item mail-source-crash-box
13839 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13840 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
13841 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13843 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13844 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13845 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
13846 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
13847 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
13848 (This will only happen, when receiving new mail). You may also set
13849 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
13850 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
13852 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13853 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13854 If non-@code{nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
13855 files. This variable only applies when
13856 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
13858 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13859 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13860 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13862 @item mail-source-directory
13863 @vindex mail-source-directory
13864 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13865 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13866 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13869 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13870 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13871 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13872 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13873 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13874 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13876 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13877 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13878 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13880 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13881 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13882 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
13883 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13888 @node Fetching Mail
13889 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13891 @vindex mail-sources
13892 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13893 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13894 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13895 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13897 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13898 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13901 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
13902 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
13907 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13908 :password "secret")))
13911 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13915 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13916 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13919 :password "secret")))
13923 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13924 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13925 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13926 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13927 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13928 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13932 @node Mail Back End Variables
13933 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13935 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13939 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13940 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13941 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13942 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13944 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13945 @item nnmail-split-hook
13946 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13947 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
13948 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
13949 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13950 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13951 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13952 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13953 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13954 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13957 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13958 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13959 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13960 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13961 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13962 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13963 starting to handle the new mail) and
13964 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13965 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13966 default file modes the new mail files get:
13969 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13970 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13972 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13973 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13976 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13977 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13978 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13979 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13980 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13981 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13982 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13984 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13985 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13986 @findex delete-file
13987 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13989 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13990 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13991 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13992 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13993 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13995 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13996 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13997 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13998 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13999 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
14001 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
14002 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
14003 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
14008 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
14009 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
14010 @cindex mail splitting
14011 @cindex fancy mail splitting
14013 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
14014 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
14015 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
14016 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
14017 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
14018 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
14020 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
14023 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
14024 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
14025 ;; @r{from real errors.}
14026 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
14028 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
14029 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
14030 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
14031 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
14032 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
14033 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
14034 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
14035 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
14036 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
14037 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
14038 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
14039 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
14040 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
14041 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
14042 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
14043 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
14044 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
14048 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
14049 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
14050 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
14055 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
14056 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
14058 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split})
14059 If the split is a list, the first element of which is a string, then
14060 store the message as specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field}
14061 (a regexp) contains @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict}
14062 (yet another regexp) matches some string after @var{field} and before
14063 the end of the matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If
14064 none of the @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
14066 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
14067 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
14068 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
14069 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
14070 stored in one or more groups.
14072 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
14073 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
14074 process all @var{split}s in the list.
14077 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
14078 this message. Use with extreme caution.
14080 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
14081 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
14082 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
14083 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
14086 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
14087 body of the messages:
14090 (defun split-on-body ()
14094 (goto-char (point-min))
14095 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
14099 The buffer is narrowed to the message in question when @var{function}
14100 is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called after
14101 @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
14102 above. Also note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will
14103 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
14104 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
14105 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
14107 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
14108 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
14109 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
14110 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
14111 should return a split.
14114 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
14118 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
14119 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
14120 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
14121 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
14122 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
14124 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
14125 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
14126 they are expanded as specified by the variable
14127 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
14128 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
14129 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
14130 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
14134 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
14136 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
14137 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
14139 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
14142 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
14143 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
14144 when all this splitting is performed.
14146 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
14147 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
14148 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
14151 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
14154 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
14155 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
14157 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
14158 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
14159 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
14160 groupings 1 through 9.
14162 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
14163 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} controls whether partial
14164 words are matched during fancy splitting.
14166 Normally, regular expressions given in @code{nnmail-split-fancy} are
14167 implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers, which are word
14168 delimiters. If this variable is true, they are not implicitly
14169 surrounded by anything.
14172 (any "joe" "joemail")
14175 In this example, messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will
14176 normally not be filed in @samp{joemail}. With
14177 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} set to t, however, the
14178 match will happen. In effect, the requirement of a word boundary is
14179 removed and instead the match becomes more like a grep.
14181 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
14182 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
14183 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
14184 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
14185 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
14186 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
14187 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
14188 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
14189 it once per thread.
14191 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
14192 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
14193 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
14194 using the colon feature, like so:
14196 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
14197 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
14199 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
14200 ;; @r{other splits go here}
14204 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
14205 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
14206 in the file specified by the variable
14207 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
14208 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
14209 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
14210 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
14211 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
14212 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
14213 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
14214 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
14215 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
14216 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
14217 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
14218 300 kBytes in size.)
14219 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14220 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
14221 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
14222 messages goes into the new group.
14224 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
14225 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
14226 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
14227 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
14228 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
14229 ``outgoing'' group.
14232 @node Group Mail Splitting
14233 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
14234 @cindex mail splitting
14235 @cindex group mail splitting
14237 @findex gnus-group-split
14238 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
14239 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
14240 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
14241 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
14242 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
14243 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
14244 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
14245 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
14247 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
14248 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
14249 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
14250 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
14252 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
14253 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
14254 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
14255 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
14256 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
14257 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
14258 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
14260 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
14261 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
14262 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
14263 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
14264 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
14265 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
14266 @code{gnus-group-split}.
14268 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
14269 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
14270 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
14271 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
14272 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
14273 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
14274 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
14275 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
14276 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
14277 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
14278 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
14279 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
14280 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
14282 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
14287 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
14288 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
14290 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
14291 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
14292 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
14293 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
14295 ((split-spec . catch-all))
14298 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
14299 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
14300 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
14303 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
14304 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
14305 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
14309 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
14310 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
14311 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14315 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
14318 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
14319 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
14320 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
14321 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
14322 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
14323 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
14324 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
14325 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
14326 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
14328 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
14329 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
14330 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
14331 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
14332 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
14333 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
14334 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
14335 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
14336 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14338 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14339 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14340 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14341 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14342 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14343 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14346 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
14349 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14350 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14351 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14352 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14353 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14356 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14357 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14358 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14359 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14361 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14362 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14363 @cindex incorporating old mail
14364 @cindex import old mail
14366 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14367 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14368 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14371 Doing so can be quite easy.
14373 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14374 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14375 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14376 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14377 your @code{nnml} groups.
14383 Go to the group buffer.
14386 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14387 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14390 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14393 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14394 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14397 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14398 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14401 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14402 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14403 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14404 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14405 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14407 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14408 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14409 using the new mail back end.
14412 @node Expiring Mail
14413 @subsection Expiring Mail
14414 @cindex article expiry
14416 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14417 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14418 different approach to mail reading.
14420 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14421 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14422 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14423 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14424 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14425 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14428 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14429 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
14430 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14431 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14432 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14433 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14434 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14435 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14436 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14438 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14439 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
14440 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14441 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
14442 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14443 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14444 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14447 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14448 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14449 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14450 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14451 into its own group.)
14453 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14454 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14455 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14456 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14457 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14458 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14459 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
14460 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14463 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14464 Groups that match the regular expression
14465 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14466 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14467 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14469 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14470 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14471 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14472 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14473 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14475 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14477 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14478 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14479 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14482 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14483 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14484 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14485 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14486 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14488 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14489 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14492 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14493 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14496 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14497 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14499 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14500 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14501 don't really mix very well.
14503 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14504 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14505 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14506 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14509 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14510 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14511 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14512 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14515 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14517 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14519 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14521 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14523 ((string= group "important")
14529 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14530 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14532 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14533 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14534 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14537 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14538 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14540 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14541 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14542 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14543 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14544 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14545 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14546 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14547 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14548 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14549 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14550 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14551 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
14552 name or @code{delete}.
14554 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14556 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14559 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14560 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14561 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14562 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14563 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14566 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14567 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14568 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14569 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14570 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14573 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14574 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14575 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14576 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14577 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14578 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14580 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14581 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14582 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14583 easier for procmail users.
14585 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14586 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14587 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14588 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14589 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14590 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14591 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14592 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14593 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14594 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14595 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14596 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14597 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14600 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14602 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14603 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14604 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14605 auto-expire turned on.
14609 @subsection Washing Mail
14610 @cindex mail washing
14611 @cindex list server brain damage
14612 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14614 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14615 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14616 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14617 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14618 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14619 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14621 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14622 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14623 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14626 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14627 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14628 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14629 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14632 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14633 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14634 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14635 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14636 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14639 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14640 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14641 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14642 Emacs running on MS machines.
14646 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14647 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14648 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14649 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14652 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14653 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14654 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14655 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14657 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14658 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14659 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14660 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14661 into a feature by documenting it.)
14663 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14664 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14665 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14666 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14667 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14668 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14669 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14672 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14673 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14676 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14677 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14680 This can also be done non-destructively with
14681 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14683 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14684 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14685 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14687 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14688 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14690 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14691 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14692 @code{References} headers.
14696 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14697 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14698 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14702 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14703 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14704 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14711 @subsection Duplicates
14713 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14714 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14715 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14716 @cindex duplicate mails
14717 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14718 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14719 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14720 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14721 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14722 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14723 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14724 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14725 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14726 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14727 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14728 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14729 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14731 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14732 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14733 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14734 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14736 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14739 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14740 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14744 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14745 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
14746 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14747 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
14748 (any mail "mail.misc")
14749 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14755 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14756 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14757 ;; @r{Other rules.}
14761 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14762 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14763 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14764 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14765 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14768 @node Not Reading Mail
14769 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14771 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14772 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14773 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14775 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14776 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14777 mail, which should help.
14779 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14780 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14781 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14782 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14783 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14784 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14785 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
14786 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14787 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14788 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14789 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14791 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14792 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14796 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14797 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14799 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14800 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14801 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14803 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14804 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14805 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14809 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14810 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
14811 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14812 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14813 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
14814 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14815 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14819 @node Unix Mail Box
14820 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14822 @cindex unix mail box
14824 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14825 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14826 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14827 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14828 which group it belongs in.
14830 Virtual server settings:
14833 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14834 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14835 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14838 @item nnmbox-active-file
14839 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14840 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14841 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14843 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14844 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14845 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14846 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14851 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14855 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14856 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14857 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
14858 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14859 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14861 Virtual server settings:
14864 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14865 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14866 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14868 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14869 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14870 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14871 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14873 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14874 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14875 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14881 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14883 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
14885 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14886 format. It should be used with some caution.
14888 @vindex nnml-directory
14889 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14890 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14891 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14892 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14894 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14897 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14898 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14899 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14900 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14901 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14902 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14903 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14904 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14906 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14907 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14908 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14909 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14911 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14913 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14914 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14915 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14916 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14917 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14918 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14919 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14920 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14923 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14924 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14925 them next time it starts.
14927 Virtual server settings:
14930 @item nnml-directory
14931 @vindex nnml-directory
14932 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14933 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14936 @item nnml-active-file
14937 @vindex nnml-active-file
14938 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14939 @file{~/Mail/active}.
14941 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14942 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14943 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14944 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
14946 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14947 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14948 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14951 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14952 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14953 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
14954 default is @code{nil}.
14956 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14957 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14958 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14960 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14961 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14962 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14964 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14965 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14966 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14967 default is @code{nil}.
14969 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14970 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14971 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14973 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14974 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14975 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14980 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14981 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
14982 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14983 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14984 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14985 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14986 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14991 @subsubsection MH Spool
14993 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14995 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14996 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
14997 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
14998 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
15001 Virtual server settings:
15004 @item nnmh-directory
15005 @vindex nnmh-directory
15006 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
15007 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
15010 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
15011 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15012 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
15016 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
15017 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
15018 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
15019 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
15020 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
15021 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
15022 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
15027 @subsubsection Maildir
15031 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
15032 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
15033 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
15034 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
15035 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
15038 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
15039 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
15040 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
15041 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
15042 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
15043 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
15044 that appear as group in Gnus.
15046 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
15047 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
15048 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
15050 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
15051 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
15052 another, and you will keep your marks.
15054 Virtual server settings:
15058 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
15059 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
15060 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
15061 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
15062 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
15063 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
15064 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
15065 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
15066 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
15067 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
15069 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
15070 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
15071 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
15072 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
15073 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
15074 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
15075 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
15076 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
15077 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
15078 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
15081 @item target-prefix
15082 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
15083 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
15084 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
15087 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
15088 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
15089 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
15090 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
15091 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
15092 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
15093 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
15094 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
15095 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
15097 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
15098 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
15099 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
15100 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
15101 symlinks pointing to them will be).
15103 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
15104 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
15105 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
15106 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
15107 @code{force} argument.
15109 @item directory-files
15110 This should be a function with the same interface as
15111 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
15112 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
15113 parameter is optional; the default is
15114 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
15115 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
15116 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
15117 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
15118 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
15119 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
15122 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
15123 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
15124 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
15125 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
15126 value is @code{nil}.
15128 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
15129 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
15130 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
15131 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
15132 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
15135 @subsubsection Group parameters
15137 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
15138 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
15139 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
15140 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
15141 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
15142 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
15145 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
15146 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
15147 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
15148 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
15149 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
15150 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
15151 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
15152 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
15153 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
15157 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
15158 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
15159 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
15160 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
15161 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (overrideable by
15162 the @code{expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) group parameters. If you
15163 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
15164 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
15165 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
15166 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
15167 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
15168 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
15171 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
15173 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
15175 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
15176 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
15177 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
15178 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
15179 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
15180 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
15181 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
15182 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
15183 article. So that form can refer to
15184 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
15185 article. @emph{If this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir} does
15186 not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
15187 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
15190 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
15191 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
15192 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
15193 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
15194 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
15195 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
15196 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
15197 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
15198 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
15199 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
15200 contain extra copies of the articles.
15202 @item directory-files
15203 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
15204 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
15205 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
15206 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
15208 @item distrust-Lines:
15209 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
15210 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
15211 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
15214 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
15215 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
15216 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
15217 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
15218 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
15219 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
15222 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
15223 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
15224 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
15225 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
15226 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
15227 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
15228 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
15230 @item nov-cache-size
15231 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
15232 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
15233 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
15234 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
15235 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
15236 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
15237 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
15238 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
15239 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
15240 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
15241 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
15244 @subsubsection Article identification
15245 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
15246 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
15247 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
15248 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
15249 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
15250 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
15251 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
15252 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
15253 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
15254 request the article in the summary buffer.
15256 @subsubsection NOV data
15257 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
15258 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
15259 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
15260 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
15261 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
15262 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
15263 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
15264 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
15265 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
15266 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
15267 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
15269 @subsubsection Article marks
15270 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
15271 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
15272 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
15273 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
15274 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
15275 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
15276 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
15277 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
15279 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
15280 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
15281 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
15282 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
15283 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
15284 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
15285 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
15286 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
15287 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
15291 @subsubsection Mail Folders
15293 @cindex mbox folders
15294 @cindex mail folders
15296 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
15297 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
15298 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
15299 numbers and arrival dates.
15301 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
15303 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
15304 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15305 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15306 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
15307 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
15308 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
15309 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder}
15310 directory. Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to
15311 backup, use @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup
15312 into the @code{nnfolder} directory).
15314 Virtual server settings:
15317 @item nnfolder-directory
15318 @vindex nnfolder-directory
15319 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
15320 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
15321 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
15323 @item nnfolder-active-file
15324 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
15325 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
15327 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15328 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15329 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15330 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
15332 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
15333 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15334 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
15335 default is @code{t}
15337 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15338 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15339 @cindex backup files
15340 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
15341 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
15342 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
15343 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
15346 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15347 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15349 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15352 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15353 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15354 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15355 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15356 extract some information from it before removing it.
15358 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15359 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15360 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15361 default is @code{nil}.
15363 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15364 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15365 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15367 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15368 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15369 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
15370 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15372 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15373 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15374 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15375 default is @code{nil}.
15377 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15378 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15379 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15381 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15382 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15383 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
15384 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15389 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15390 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15391 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15392 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15393 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15394 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15397 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15398 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15400 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15401 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15402 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15403 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15404 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15406 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15407 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15408 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15409 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
15410 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15411 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15412 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15413 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15416 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15417 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15418 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15419 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15424 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15425 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15426 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15427 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15428 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15429 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15430 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15431 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15432 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15433 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15434 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15435 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15436 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15441 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15442 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15443 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15444 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15445 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15446 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15447 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15448 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15449 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
15450 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15451 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15452 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15453 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
15454 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15456 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15457 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15462 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15463 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15464 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15465 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15466 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15467 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15468 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15469 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15470 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15471 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15472 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15473 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15474 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15475 provided by the active file and overviews.
15477 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15478 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15479 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15480 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15481 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15484 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15485 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15490 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15491 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15492 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
15493 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15494 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15495 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15496 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15500 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15501 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15502 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15503 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15504 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15505 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15506 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15507 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15508 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15510 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15511 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15512 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15513 friendly mail back end all over.
15517 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15518 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15521 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15522 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15523 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15524 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15525 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15526 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15527 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
15528 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
15531 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15532 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15533 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
15534 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15535 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15536 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15537 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15538 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15539 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15540 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15541 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15543 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15544 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15545 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15546 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15547 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15550 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15551 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15552 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15553 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15554 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15555 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15556 removed in the future.
15558 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15559 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15560 on your file system.
15562 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15563 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15568 @node Browsing the Web
15569 @section Browsing the Web
15571 @cindex browsing the web
15575 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15576 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15577 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15578 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15579 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15580 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15581 even know what a news group is.
15583 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15584 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15585 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15586 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15587 you mad in the end.
15589 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15592 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15593 interfaces to these sources.
15597 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15598 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15599 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15600 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15601 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15602 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
15605 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
15607 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15608 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
15609 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
15610 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
15611 though, you should be ok.
15613 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
15614 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
15615 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
15616 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
15617 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
15619 @node Archiving Mail
15620 @subsection Archiving Mail
15621 @cindex archiving mail
15622 @cindex backup of mail
15624 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
15625 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
15626 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
15627 marks is fairly simple.
15629 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
15630 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
15633 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
15634 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
15635 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
15636 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
15637 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
15638 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
15639 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
15640 before you restore the data.
15642 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
15643 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
15644 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
15645 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
15646 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
15647 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
15648 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
15649 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
15650 is unnecessary in that case.
15653 @subsection Web Searches
15658 @cindex Usenet searches
15659 @cindex searching the Usenet
15661 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
15662 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
15663 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
15664 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
15665 searches without having to use a browser.
15667 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
15668 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
15669 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
15670 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
15671 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
15673 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
15674 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
15675 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
15676 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
15677 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
15678 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
15679 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
15680 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
15681 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
15682 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
15685 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
15686 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
15687 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'@^etre} is to
15688 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
15689 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
15690 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
15692 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
15693 to use @code{nnweb}.
15695 Virtual server variables:
15700 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
15701 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
15702 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
15705 @vindex nnweb-search
15706 The search string to feed to the search engine.
15708 @item nnweb-max-hits
15709 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
15710 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
15713 @item nnweb-type-definition
15714 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
15715 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
15716 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
15721 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
15725 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
15728 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
15731 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
15735 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
15742 @subsection Slashdot
15746 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
15747 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
15748 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
15750 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
15751 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15754 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15755 '((nnslashdot "")))
15758 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
15759 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
15760 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
15761 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
15762 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
15765 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
15766 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15768 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
15769 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
15770 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
15771 @samp{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @samp{br} added to
15772 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
15773 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
15774 @acronym{HTML} forms.
15776 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
15779 @item nnslashdot-threaded
15780 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
15781 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
15782 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
15783 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
15784 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
15785 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
15787 @item nnslashdot-login-name
15788 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
15789 The login name to use when posting.
15791 @item nnslashdot-password
15792 @vindex nnslashdot-password
15793 The password to use when posting.
15795 @item nnslashdot-directory
15796 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
15797 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
15798 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
15800 @item nnslashdot-active-url
15801 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
15802 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the
15803 information on news articles and comments. The default is@*
15804 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
15806 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
15807 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
15808 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch comments.
15810 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15811 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15812 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the news
15813 article. The default is
15814 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15816 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15817 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15818 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15820 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15821 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15822 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15823 updated. The default is 0.
15830 @subsection Ultimate
15832 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15834 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
15835 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15836 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15837 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15839 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15840 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15841 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @acronym{URL}
15842 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15843 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15844 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15845 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15847 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15850 @item nnultimate-directory
15851 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15852 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
15853 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15858 @subsection Web Archive
15860 @cindex Web Archive
15862 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15863 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15864 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15865 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15868 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15869 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15870 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15871 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
15872 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
15873 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15874 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15875 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15877 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15880 @item nnwarchive-directory
15881 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15882 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
15883 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15885 @item nnwarchive-login
15886 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15887 The account name on the web server.
15889 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15890 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15891 The password for your account on the web server.
15899 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
15900 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
15901 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
15902 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
15903 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
15905 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
15906 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15908 @kindex G R (Summary)
15909 Use @kbd{G R} from the summary buffer to subscribe to a feed---you
15910 will be prompted for the location of the feed.
15912 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
15913 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET y}, then
15914 subscribe to groups.
15917 You can also use the following commands to import and export your
15918 subscriptions from a file in @acronym{OPML} format (Outline Processor
15921 @defun nnrss-opml-import file
15922 Prompt for an @acronym{OPML} file, and subscribe to each feed in the
15926 @defun nnrss-opml-export
15927 Write your current @acronym{RSS} subscriptions to a buffer in
15928 @acronym{OPML} format.
15931 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15934 @item nnrss-directory
15935 @vindex nnrss-directory
15936 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15937 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15939 @item nnrss-use-local
15940 @vindex nnrss-use-local
15941 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
15942 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
15943 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
15944 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
15945 download script using @command{wget}.
15948 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15949 the summary buffer.
15952 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15953 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15955 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15957 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15958 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15961 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15964 (require 'browse-url)
15966 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15968 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15971 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15972 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15975 (browse-url (cdr url))
15976 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15977 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15979 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15980 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15981 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15982 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15985 @node Customizing w3
15986 @subsection Customizing w3
15992 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15993 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15994 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15996 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15997 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15998 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
16001 (eval-after-load "w3"
16003 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
16004 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
16005 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
16006 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
16008 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
16011 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
16012 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
16019 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
16021 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
16022 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
16023 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
16024 specify the network address of the server.
16026 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
16027 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
16028 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
16029 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
16030 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
16031 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
16033 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
16034 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
16035 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
16036 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
16038 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
16039 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
16040 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
16041 usage explained in this section.
16043 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP}
16044 servers might look something like the following. (Note that for
16045 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you need external programs and libraries,
16049 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
16050 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
16051 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
16053 (nnimap-address "localhost")
16054 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
16055 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
16057 (nnimap-server-port 143)
16058 (nnimap-address "localhost")
16059 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
16060 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
16061 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
16062 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
16063 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
16064 (nnimap-stream network))
16065 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
16067 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
16068 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
16069 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
16072 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
16073 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
16074 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
16075 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
16077 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
16082 @item nnimap-address
16083 @vindex nnimap-address
16085 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
16086 server name if not specified.
16088 @item nnimap-server-port
16089 @vindex nnimap-server-port
16090 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
16092 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
16095 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16096 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
16099 @item nnimap-list-pattern
16100 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
16101 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
16102 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
16103 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
16104 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
16105 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
16107 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
16108 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
16109 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
16112 Example server specification:
16115 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16116 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
16117 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
16120 @item nnimap-stream
16121 @vindex nnimap-stream
16122 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
16123 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
16124 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over
16125 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can
16126 be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
16128 Example server specification:
16131 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16132 (nnimap-stream ssl))
16135 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
16139 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
16140 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
16142 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
16144 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
16145 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
16148 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
16149 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
16151 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
16152 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
16154 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
16156 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
16159 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
16160 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
16161 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
16162 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
16163 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
16164 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
16165 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
16166 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
16167 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
16170 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
16171 needed. It is available from
16172 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
16174 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
16175 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
16176 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
16177 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
16178 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
16179 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
16180 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
16183 @vindex imap-ssl-program
16184 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
16185 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
16186 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
16187 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
16188 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
16189 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
16192 @vindex imap-shell-program
16193 @vindex imap-shell-host
16194 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
16195 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
16197 @item nnimap-authenticator
16198 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
16200 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
16201 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
16203 Example server specification:
16206 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16207 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
16210 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
16214 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
16215 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
16217 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
16220 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
16221 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
16223 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
16225 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
16227 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as ``anonymous'', supplying your email address as password.
16230 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
16232 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
16233 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers have decided things that
16234 don't exist actually do exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
16235 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
16236 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
16237 nnimap does when you delete an article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
16240 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
16241 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
16242 running in circles yet?
16244 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
16245 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
16248 The possible options are:
16253 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
16256 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
16257 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
16258 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
16259 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
16261 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
16266 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
16267 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
16269 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
16270 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
16271 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
16272 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
16273 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
16276 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
16277 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
16280 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
16281 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16282 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
16283 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16286 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
16287 as ticked for other users.
16289 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
16291 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
16293 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
16294 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
16295 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
16296 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
16298 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
16299 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
16300 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
16301 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
16303 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
16304 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
16306 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
16307 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
16308 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
16311 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16312 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16314 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
16315 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
16321 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
16322 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
16323 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
16324 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
16325 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
16326 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
16331 @node Splitting in IMAP
16332 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
16333 @cindex splitting imap mail
16335 Splitting is something Gnus users have loved and used for years, and now
16336 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
16337 @acronym{IMAP} servers have server side splitting and those that have
16338 splitting seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that
16339 @acronym{IMAP} support for Gnus has to do its own splitting.
16343 (Incidentally, people seem to have been dreaming on, and Sieve has
16344 gaining a market share and is supported by several IMAP servers.
16345 Fortunately, Gnus support it too, @xref{Sieve Commands}.)
16347 Here are the variables of interest:
16351 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
16352 @cindex splitting, crosspost
16354 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
16356 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
16357 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
16358 found will be used.
16360 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
16362 @item nnimap-split-inbox
16363 @cindex splitting, inbox
16365 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
16367 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
16368 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
16369 splitting is disabled!
16372 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
16373 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
16376 No nnmail equivalent.
16378 @item nnimap-split-rule
16379 @cindex splitting, rules
16380 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
16382 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
16385 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
16386 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
16387 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16388 Neither did I, we need examples.
16391 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16393 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16394 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16395 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16398 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16399 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16400 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16402 The first string may contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by
16403 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16407 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16410 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16411 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16413 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16414 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16415 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
16416 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16418 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16419 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16420 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16421 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16422 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16423 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16425 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16426 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16427 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16429 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16430 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16431 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16433 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16435 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16436 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16437 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16440 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16441 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16442 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
16443 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16444 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16445 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
16448 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16449 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16450 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16451 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16452 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16453 group/function elements.
16455 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16457 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16459 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16461 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16462 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16464 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
16465 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16466 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16469 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16470 @cindex splitting, fancy
16471 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16472 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16474 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16475 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16476 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16478 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16479 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16480 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16481 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16486 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16487 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16490 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16492 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16493 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16494 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16496 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
16497 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
16498 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
16499 splitting function that analyses the body to split the article.
16503 @node Expiring in IMAP
16504 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16505 @cindex expiring imap mail
16507 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16508 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16509 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
16510 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16511 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16512 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16515 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
16516 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16517 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16518 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16519 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16520 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16521 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16522 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16526 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16527 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16529 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16530 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16532 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16534 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16535 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
16536 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
16537 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
16541 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
16542 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
16543 @cindex editing imap acls
16544 @cindex Access Control Lists
16545 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
16546 @kindex G l (Group)
16547 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
16549 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
16550 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
16551 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
16554 To edit an ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
16555 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with an ACL
16556 editing window with detailed instructions.
16558 Some possible uses:
16562 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
16563 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
16564 follow the list without subscribing to it.
16566 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
16567 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
16568 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
16572 @node Expunging mailboxes
16573 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
16577 @cindex manual expunging
16578 @kindex G x (Group)
16579 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
16581 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
16582 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
16583 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
16585 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
16588 @node A note on namespaces
16589 @subsection A note on namespaces
16590 @cindex IMAP namespace
16593 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
16594 by the following text in the RFC:
16597 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
16599 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
16600 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
16601 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
16602 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
16604 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
16605 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
16606 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
16607 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
16608 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
16609 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
16612 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
16613 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
16614 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
16616 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
16617 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
16618 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
16619 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
16620 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
16621 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
16622 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
16623 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
16626 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
16627 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
16628 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
16630 @node Debugging IMAP
16631 @subsection Debugging IMAP
16632 @cindex IMAP debugging
16633 @cindex protocol dump (IMAP)
16635 @acronym{IMAP} is a complex protocol, more so than @acronym{NNTP} or
16636 @acronym{POP3}. Implementation bugs are not unlikely, and we do our
16637 best to fix them right away. If you encounter odd behaviour, chances
16638 are that either the server or Gnus is buggy.
16640 If you are familiar with network protocols in general, you will
16641 probably be able to extract some clues from the protocol dump of the
16642 exchanges between Gnus and the server. Even if you are not familiar
16643 with network protocols, when you include the protocol dump in
16644 @acronym{IMAP}-related bug reports you are helping us with data
16645 critical to solving the problem. Therefore, we strongly encourage you
16646 to include the protocol dump when reporting IMAP bugs in Gnus.
16650 Because the protocol dump, when enabled, generates lots of data, it is
16651 disabled by default. You can enable it by setting @code{imap-log} as
16658 This instructs the @code{imap.el} package to log any exchanges with
16659 the server. The log is stored in the buffer @samp{*imap-log*}. Look
16660 for error messages, which sometimes are tagged with the keyword
16661 @code{BAD}---but when submitting a bug, make sure to include all the
16664 @node Other Sources
16665 @section Other Sources
16667 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
16668 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
16672 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
16673 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
16674 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
16675 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
16676 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
16680 @node Directory Groups
16681 @subsection Directory Groups
16683 @cindex directory groups
16685 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
16686 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
16689 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
16690 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
16691 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
16692 back end to read directories. Big deal.
16694 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
16695 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
16696 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
16697 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
16698 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
16700 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
16702 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
16703 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
16704 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
16705 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
16708 @node Anything Groups
16709 @subsection Anything Groups
16712 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
16713 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
16714 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
16717 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
16718 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
16719 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
16720 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
16721 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
16722 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
16723 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
16724 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
16725 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
16726 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
16729 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
16730 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
16731 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
16732 in the article buffer, just as usual.
16734 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
16735 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
16736 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
16737 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
16739 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
16740 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
16741 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
16742 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
16743 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
16744 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
16745 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
16746 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
16751 @item nneething-map-file-directory
16752 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
16753 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
16754 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
16756 @item nneething-exclude-files
16757 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
16758 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
16759 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
16761 @item nneething-include-files
16762 @vindex nneething-include-files
16763 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
16764 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
16766 @item nneething-map-file
16767 @vindex nneething-map-file
16768 Name of the map files.
16772 @node Document Groups
16773 @subsection Document Groups
16775 @cindex documentation group
16778 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
16779 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
16786 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
16791 The standard Unix mbox file.
16793 @cindex MMDF mail box
16795 The MMDF mail box format.
16798 Several news articles appended into a file.
16801 @cindex rnews batch files
16802 The rnews batch transport format.
16803 @cindex forwarded messages
16806 Forwarded articles.
16809 Netscape mail boxes.
16812 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
16814 @item standard-digest
16815 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
16818 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
16820 @item lanl-gov-announce
16821 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
16823 @item rfc822-forward
16824 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
16827 The Outlook mail box.
16830 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
16833 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
16836 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
16839 An RFC934-forwarded message.
16845 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
16848 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
16854 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
16855 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
16856 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
16859 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
16860 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
16861 group. And that's it.
16863 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
16864 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
16865 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
16866 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
16867 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
16868 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
16869 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
16870 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
16871 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
16872 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
16874 Virtual server variables:
16877 @item nndoc-article-type
16878 @vindex nndoc-article-type
16879 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
16880 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
16881 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
16882 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
16883 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
16885 @item nndoc-post-type
16886 @vindex nndoc-post-type
16887 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
16888 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
16893 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
16897 @node Document Server Internals
16898 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
16900 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
16901 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
16902 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
16903 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
16905 First, here's an example document type definition:
16909 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16910 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16913 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16914 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16915 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16916 types can be defined with very few settings:
16919 @item first-article
16920 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16921 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16924 @item article-begin
16925 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16926 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16928 @item head-begin-function
16929 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16932 @item nndoc-head-begin
16933 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16936 @item nndoc-head-end
16937 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16938 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16940 @item body-begin-function
16941 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16945 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16948 @item body-end-function
16949 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16953 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16956 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16957 regexp will be totally ignored.
16961 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16962 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16963 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16964 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16965 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16968 @item prepare-body-function
16969 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16970 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16971 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16973 @item article-transform-function
16974 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16975 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16976 body of the article.
16978 @item generate-head-function
16979 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16980 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16981 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16982 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16986 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16991 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16992 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16993 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16994 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16995 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16996 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16997 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16998 (subtype digest guess))
17001 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
17002 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
17003 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
17004 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
17005 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
17007 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
17008 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
17009 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
17010 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
17011 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
17012 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
17013 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
17014 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
17015 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
17016 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
17017 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
17018 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
17026 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
17027 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
17028 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
17030 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
17031 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
17032 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
17035 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
17036 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
17037 that interested in doing things properly.
17039 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
17040 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
17043 First some terminology:
17048 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
17049 get news and/or mail from.
17052 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
17053 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
17056 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
17060 @item message packets
17061 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
17062 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
17063 default, where @var{x} is a number.
17065 @item response packets
17066 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
17067 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
17068 default, where @var{x} is a number.
17078 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
17079 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
17080 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
17081 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
17084 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
17087 You put the packet in your home directory.
17090 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
17091 the native or secondary server.
17094 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
17095 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
17098 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
17102 You transfer this packet to the server.
17105 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
17108 You then repeat until you die.
17112 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
17113 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
17116 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
17117 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
17118 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
17122 @node SOUP Commands
17123 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
17125 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
17129 @kindex G s b (Group)
17130 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
17131 Pack all unread articles in the current group
17132 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
17133 process/prefix convention.
17136 @kindex G s w (Group)
17137 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
17138 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
17141 @kindex G s s (Group)
17142 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
17143 Send all replies from the replies packet
17144 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
17147 @kindex G s p (Group)
17148 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
17149 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
17152 @kindex G s r (Group)
17153 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
17154 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
17157 @kindex O s (Summary)
17158 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
17159 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
17160 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
17161 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17166 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
17171 @item gnus-soup-directory
17172 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
17173 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
17174 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
17176 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
17177 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
17178 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
17179 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
17181 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
17182 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
17183 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
17184 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
17186 @item gnus-soup-packer
17187 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
17188 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
17189 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
17191 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
17192 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
17193 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
17194 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
17196 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
17197 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
17198 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
17200 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
17201 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
17202 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
17203 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
17209 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
17212 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
17213 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
17214 you can read them at leisure.
17216 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
17220 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
17221 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
17222 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
17223 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
17225 @item nnsoup-directory
17226 @vindex nnsoup-directory
17227 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
17228 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
17230 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
17231 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
17232 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
17233 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
17235 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
17236 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
17237 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
17238 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
17239 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
17241 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
17242 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
17243 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
17244 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
17246 @item nnsoup-active-file
17247 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
17248 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
17249 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
17250 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
17251 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
17253 @item nnsoup-packer
17254 @vindex nnsoup-packer
17255 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
17256 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
17258 @item nnsoup-unpacker
17259 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
17260 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
17261 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
17263 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
17264 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
17265 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
17268 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
17269 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
17270 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
17273 @item nnsoup-always-save
17274 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
17275 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
17281 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
17283 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
17284 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
17285 more for that to happen.
17287 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
17288 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
17289 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
17292 In specific, this is what it does:
17295 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
17296 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
17299 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
17300 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
17301 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
17304 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
17305 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
17306 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
17309 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
17310 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
17311 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
17313 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
17319 @item nngateway-address
17320 @vindex nngateway-address
17321 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
17323 @item nngateway-header-transformation
17324 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
17325 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
17326 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
17327 transformation should be called, and defaults to
17328 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
17329 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
17332 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
17333 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
17334 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
17337 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
17340 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
17343 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
17346 The following pre-defined functions exist:
17348 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17351 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17352 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17353 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
17355 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17357 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17358 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17359 @code{nngateway-address}.
17367 (setq gnus-post-method
17369 "mail2news@@replay.com"
17370 (nngateway-header-transformation
17371 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
17374 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17377 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17382 @node Combined Groups
17383 @section Combined Groups
17385 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17389 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17390 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
17394 @node Virtual Groups
17395 @subsection Virtual Groups
17397 @cindex virtual groups
17398 @cindex merging groups
17400 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17403 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17404 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17405 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17407 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17408 regexp to match component groups.
17410 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17411 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17412 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17413 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17414 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17415 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17416 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17417 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17419 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17420 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17423 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17426 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17427 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17429 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17430 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17431 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17432 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17435 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17438 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17439 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17440 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17442 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17443 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17444 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17445 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17446 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17448 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17449 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17450 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17452 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17453 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
17454 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
17455 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
17456 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
17457 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
17458 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
17459 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
17460 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
17461 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
17462 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
17464 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17465 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17466 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17467 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17468 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17469 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17470 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17472 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17473 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17475 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17476 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17480 @node Kibozed Groups
17481 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17485 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by the @acronym{OED} as ``grepping through
17486 (parts of) the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will
17487 do this for you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server
17488 down to a halt with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17490 @kindex G k (Group)
17491 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17494 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17495 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17496 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
17497 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17499 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
17500 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
17501 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17503 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17504 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17505 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17506 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
17507 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
17508 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
17509 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
17510 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17512 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
17513 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
17514 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
17515 Stranger things have happened.
17517 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
17518 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
17520 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
17521 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
17522 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/kiboze/} by default.
17523 One contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in
17524 the group, and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store
17525 information on what groups have been searched through to find
17526 component articles.
17528 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
17529 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
17532 @node Gnus Unplugged
17533 @section Gnus Unplugged
17538 @cindex Gnus unplugged
17540 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
17541 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
17542 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
17543 read news. Believe it or not.
17545 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
17546 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
17547 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
17548 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
17549 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
17551 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
17552 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
17553 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
17554 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
17555 reading news on a machine.
17557 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
17558 fact, you don't have to configure anything as the agent is now enabled
17559 by default (@pxref{Agent Variables, gnus-agent}).
17561 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
17564 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
17565 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
17566 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
17567 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
17568 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
17569 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
17570 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
17571 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
17572 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
17573 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
17574 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
17575 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
17576 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
17581 @subsection Agent Basics
17583 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
17585 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
17586 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
17587 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
17588 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
17590 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
17591 connected to the net continuously.
17593 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
17594 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
17596 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
17597 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
17598 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
17599 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
17600 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
17602 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
17603 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
17604 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
17605 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
17606 they're kinda like plugged always).
17608 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
17609 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
17610 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
17613 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
17614 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
17615 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
17616 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
17617 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
17619 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
17624 @findex gnus-unplugged
17625 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
17626 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
17627 already fetched while in this mode.
17630 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
17631 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
17632 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
17633 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
17634 Source Specifiers}).
17637 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
17638 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
17639 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
17640 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
17641 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
17644 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
17645 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
17646 then you read the news offline.
17649 And then you go to step 2.
17652 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
17658 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
17659 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
17660 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
17661 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
17662 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
17663 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
17664 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
17665 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
17668 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
17669 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
17670 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
17671 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
17673 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
17674 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
17675 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
17676 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
17677 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
17678 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
17682 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
17686 @node Agent Categories
17687 @subsection Agent Categories
17689 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
17690 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
17691 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
17692 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
17693 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
17694 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
17695 you're interested in the articles anyway.
17697 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
17698 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
17699 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
17700 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
17701 buffer for creating and managing categories.
17703 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
17704 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
17705 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
17706 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
17707 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
17710 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
17711 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
17712 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
17713 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
17714 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
17715 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
17719 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
17720 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
17721 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
17725 @node Category Syntax
17726 @subsubsection Category Syntax
17728 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
17729 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
17730 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
17733 @cindex Agent Parameters
17735 @item agent-cat-name
17736 The name of the category.
17739 The list of groups that are in this category.
17741 @item agent-predicate
17742 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
17743 are eligible for downloading; and
17745 @item agent-score-file
17746 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
17747 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
17748 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
17750 @item agent-enable-expiration
17751 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
17752 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
17753 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
17754 only groups that should not be expired.
17756 @item agent-days-until-old
17757 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
17758 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
17760 @item agent-low-score
17761 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
17763 @item agent-high-score
17764 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
17766 @item agent-length-when-short
17767 an integer that overrides the value of
17768 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
17770 @item agent-length-when-long
17771 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
17773 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
17774 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
17775 undownloaded articles using the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face}
17776 faces. Any symbol other than @code{nil} will enable the use of
17777 undownloaded faces.
17780 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
17783 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
17784 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
17785 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
17788 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
17789 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
17790 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
17791 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
17793 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
17794 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
17795 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
17797 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
17798 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
17799 operators sprinkled in between.
17801 Perhaps some examples are in order.
17803 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
17804 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
17810 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
17811 short (for some value of ``short'').
17813 Here's a more complex predicate:
17822 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
17823 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
17826 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
17827 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
17828 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
17830 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
17831 you want to do, you can write your own.
17833 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
17834 bound to the value determined by calling
17835 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
17836 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
17837 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
17838 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
17839 predicate to individual groups.
17843 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
17844 lines; default 100.
17847 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
17848 lines; default 200.
17851 True iff the article has a download score less than
17852 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
17855 True iff the article has a download score greater than
17856 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
17859 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
17860 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
17861 checksum and sees whether articles match.
17870 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
17871 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
17872 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
17875 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
17876 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
17877 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
17878 something along the lines of the following:
17881 (defun my-article-old-p ()
17882 "Say whether an article is old."
17883 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
17884 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
17887 with the predicate then defined as:
17890 (not my-article-old-p)
17893 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
17894 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
17898 (require 'gnus-agent)
17899 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
17900 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
17901 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
17904 and simply specify your predicate as:
17910 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
17911 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
17912 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
17913 just don't give a damn.
17915 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
17916 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
17917 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
17918 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
17919 parameters like so:
17922 (agent-predicate . short)
17925 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
17926 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
17927 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
17929 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
17932 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
17935 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
17936 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
17937 predicate is assumed to be a list.
17940 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
17941 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
17942 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
17943 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
17944 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
17945 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
17947 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
17948 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
17949 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
17950 if it's to be specific to that group.
17952 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
17959 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
17960 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
17966 Category specification
17970 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17976 Group/Topic Parameter specification
17979 (agent-score ("from"
17980 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17985 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
17991 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
17992 keywords stated above.
17998 Category specification
18001 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
18007 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
18011 Group Parameter specification
18014 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
18017 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
18022 Use @code{normal} score files
18024 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
18025 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
18026 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
18027 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
18029 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
18030 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
18031 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
18032 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
18036 Category Specification
18043 Group Parameter specification
18046 (agent-score . file)
18051 @node Category Buffer
18052 @subsubsection Category Buffer
18054 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
18055 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
18056 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
18058 The following commands are available in this buffer:
18062 @kindex q (Category)
18063 @findex gnus-category-exit
18064 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
18067 @kindex e (Category)
18068 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
18069 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
18070 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
18073 @kindex k (Category)
18074 @findex gnus-category-kill
18075 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
18078 @kindex c (Category)
18079 @findex gnus-category-copy
18080 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
18083 @kindex a (Category)
18084 @findex gnus-category-add
18085 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
18088 @kindex p (Category)
18089 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
18090 Edit the predicate of the current category
18091 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
18094 @kindex g (Category)
18095 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
18096 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
18097 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
18100 @kindex s (Category)
18101 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
18102 Edit the download score rule of the current category
18103 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
18106 @kindex l (Category)
18107 @findex gnus-category-list
18108 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
18112 @node Category Variables
18113 @subsubsection Category Variables
18116 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
18117 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
18118 Hook run in category buffers.
18120 @item gnus-category-line-format
18121 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
18122 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
18123 Variables}). Valid elements are:
18127 The name of the category.
18130 The number of groups in the category.
18133 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
18134 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
18135 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
18137 @item gnus-agent-short-article
18138 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
18139 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
18141 @item gnus-agent-long-article
18142 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
18143 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
18145 @item gnus-agent-low-score
18146 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
18147 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
18150 @item gnus-agent-high-score
18151 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
18152 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
18155 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
18156 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18157 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
18158 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
18159 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
18160 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
18161 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
18162 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
18166 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18167 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
18168 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
18169 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
18170 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
18171 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
18172 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
18177 @node Agent Commands
18178 @subsection Agent Commands
18179 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
18180 @kindex J j (Agent)
18182 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
18183 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
18184 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
18188 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
18189 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
18190 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
18196 @node Group Agent Commands
18197 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
18201 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
18202 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
18203 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
18204 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
18207 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
18208 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
18209 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
18212 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
18213 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
18214 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
18215 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
18218 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
18219 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
18220 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
18221 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
18224 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
18225 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
18226 Add the current group to an Agent category
18227 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
18228 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18231 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
18232 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
18233 Remove the current group from its category, if any
18234 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
18235 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18238 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
18239 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18240 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
18246 @node Summary Agent Commands
18247 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
18251 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
18252 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
18253 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
18256 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
18257 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
18258 Remove the downloading mark from the article
18259 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
18263 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
18264 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
18265 Toggle whether to download the article
18266 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
18270 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
18271 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
18272 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
18275 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
18276 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
18277 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
18278 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
18281 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
18282 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
18283 Download all processable articles in this group.
18284 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
18287 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
18288 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
18289 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
18290 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
18295 @node Server Agent Commands
18296 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
18300 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
18301 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
18302 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
18303 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
18306 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
18307 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
18308 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
18309 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
18314 @node Agent Visuals
18315 @subsection Agent Visuals
18317 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
18318 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
18319 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
18320 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
18321 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
18322 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
18323 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
18324 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
18325 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
18326 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
18328 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
18329 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
18330 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
18331 way, "If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
18332 less than satisfying unplugged session". For this reason, the Agent
18333 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
18334 the download status of each article so that you always know which
18335 articles will be available when unplugged.
18337 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
18338 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
18339 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
18340 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
18341 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
18342 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
18343 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
18344 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
18346 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
18347 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
18348 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
18349 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
18350 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
18351 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
18352 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
18353 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
18354 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
18356 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
18357 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
18358 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
18359 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
18360 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
18361 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
18362 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
18363 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
18364 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
18365 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
18367 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
18368 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
18369 group parameter to t. This parameter, like all other agent
18370 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent
18371 Categories}), a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an
18372 individual group (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
18374 The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
18375 can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
18376 even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
18377 is the @samp{%F} format available in @code{gnus-group-line-format}.
18378 This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
18379 fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
18380 the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when ``agent
18381 expiring'' articles.
18383 @node Agent as Cache
18384 @subsection Agent as Cache
18386 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
18387 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
18388 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
18389 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
18390 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
18391 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
18392 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
18393 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
18394 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
18396 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
18397 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
18398 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
18399 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
18400 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
18403 @subsection Agent Expiry
18405 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
18406 @findex gnus-agent-expire
18407 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
18408 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
18409 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
18410 @cindex agent expiry
18411 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
18414 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
18415 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
18416 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
18417 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
18418 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
18419 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
18420 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
18421 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
18423 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
18424 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
18425 synchronized with the group.
18427 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
18428 prevent expiration in selected groups.
18430 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
18431 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
18432 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
18433 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
18434 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
18435 be kept indefinitely.
18437 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
18438 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
18439 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
18440 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
18442 @node Agent Regeneration
18443 @subsection Agent Regeneration
18445 @cindex agent regeneration
18446 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
18447 @cindex regeneration
18449 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
18450 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
18451 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
18452 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
18453 internal inconsistencies.
18455 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
18456 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
18457 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
18458 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
18459 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
18460 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
18462 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
18463 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
18464 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
18465 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
18466 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
18467 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
18469 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18470 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
18471 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
18472 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
18473 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
18474 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
18477 @node Agent and IMAP
18478 @subsection Agent and IMAP
18480 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
18481 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
18482 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
18483 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
18485 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
18486 are kept on the @acronym{IMAP} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
18487 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
18488 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
18490 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
18491 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
18492 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
18493 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
18495 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18496 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
18497 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
18498 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
18499 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
18500 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
18502 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
18503 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
18504 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
18505 in the group buffer.
18507 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
18508 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
18513 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
18516 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
18520 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
18521 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
18522 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18523 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group and
18524 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18525 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18526 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18527 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
18530 @node Outgoing Messages
18531 @subsection Outgoing Messages
18533 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
18534 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
18535 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
18537 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
18538 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
18539 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
18541 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
18542 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
18543 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
18544 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
18547 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
18548 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
18549 ask you to confirm your action (see
18550 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
18552 @node Agent Variables
18553 @subsection Agent Variables
18558 Is the agent enabled? The default is @code{t}. When first enabled,
18559 the agent will use @code{gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods} to
18560 automatically mark some backends as agentized. You may change which
18561 backends are agentized using the agent commands in the server buffer.
18563 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
18564 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
18567 @item gnus-agent-directory
18568 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
18569 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
18570 @file{~/News/agent/}.
18572 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
18573 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
18574 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
18575 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
18576 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
18579 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18580 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18581 Hook run when connecting to the network.
18583 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18584 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18585 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
18587 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18588 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18589 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
18591 @item gnus-agent-cache
18592 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
18593 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
18594 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
18595 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
18597 @item gnus-agent-go-online
18598 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
18599 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
18600 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
18601 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
18602 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
18603 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
18606 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18607 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18608 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
18609 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
18610 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
18611 read. The default is t.
18613 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18614 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18615 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
18616 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
18617 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
18618 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
18619 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
18620 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
18621 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
18622 over and over again.
18624 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18625 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18626 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
18627 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
18628 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
18629 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
18630 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
18631 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
18632 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
18633 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
18634 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
18635 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
18638 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
18639 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
18640 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
18641 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
18642 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
18643 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
18644 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
18645 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
18646 is only valid if the Agent is used.
18648 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18649 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18650 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
18651 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
18652 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
18653 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
18655 The legal values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
18656 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
18657 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
18658 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
18659 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
18661 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
18662 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
18663 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
18664 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
18665 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
18666 mail. The default is @code{t}.
18668 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
18669 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
18670 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
18671 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
18672 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
18674 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
18675 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
18676 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
18677 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
18678 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
18679 which backends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
18680 to agentize remote backends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
18681 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
18682 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
18683 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
18684 start Gnus. The default is @samp{(nntp nnimap)}.
18689 @node Example Setup
18690 @subsection Example Setup
18692 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
18693 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
18694 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
18697 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
18698 ;;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
18699 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
18701 ;;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
18702 ;;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
18703 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
18705 ;;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
18706 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
18708 ;;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
18709 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
18710 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
18713 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
18714 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
18717 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
18718 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
18719 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
18720 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
18721 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
18724 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
18725 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
18726 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
18727 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
18728 back all the killed groups.)
18730 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
18731 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
18732 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
18735 @node Batching Agents
18736 @subsection Batching Agents
18737 @findex gnus-agent-batch
18739 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
18740 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
18741 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
18743 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
18744 following incantation:
18748 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
18752 @node Agent Caveats
18753 @subsection Agent Caveats
18755 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
18756 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
18760 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
18762 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
18763 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
18764 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
18766 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
18767 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
18769 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
18773 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
18774 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
18775 locally stored articles.
18782 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
18783 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
18784 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
18787 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
18788 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
18789 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
18790 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
18791 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
18793 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
18794 before generating the summary buffer.
18796 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
18797 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
18798 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
18800 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
18801 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
18802 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
18803 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
18806 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
18807 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
18808 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
18809 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
18810 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
18811 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
18812 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
18813 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
18814 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
18815 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
18816 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
18817 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
18818 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
18819 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
18820 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
18821 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
18825 @node Summary Score Commands
18826 @section Summary Score Commands
18827 @cindex score commands
18829 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
18830 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
18831 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
18832 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
18833 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
18835 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
18836 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
18837 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
18838 score file the current one.
18840 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
18845 @kindex V s (Summary)
18846 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
18847 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
18850 @kindex V S (Summary)
18851 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
18852 Display the score of the current article
18853 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
18856 @kindex V t (Summary)
18857 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
18858 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
18859 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
18860 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
18861 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
18862 score file and edit it.
18865 @kindex V w (Summary)
18866 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
18867 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
18870 @kindex V R (Summary)
18871 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
18872 Run the current summary through the scoring process
18873 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
18874 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
18875 effect you're having.
18878 @kindex V c (Summary)
18879 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
18880 Make a different score file the current
18881 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
18884 @kindex V e (Summary)
18885 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
18886 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
18887 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
18891 @kindex V f (Summary)
18892 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
18893 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
18894 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
18897 @kindex V F (Summary)
18898 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18899 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
18900 after editing score files.
18903 @kindex V C (Summary)
18904 @findex gnus-score-customize
18905 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
18906 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
18910 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
18915 @kindex V m (Summary)
18916 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
18917 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
18918 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
18921 @kindex V x (Summary)
18922 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
18923 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
18924 expunge all articles below this score
18925 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
18928 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
18929 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
18932 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
18933 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
18937 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
18938 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
18940 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
18941 keys are available:
18945 Score on the author name.
18948 Score on the subject line.
18951 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
18954 Score on the @code{References} line.
18960 Score on the number of lines.
18963 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
18966 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
18967 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
18970 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
18971 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
18972 @file{ADAPT} files.)
18981 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
18987 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
18988 what headers you are scoring on.
19000 Substring matching.
19003 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
19032 Greater than number.
19037 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
19038 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
19039 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
19044 Temporary score entry.
19047 Permanent score entry.
19050 Immediately scoring.
19054 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
19055 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
19056 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
19060 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
19061 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
19062 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
19063 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
19065 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
19066 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
19067 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
19068 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
19069 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
19071 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
19072 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
19073 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
19074 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
19075 current score file.
19077 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
19078 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
19079 pretend they are keymaps or not.
19082 @node Group Score Commands
19083 @section Group Score Commands
19084 @cindex group score commands
19086 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
19091 @kindex W e (Group)
19092 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
19093 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
19094 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
19097 @kindex W f (Group)
19098 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
19099 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
19100 all the time. This command will flush the cache
19101 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
19105 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
19107 @findex gnus-batch-score
19108 @cindex batch scoring
19110 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
19114 @node Score Variables
19115 @section Score Variables
19116 @cindex score variables
19120 @item gnus-use-scoring
19121 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
19122 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
19123 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
19125 @item gnus-kill-killed
19126 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
19127 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
19128 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
19129 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
19130 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
19131 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
19132 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
19134 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
19135 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
19136 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
19137 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
19138 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
19140 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
19141 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
19142 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
19143 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
19145 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19146 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
19147 @cindex score cache
19148 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
19149 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
19150 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
19151 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
19152 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
19153 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
19154 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
19157 @item gnus-save-score
19158 @vindex gnus-save-score
19159 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
19160 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
19161 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
19163 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
19164 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
19165 across group visits.
19167 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19168 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
19169 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
19170 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
19171 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
19172 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
19173 manually entered data.
19175 @item gnus-summary-default-score
19176 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
19177 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
19179 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
19180 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
19181 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
19182 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
19183 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
19184 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
19186 @item gnus-score-over-mark
19187 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
19188 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
19189 default. Default is @samp{+}.
19191 @item gnus-score-below-mark
19192 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
19193 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
19194 default. Default is @samp{-}.
19196 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19197 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
19198 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
19199 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
19201 Predefined functions available are:
19204 @item gnus-score-find-single
19205 @findex gnus-score-find-single
19206 Only apply the group's own score file.
19208 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
19209 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
19210 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
19211 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
19212 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
19213 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
19214 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
19215 then a regexp match is done.
19217 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
19218 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
19220 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
19221 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
19222 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
19223 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
19225 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19226 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
19227 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
19228 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
19229 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
19233 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
19234 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
19235 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
19236 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
19237 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
19238 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
19239 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
19242 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
19243 overall score file, you could use the value
19245 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
19246 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
19249 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
19250 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
19251 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
19252 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
19253 are expired. It's 7 by default.
19255 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19256 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
19257 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
19258 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
19259 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
19260 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
19261 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
19262 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
19264 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19265 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
19266 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
19268 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
19269 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
19270 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
19271 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
19272 threading---according to the current value of
19273 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
19274 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
19275 simplified in this manner.
19280 @node Score File Format
19281 @section Score File Format
19282 @cindex score file format
19284 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
19285 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
19286 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
19288 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
19292 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
19294 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
19296 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
19298 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
19303 (mark-and-expunge -10)
19307 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
19308 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
19309 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
19310 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
19314 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
19315 Scoring}, for a different approach.
19317 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
19318 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
19319 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
19321 Six keys are supported by this alist:
19326 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
19327 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
19328 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
19329 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
19330 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
19331 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
19332 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
19333 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
19334 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
19335 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
19336 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
19337 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
19338 to articles that matches these score entries.
19340 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
19341 score entry has one to four elements.
19345 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
19346 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
19350 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
19351 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
19352 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
19353 is successful. If this element is not present, the
19354 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
19355 instead. This is 1000 by default.
19358 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
19359 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
19360 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
19361 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
19362 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
19365 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
19366 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
19367 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
19368 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
19371 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
19372 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
19373 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
19374 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
19375 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
19376 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
19377 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
19378 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
19379 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
19380 instead, if you feel like.
19383 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
19384 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
19385 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
19386 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
19387 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
19388 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
19392 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
19393 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
19397 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
19398 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
19400 These predicates are true if
19403 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
19406 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
19407 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
19414 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
19415 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
19416 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
19417 it's not. I think.)
19419 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
19420 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
19421 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
19422 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
19425 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
19426 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
19427 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
19428 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
19429 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
19430 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
19431 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
19435 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
19436 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
19437 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
19438 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
19439 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
19440 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
19441 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
19442 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
19445 @item Head, Body, All
19446 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
19450 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
19451 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
19452 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
19453 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
19454 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
19455 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
19456 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
19460 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
19461 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
19462 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
19463 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
19464 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
19465 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
19466 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
19467 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
19468 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
19469 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
19470 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
19474 @cindex score file atoms
19476 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19477 lower than this number will be marked as read.
19480 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19481 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
19483 @item mark-and-expunge
19484 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
19485 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
19488 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
19489 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
19490 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
19491 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
19492 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
19495 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
19496 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
19499 @item exclude-files
19500 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
19501 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
19505 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
19506 ignored when handling global score files.
19509 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
19510 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
19511 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
19512 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
19515 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
19516 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
19517 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
19518 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
19520 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
19524 (mark-and-expunge -100)
19527 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
19528 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
19529 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
19530 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
19531 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
19533 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
19534 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
19535 scoring rules exist.
19538 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
19539 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
19540 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
19541 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
19542 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
19543 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
19544 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19545 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
19546 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
19547 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
19548 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
19552 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
19553 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
19554 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
19555 file for a number of groups.
19558 @cindex local variables
19559 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
19560 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
19561 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
19562 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
19563 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
19568 @node Score File Editing
19569 @section Score File Editing
19571 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
19572 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
19573 with a mode for that.
19575 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
19576 additional commands:
19581 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
19582 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
19583 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
19584 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
19587 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
19588 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
19589 Insert the current date in numerical format
19590 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
19591 you were wondering.
19594 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
19595 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
19596 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
19597 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
19598 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
19603 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
19605 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
19606 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
19608 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
19609 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
19612 @node Adaptive Scoring
19613 @section Adaptive Scoring
19614 @cindex adaptive scoring
19616 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
19617 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
19618 stupidity, to be precise.
19620 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
19621 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
19622 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
19623 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
19624 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19625 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
19626 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
19627 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
19628 variable to @code{(word line)}.
19630 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19631 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
19632 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
19633 might look something like this:
19636 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19637 '((gnus-unread-mark)
19638 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
19639 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
19640 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
19641 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
19642 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
19643 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
19644 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
19645 (gnus-ancient-mark)
19646 (gnus-low-score-mark)
19647 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
19650 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
19651 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
19652 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
19653 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
19654 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
19655 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
19658 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
19659 will be applied to each article.
19661 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
19662 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
19663 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
19664 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
19666 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
19667 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
19668 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
19669 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
19671 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
19672 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
19673 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
19674 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
19676 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
19677 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
19678 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
19679 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
19680 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
19681 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
19683 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
19684 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
19685 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
19687 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
19688 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
19689 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
19691 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
19692 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
19693 let you use different rules in different groups.
19695 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
19696 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
19697 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
19700 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
19701 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
19702 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
19703 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
19704 the length of the match is less than
19705 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
19706 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
19709 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19710 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
19711 headers. If you adapt on words, the
19712 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
19713 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
19716 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19717 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
19718 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
19719 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
19720 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
19723 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
19724 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
19725 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
19726 score with 30 points.
19728 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
19729 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
19730 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
19731 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
19732 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
19734 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
19735 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
19736 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
19737 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
19738 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
19740 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
19741 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
19742 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
19743 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
19745 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
19746 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
19747 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
19748 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
19750 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
19751 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
19752 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
19753 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
19754 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
19756 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
19757 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
19758 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
19760 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
19761 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
19762 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
19763 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
19766 @node Home Score File
19767 @section Home Score File
19769 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
19770 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
19771 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
19772 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
19774 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
19775 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
19776 could perhaps use the same home score file.
19778 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
19779 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
19784 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
19788 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
19789 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
19793 A list. The elements in this list can be:
19797 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
19798 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
19801 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
19802 be used as the home score file.
19805 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
19808 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
19813 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
19816 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19817 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
19820 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
19821 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
19823 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
19825 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19826 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
19829 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
19830 Other functions include
19833 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
19834 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
19835 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
19836 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
19840 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
19841 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
19842 their own home score files:
19845 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19846 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
19847 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
19848 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
19849 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
19852 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
19853 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
19854 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
19855 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
19856 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
19858 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
19859 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
19860 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
19861 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
19862 precedence over this variable.
19865 @node Followups To Yourself
19866 @section Followups To Yourself
19868 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
19869 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
19870 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
19871 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
19872 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
19873 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
19877 @item gnus-score-followup-article
19878 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
19879 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
19882 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
19883 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
19884 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
19888 @vindex message-sent-hook
19889 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
19890 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
19892 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
19896 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
19897 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
19901 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19902 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19905 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
19906 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
19911 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
19915 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
19916 is system-dependent.
19919 @node Scoring On Other Headers
19920 @section Scoring On Other Headers
19921 @cindex scoring on other headers
19923 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
19924 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
19925 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
19926 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
19927 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
19929 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
19930 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
19931 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
19932 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
19933 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
19935 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
19938 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
19939 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
19942 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
19943 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
19944 time if you have much mail.
19946 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
19947 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
19953 @section Scoring Tips
19954 @cindex scoring tips
19960 @cindex scoring crossposts
19961 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
19962 the @code{Xref} header.
19964 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
19967 @item Multiple crossposts
19968 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
19969 more than, say, 3 groups:
19972 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
19976 @item Matching on the body
19977 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
19978 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
19979 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
19980 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
19981 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
19982 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
19983 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
19986 @item Marking as read
19987 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
19988 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
19989 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
19993 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
19995 @item Negated character classes
19996 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
19997 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
19998 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
20002 @node Reverse Scoring
20003 @section Reverse Scoring
20004 @cindex reverse scoring
20006 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
20007 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
20008 like this in your score file:
20012 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
20017 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
20018 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
20021 @node Global Score Files
20022 @section Global Score Files
20023 @cindex global score files
20025 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
20026 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
20027 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
20029 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
20030 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
20031 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
20033 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
20034 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
20035 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
20036 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
20037 files are applicable to which group.
20039 To use the score file
20040 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
20041 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
20045 (setq gnus-global-score-files
20046 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
20047 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
20050 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
20052 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
20053 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
20054 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
20055 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
20057 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
20058 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
20060 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
20061 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
20062 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
20063 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
20064 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
20065 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
20067 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
20073 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
20075 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
20077 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
20079 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
20080 lowered out of existence.
20082 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
20083 articles completely.
20086 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
20087 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
20088 old articles for a long time.
20091 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
20092 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
20093 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
20094 holding our breath yet?
20098 @section Kill Files
20101 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
20102 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
20103 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
20105 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
20106 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
20107 files into score files.
20109 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
20110 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
20111 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
20112 that isn't a very good idea.
20114 Normal kill files look like this:
20117 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20118 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
20122 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
20123 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
20125 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
20126 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
20129 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
20134 @kindex M-k (Summary)
20135 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
20136 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
20139 @kindex M-K (Summary)
20140 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
20141 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
20144 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
20149 @kindex M-k (Group)
20150 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
20151 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
20154 @kindex M-K (Group)
20155 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
20156 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
20159 Kill file variables:
20162 @item gnus-kill-file-name
20163 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
20164 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
20165 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
20166 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
20167 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
20168 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
20170 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20171 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
20172 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
20173 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
20176 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
20177 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
20178 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
20179 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
20180 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
20181 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
20182 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
20183 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
20184 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
20186 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20187 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
20188 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
20193 @node Converting Kill Files
20194 @section Converting Kill Files
20196 @cindex converting kill files
20198 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
20199 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
20200 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
20203 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
20204 You can fetch it from
20205 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
20207 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
20208 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
20209 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
20213 @node Advanced Scoring
20214 @section Advanced Scoring
20216 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
20217 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
20218 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
20219 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
20220 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
20222 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
20226 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
20227 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
20228 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
20232 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
20233 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
20235 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
20236 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
20237 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
20238 non-@code{nil} value.
20240 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
20241 operator, and various match operators.
20248 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20249 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
20250 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
20255 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
20256 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
20257 then this operator will return @code{false}.
20262 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
20263 logical negation of the value of its argument.
20267 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
20268 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
20269 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
20270 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
20271 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
20272 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
20273 the ancestry you want to go.
20275 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
20276 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
20277 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
20278 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
20279 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
20282 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
20283 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
20285 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
20286 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
20289 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
20290 when he's talking about Gnus:
20295 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20296 ("subject" "Gnus"))
20303 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
20307 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20314 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
20315 really don't want to read what he's written:
20319 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20320 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
20324 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
20325 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
20326 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
20333 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
20334 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
20335 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
20336 ("body" "white.*socks"))
20340 The possibilities are endless.
20343 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
20344 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
20346 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
20347 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
20348 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
20349 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
20350 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
20351 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
20352 @samp{subject}) first.
20354 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
20355 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
20366 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
20367 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
20373 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20380 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20381 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20386 @section Score Decays
20387 @cindex score decays
20390 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20391 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20392 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20393 use them in any sensible way.
20395 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20396 @findex gnus-decay-score
20397 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20398 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20399 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20400 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20401 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20402 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
20403 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
20404 definition of that function:
20407 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20408 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20409 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20411 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
20413 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20415 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20416 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
20417 ;; XEmacs' floor can handle only the floating point
20418 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
20419 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
20421 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
20425 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20426 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20427 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20428 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20432 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20435 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20438 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20442 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20443 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20444 the new score, which should be an integer.
20446 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20447 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20452 @include message.texi
20453 @chapter Emacs MIME
20454 @include emacs-mime.texi
20456 @include sieve.texi
20468 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
20469 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
20470 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
20471 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
20472 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
20473 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
20474 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
20475 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
20476 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
20477 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
20478 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
20479 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
20480 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
20481 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
20482 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
20483 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
20484 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
20485 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
20486 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
20487 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
20491 @node Process/Prefix
20492 @section Process/Prefix
20493 @cindex process/prefix convention
20495 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
20496 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
20498 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
20499 command to be performed on.
20503 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
20504 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
20505 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
20506 with the current one.
20508 @vindex transient-mark-mode
20509 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
20510 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
20512 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
20513 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
20516 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
20517 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
20519 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
20522 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
20523 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
20524 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
20525 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20527 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
20528 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
20529 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
20530 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
20531 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
20532 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
20533 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
20534 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
20536 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
20537 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
20538 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
20539 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
20540 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
20544 @section Interactive
20545 @cindex interaction
20549 @item gnus-novice-user
20550 @vindex gnus-novice-user
20551 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
20552 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
20553 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
20554 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
20557 @item gnus-expert-user
20558 @vindex gnus-expert-user
20559 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
20560 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
20561 matter how strange.
20563 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
20564 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
20565 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
20566 is @code{t} by default.
20568 @item gnus-interactive-exit
20569 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
20570 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20575 @node Symbolic Prefixes
20576 @section Symbolic Prefixes
20577 @cindex symbolic prefixes
20579 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
20580 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
20581 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
20582 rule of 900 to the current article.
20584 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
20585 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
20586 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
20587 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
20588 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
20589 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
20590 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
20592 @kindex M-i (Summary)
20593 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
20594 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
20595 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
20596 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
20597 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
20598 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
20599 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
20600 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
20602 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
20603 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
20604 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
20606 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
20610 @node Formatting Variables
20611 @section Formatting Variables
20612 @cindex formatting variables
20614 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
20615 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
20616 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
20617 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
20618 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
20621 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
20622 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
20623 lots of percentages everywhere.
20626 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
20627 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
20628 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
20629 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
20630 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
20631 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
20632 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
20633 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
20636 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
20637 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
20638 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
20639 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
20640 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
20641 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
20642 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
20643 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
20645 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
20646 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
20648 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
20649 @findex gnus-update-format
20650 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
20651 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
20652 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
20653 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
20657 @node Formatting Basics
20658 @subsection Formatting Basics
20660 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
20661 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
20662 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
20664 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
20665 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
20666 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
20667 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
20668 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
20671 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
20672 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
20673 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
20674 less than 4 characters wide.
20676 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
20677 @samp{%&user-date;}.
20680 @node Mode Line Formatting
20681 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
20683 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
20684 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
20685 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
20686 with the following two differences:
20691 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
20694 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
20695 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
20696 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
20697 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
20698 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
20699 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
20700 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
20705 @node Advanced Formatting
20706 @subsection Advanced Formatting
20708 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
20709 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
20710 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
20711 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
20713 These are the valid modifiers:
20718 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
20722 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
20727 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
20730 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
20735 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
20738 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
20741 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
20744 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
20750 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
20755 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
20756 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
20757 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
20758 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
20759 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
20760 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
20761 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
20763 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
20764 last operation, padding.
20766 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
20767 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
20768 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
20769 @xref{Compilation}.
20772 @node User-Defined Specs
20773 @subsection User-Defined Specs
20775 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
20776 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
20777 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
20778 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
20779 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
20780 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
20781 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
20782 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
20783 should protect against that.
20785 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
20786 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
20788 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
20789 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
20790 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
20791 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
20795 @node Formatting Fonts
20796 @subsection Formatting Fonts
20798 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
20799 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
20800 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
20801 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
20804 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
20805 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
20806 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
20807 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
20808 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
20809 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
20811 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
20812 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
20813 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
20814 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
20815 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
20816 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
20817 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
20818 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
20819 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
20820 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
20821 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
20824 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
20827 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
20828 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
20829 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
20831 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
20832 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
20833 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
20834 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
20835 ;; @r{Set the color.}
20836 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
20837 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
20839 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
20840 (setq gnus-group-line-format
20841 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
20844 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
20845 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
20847 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
20848 mode-line variables.
20850 @node Positioning Point
20851 @subsection Positioning Point
20853 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
20854 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
20855 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
20857 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
20859 @findex gnus-goto-colon
20860 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
20861 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
20863 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
20864 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
20865 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
20870 @subsection Tabulation
20872 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
20873 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
20874 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
20875 about lining up the following text afterwards.
20877 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
20878 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
20880 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20881 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
20882 This is the soft tabulator.
20884 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20885 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
20886 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
20889 @node Wide Characters
20890 @subsection Wide Characters
20892 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
20893 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
20894 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
20896 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
20897 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
20898 these countries, that's not true.
20900 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
20901 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
20902 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
20903 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
20907 @node Window Layout
20908 @section Window Layout
20909 @cindex window layout
20911 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
20913 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
20914 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
20915 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
20916 @code{t} by default.
20918 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
20919 glitches. Use at your own peril.
20921 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
20922 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
20923 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
20926 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
20927 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
20928 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20932 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
20933 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
20934 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
20935 possible names is listed below.
20937 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
20938 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
20941 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20945 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
20946 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
20947 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
20948 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
20949 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
20950 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
20951 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
20952 size spec per split.
20954 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
20955 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
20956 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
20957 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
20958 present) gets focus.
20960 Here's a more complicated example:
20963 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
20964 (summary 0.25 point)
20965 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
20969 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
20970 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
20971 occupy, not a percentage.
20973 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
20974 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
20975 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
20976 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
20977 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
20980 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
20983 (article (horizontal 1.0
20988 (summary 0.25 point)
20993 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20994 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20996 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20997 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20998 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20999 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
21000 the screen is to be given to this strip.
21002 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
21003 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
21004 lines from the splits.
21006 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
21011 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
21012 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
21013 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
21014 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
21015 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
21016 size = number | frame-params
21017 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
21021 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
21022 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
21023 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
21024 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
21026 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
21027 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
21028 @cindex window height
21029 @cindex window width
21030 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
21031 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
21032 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
21033 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
21034 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
21035 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
21037 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
21038 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
21039 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
21040 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
21042 @findex gnus-configure-frame
21043 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
21044 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
21045 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
21046 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
21047 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
21048 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
21049 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
21050 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
21051 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
21052 configuration list.
21055 (gnus-configure-frame
21059 (article 0.3 point))
21067 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
21068 @code{frame} split:
21071 (gnus-configure-frame
21074 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
21076 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
21077 (user-position . t)
21078 (left . -1) (top . 1))
21083 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
21084 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
21085 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
21086 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
21087 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
21088 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
21089 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
21090 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
21092 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
21093 be found in its default value.
21095 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
21096 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
21097 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
21101 (message (horizontal 1.0
21102 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
21104 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
21109 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
21110 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
21111 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
21116 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
21117 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
21118 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
21119 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
21120 (name . "Message"))
21121 (message 1.0 point))))
21124 @findex gnus-add-configuration
21125 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
21126 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
21127 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
21128 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
21131 (gnus-add-configuration
21132 '(article (vertical 1.0
21134 (summary .25 point)
21138 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
21139 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
21140 Gnus has been loaded.
21142 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
21143 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
21144 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
21145 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
21146 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
21148 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
21149 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
21150 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
21153 @subsection Example Window Configurations
21157 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
21158 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
21173 (gnus-add-configuration
21176 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
21178 (summary 0.16 point)
21181 (gnus-add-configuration
21184 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
21185 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
21191 @node Faces and Fonts
21192 @section Faces and Fonts
21197 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
21198 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
21199 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
21204 @section Compilation
21205 @cindex compilation
21206 @cindex byte-compilation
21208 @findex gnus-compile
21210 Remember all those line format specification variables?
21211 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
21212 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
21213 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
21214 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
21215 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
21218 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
21219 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
21220 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
21221 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
21222 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
21223 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
21224 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
21228 @section Mode Lines
21231 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
21232 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
21233 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
21234 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
21235 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
21236 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
21237 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
21240 @cindex display-time
21242 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
21243 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
21244 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
21245 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
21246 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
21247 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
21248 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
21249 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
21252 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
21254 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
21255 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
21257 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
21258 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
21259 (length display-time-string)))))
21262 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
21263 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
21264 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
21265 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
21266 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
21269 @node Highlighting and Menus
21270 @section Highlighting and Menus
21272 @cindex highlighting
21275 @vindex gnus-visual
21276 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
21277 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
21278 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
21281 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
21282 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
21285 @item group-highlight
21286 Do highlights in the group buffer.
21287 @item summary-highlight
21288 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
21289 @item article-highlight
21290 Do highlights in the article buffer.
21292 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
21294 Create menus in the group buffer.
21296 Create menus in the summary buffers.
21298 Create menus in the article buffer.
21300 Create menus in the browse buffer.
21302 Create menus in the server buffer.
21304 Create menus in the score buffers.
21306 Create menus in all buffers.
21309 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
21310 buffers, you could say something like:
21313 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
21316 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
21319 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
21322 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
21323 in all Gnus buffers.
21325 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
21328 @item gnus-mouse-face
21329 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
21330 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
21331 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
21335 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
21339 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
21340 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
21341 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
21343 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
21344 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
21345 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
21347 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
21348 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
21349 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
21351 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
21352 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
21353 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
21355 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
21356 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
21357 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
21359 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
21360 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
21361 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
21372 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
21373 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
21374 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
21375 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
21376 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
21380 @vindex gnus-carpal
21381 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
21382 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
21383 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
21388 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21389 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21390 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
21392 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
21393 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
21394 Face used on buttons.
21396 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
21397 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
21398 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
21400 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21401 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21402 Buttons in the group buffer.
21404 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21405 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21406 Buttons in the summary buffer.
21408 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21409 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21410 Buttons in the server buffer.
21412 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21413 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21414 Buttons in the browse buffer.
21417 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
21418 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
21419 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
21427 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
21428 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
21429 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
21430 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
21431 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
21433 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
21434 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
21435 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
21437 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
21438 been idle for thirty minutes:
21441 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
21444 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
21448 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
21451 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
21452 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
21453 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21455 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
21456 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
21457 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
21458 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21460 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
21461 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
21462 @var{idle} minutes.
21464 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
21465 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
21468 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
21469 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
21470 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
21472 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
21473 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
21474 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
21475 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
21477 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
21478 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21480 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
21482 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
21485 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
21486 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
21487 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
21488 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
21489 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
21490 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
21491 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
21492 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
21493 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
21494 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
21495 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
21497 @findex gnus-demon-init
21498 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
21499 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
21500 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
21501 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
21502 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
21504 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
21505 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
21506 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
21515 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
21516 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
21518 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
21519 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
21520 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
21521 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
21524 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
21525 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
21526 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
21527 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
21529 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
21530 this will make spam disappear.
21532 There are some variables to customize, of course:
21535 @item gnus-use-nocem
21536 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
21537 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
21540 @item gnus-nocem-groups
21541 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
21542 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
21545 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
21546 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
21549 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
21550 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
21551 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
21552 people you want to listen to. The default is
21554 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
21555 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
21557 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
21559 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
21560 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
21562 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
21563 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
21564 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
21565 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
21566 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
21567 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
21568 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
21569 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
21570 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
21571 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
21573 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
21574 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
21577 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
21580 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
21581 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
21584 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
21587 The specs are applied left-to-right.
21590 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
21591 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
21593 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
21594 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
21595 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
21596 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
21598 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
21599 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
21602 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
21604 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
21612 This might be dangerous, though.
21614 @item gnus-nocem-directory
21615 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
21616 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
21617 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
21619 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21620 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21621 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
21622 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
21623 might then see old spam.
21625 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
21626 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
21627 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
21628 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
21629 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
21632 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21633 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21634 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
21635 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
21639 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
21640 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
21641 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
21642 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
21649 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
21650 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
21651 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
21653 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
21654 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
21655 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
21656 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
21657 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
21658 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
21659 @code{undo} function.
21661 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
21662 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
21663 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
21664 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
21665 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
21666 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
21667 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
21668 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
21669 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
21670 never be totally undoable.
21672 @findex gnus-undo-mode
21673 @vindex gnus-use-undo
21675 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
21676 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
21677 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
21678 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
21682 @node Predicate Specifiers
21683 @section Predicate Specifiers
21684 @cindex predicate specifiers
21686 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
21687 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
21688 to type all that much.
21690 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
21695 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
21696 gnus-article-unread-p)
21699 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
21700 functions all take one parameter.
21702 @findex gnus-make-predicate
21703 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
21704 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
21705 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
21710 @section Moderation
21713 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
21714 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
21715 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
21718 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
21722 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
21725 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21727 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
21732 You split your incoming mail by matching on
21733 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
21734 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
21737 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
21738 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
21741 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
21742 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
21746 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
21749 (setq gnus-moderated-list
21750 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
21754 @node Image Enhancements
21755 @section Image Enhancements
21757 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
21758 support images yet.}, is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has
21759 taken advantage of that.
21762 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
21763 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
21764 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
21765 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
21766 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
21774 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
21775 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
21776 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21780 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21781 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21782 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21790 Gnus now uses the internal ELisp-based @code{uncompface} program for
21791 decoding an @code{X-Face} header normally in Emacs. While it doesn't
21792 require any other external program, you may feel it is slow if you are
21793 using a slow machine. In such a case, you can modify the following
21797 @item uncompface-use-external
21798 @vindex uncompface-use-external
21799 Specify which of the internal or the external decoder should be used.
21800 @code{nil} means to use the internal ELisp-based @code{uncompface}
21801 program. @code{t} means to use the external decoder. The default value
21802 is normally @code{undecided} which means to determine it by checking
21803 whether the host machine is slow, being controlled by
21804 @code{uncompface-use-external-threshold} (which see).
21806 @item uncompface-use-external-threshold
21807 @vindex uncompface-use-external-threshold
21808 A number of seconds to check whether the host machine is slow. If the
21809 host takes time larger than this value for decoding an @code{X-Face}
21810 using the internal ELisp-based @code{uncompface} program, it will be
21811 changed to using the external decoder. The default is 0.1 seconds.
21814 If the internal decoder is invalidated or if you are using XEmacs,
21815 decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21816 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21817 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21818 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21820 The variable that controls this is the
21821 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21822 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21823 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21824 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21825 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21827 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21828 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21829 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21830 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21833 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21834 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21835 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21836 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21837 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21838 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21839 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21840 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21842 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21850 @vindex gnus-x-face
21851 Face to show X-Face. The colors from this face are used as the
21852 foreground and background colors of the displayed X-Faces. The
21853 default colors are black and white.
21855 @item gnus-face-properties-alist
21856 @vindex gnus-face-properties-alist
21857 Alist of image types and properties applied to Face (@pxref{Face}) and
21858 X-Face images. The default value is @code{((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face))
21859 (png . nil))} for Emacs or @code{((xface . (:face gnus-x-face)))} for
21860 XEmacs. Here are examples:
21863 ;; Specify the altitude of Face and X-Face images in the From header.
21864 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
21865 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :ascent 80))
21866 (png . (:ascent 80))))
21868 ;; Show Face and X-Face images as pressed buttons.
21869 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
21870 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :relief -2))
21871 (png . (:relief -2))))
21874 @pxref{Image Descriptors, ,Image Descriptors, elisp, The Emacs Lisp
21875 Reference Manual} for the valid properties for various image types.
21876 Currently, @code{pbm} is used for X-Face images and @code{png} is used
21877 for Face images in Emacs. Only the @code{:face} property is effective
21878 on the @code{xface} image type in XEmacs if it is built with the
21879 @samp{libcompface} library.
21882 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21883 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21885 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21886 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
21887 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
21888 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21889 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21890 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21891 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21892 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21893 header data as a string.
21895 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21896 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21897 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21898 randomly generated data.
21900 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21901 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
21902 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21903 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21904 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21906 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21907 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21910 (setq message-required-news-headers
21911 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21912 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21915 Using the last function would be something like this:
21918 (setq message-required-news-headers
21919 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21920 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21921 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21922 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21930 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces'implementations should really be harmonized.
21932 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
21933 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
21934 represent the author of the message.
21937 @findex gnus-article-display-face
21938 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
21939 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
21942 The @code{gnus-face-properties-alist} variable affects the appearance of
21943 displayed Face images. @xref{X-Face}.
21945 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21946 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
21948 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
21949 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
21950 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
21952 @findex gnus-face-from-file
21953 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
21954 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
21955 converts the file to Face format by using the
21956 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
21958 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
21959 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21962 (setq message-required-news-headers
21963 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21964 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
21965 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
21970 @subsection Smileys
21975 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
21980 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
21981 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
21983 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
21984 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21987 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
21990 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
21991 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
21992 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
21993 text and maps that to file names.
21995 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
21996 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
21997 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
21998 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
21999 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
22002 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
22007 @item smiley-data-directory
22008 @vindex smiley-data-directory
22009 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
22011 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
22012 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
22013 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
22027 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
22028 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
22029 over your shoulder as you read news.
22031 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
22040 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
22041 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
22042 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
22043 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
22044 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
22045 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
22046 @code{GIF} formats.
22049 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
22050 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
22051 point your Web browser at
22052 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
22054 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
22055 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
22057 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
22058 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
22061 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
22065 @item gnus-picon-databases
22066 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
22067 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
22068 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
22069 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
22070 "/usr/local/faces")}.
22072 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
22073 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
22074 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
22075 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
22077 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
22078 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
22079 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
22080 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
22082 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
22083 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
22084 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
22085 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
22086 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
22088 @item gnus-picon-file-types
22089 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
22090 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
22091 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
22097 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
22100 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
22101 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
22102 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
22103 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
22104 unusual directory structure.
22106 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
22107 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
22108 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
22109 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
22111 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
22112 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
22113 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
22114 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
22115 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
22116 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
22118 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
22119 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
22120 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
22125 @subsubsection Toolbar
22129 @item gnus-use-toolbar
22130 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
22131 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
22132 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
22133 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
22135 @item gnus-group-toolbar
22136 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
22137 The toolbar in the group buffer.
22139 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
22140 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
22141 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
22143 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
22144 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
22145 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
22156 @node Fuzzy Matching
22157 @section Fuzzy Matching
22158 @cindex fuzzy matching
22160 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
22161 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
22163 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
22164 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
22165 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
22167 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
22168 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
22169 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
22170 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
22171 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
22174 @node Thwarting Email Spam
22175 @section Thwarting Email Spam
22179 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
22181 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
22182 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
22183 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
22184 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
22185 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
22186 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
22187 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
22188 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
22191 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
22192 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
22193 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
22194 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
22195 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
22196 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
22198 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
22201 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
22202 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
22203 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
22204 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
22205 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
22206 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
22209 @node The problem of spam
22210 @subsection The problem of spam
22212 @cindex spam filtering approaches
22213 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
22215 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
22217 First, some background on spam.
22219 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
22220 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
22221 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
22222 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
22223 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
22224 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
22225 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
22226 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
22227 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
22229 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
22230 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
22231 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
22232 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
22233 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
22234 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
22235 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
22236 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
22237 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
22240 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
22241 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
22242 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
22243 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
22244 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
22245 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
22246 from Bulgarian IPs.
22248 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
22249 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
22250 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
22251 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
22253 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
22254 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
22255 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
22256 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
22258 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
22259 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
22260 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
22261 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
22262 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
22263 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
22264 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
22265 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
22266 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
22268 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
22269 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
22270 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
22271 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
22272 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
22273 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
22274 down for some time because of the incident.
22276 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
22277 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
22278 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
22279 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
22280 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
22281 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
22282 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
22283 to store the database of spam analyses. Statistical analysis on the
22284 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
22285 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
22286 the server that it has misclassified mail.
22288 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
22289 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
22290 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
22291 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
22292 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
22293 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
22294 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
22297 @node Anti-Spam Basics
22298 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
22302 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
22304 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
22305 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
22307 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
22308 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
22309 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
22310 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
22311 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
22312 part of the mail address.)
22315 (setq message-default-news-headers
22316 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
22319 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22320 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
22324 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
22325 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
22326 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
22331 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
22332 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
22333 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
22334 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
22336 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
22337 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
22338 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
22339 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
22340 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
22341 your fancy split rule in this way:
22346 (to "larsi" "misc")
22350 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
22351 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
22352 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
22353 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
22354 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
22356 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
22357 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
22358 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
22359 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
22361 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
22365 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
22366 @cindex SpamAssassin
22367 @cindex Vipul's Razor
22370 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
22371 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
22372 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
22373 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
22374 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
22375 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
22376 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
22378 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
22379 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
22380 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
22383 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
22384 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
22385 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
22386 Specifiers}) follow.
22390 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
22394 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
22397 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
22398 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
22399 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
22402 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
22406 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
22409 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
22410 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
22414 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
22415 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
22416 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
22417 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
22420 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
22422 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
22426 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
22427 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
22431 Note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will not be
22432 downloaded by default. You need to set
22433 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
22434 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
22436 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
22437 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
22438 spam. And here is the nifty function:
22441 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
22442 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
22444 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
22445 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
22446 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
22450 @subsection Hashcash
22453 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
22454 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
22455 you cannot rely on everyone in the world using this technique,
22456 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
22457 in smaller communities.
22459 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
22460 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
22461 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
22462 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
22463 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
22464 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
22465 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
22466 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
22467 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
22468 one of them separately.
22471 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
22472 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
22473 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
22474 header. For more details, and for the external application
22475 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
22476 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
22477 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
22479 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
22483 (require 'hashcash)
22484 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
22487 The @file{hashcash.el} library can be found in the Gnus development
22488 contrib directory or at
22489 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}.
22491 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
22495 @item hashcash-default-payment
22496 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
22497 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
22498 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
22499 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
22501 @item hashcash-payment-alist
22502 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
22503 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
22504 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
22505 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
22506 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
22507 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
22508 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
22509 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
22513 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
22517 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
22518 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
22519 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
22520 a useful contribution, however.
22522 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22523 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22524 @cindex spam filtering
22527 The idea behind @file{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
22528 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @file{spam.el} does two things: it
22529 filters new mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
22530 @dfn{Ham} is the name used throughout @file{spam.el} to indicate
22533 First of all, you @strong{must} run the function
22534 @code{spam-initialize} to autoload @code{spam.el} and to install the
22535 @code{spam.el} hooks. There is one exception: if you use the
22536 @code{spam-use-stat} (@pxref{spam-stat spam filtering}) setting, you
22537 should turn it on before @code{spam-initialize}:
22540 (setq spam-use-stat t) ;; if needed
22544 So, what happens when you load @file{spam.el}?
22546 First, some hooks will get installed by @code{spam-initialize}. There
22547 are some hooks for @code{spam-stat} so it can save its databases, and
22548 there are hooks so interesting things will happen when you enter and
22549 leave a group. More on the sequence of events later (@pxref{Spam
22550 ELisp Package Sequence of Events}).
22552 You get the following keyboard commands:
22562 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
22563 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
22565 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
22566 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
22567 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
22568 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
22574 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
22575 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
22577 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
22583 Also, when you load @file{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
22584 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
22588 * Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events::
22589 * Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail::
22590 * Spam ELisp Package Global Variables::
22591 * Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples::
22592 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
22593 * BBDB Whitelists::
22594 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
22595 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
22597 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
22599 * SpamAssassin backend::
22600 * ifile spam filtering::
22601 * spam-stat spam filtering::
22603 * Extending the Spam ELisp package::
22606 @node Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events
22607 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Sequence of Events
22608 @cindex spam filtering
22609 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
22612 You must read this section to understand how @code{spam.el} works.
22613 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
22615 There are two @emph{contact points}, if you will, between
22616 @code{spam.el} and the rest of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and
22619 Getting new mail is done in one of two ways. You can either split
22620 your incoming mail or you can classify new articles as ham or spam
22621 when you enter the group.
22623 Splitting incoming mail is better suited to mail backends such as
22624 @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap} where new mail appears in a single file
22625 called a @dfn{Spool File}. See @xref{Spam ELisp Package Filtering of
22628 @vindex gnus-spam-autodetect
22629 @vindex gnus-spam-autodetect-methods
22630 For backends such as @code{nntp} there is no incoming mail spool, so
22631 an alternate mechanism must be used. This may also happen for
22632 backends where the server is in charge of splitting incoming mail, and
22633 Gnus does not do further splitting. The @code{spam-autodetect} and
22634 @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameters (accessible with
22635 @kbd{G c} and @kbd{G p} as usual), and the corresponding variables
22636 @code{gnus-spam-autodetect} and @code{gnus-spam-autodetect-methods}
22637 (accessible with @kbd{M-x customize-variable} as usual) can help.
22639 When @code{spam-autodetect} is used (you can turn it on for a
22640 group/topic or wholesale by regex, as needed), it hooks into the
22641 process of entering a group. Thus, entering a group with unseen or
22642 unread articles becomes the substitute for checking incoming mail.
22643 Whether only unseen articles or all unread articles will be processed
22644 is determined by the @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages}. When
22645 set to @code{t}, unread messages will be rechecked.
22647 @code{spam-autodetect} grants the user at once more and less control
22648 of spam filtering. The user will have more control over each group's
22649 spam methods, so for instance the @samp{ding} group may have
22650 @code{spam-use-BBDB} as the autodetection method, while the
22651 @samp{suspect} group may have the @code{spam-use-blacklist} and
22652 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods enabled. Every article detected to
22653 be spam will be marked with the spam mark @samp{$} and processed on
22654 exit from the group as normal spam. The user has less control over
22655 the @emph{sequence} of checks, as he might with @code{spam-split}.
22657 When the newly split mail goes into groups, or messages are
22658 autodetected to be ham or spam, those groups must be exited (after
22659 entering, if needed) for further spam processing to happen. It
22660 matters whether the group is considered a ham group, a spam group, or
22661 is unclassified, based on its @code{spam-content} parameter
22662 (@pxref{Spam ELisp Package Global Variables}). Spam groups have the
22663 additional characteristic that, when entered, any unseen or unread
22664 articles (depending on the @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam}
22665 variable) will be marked as spam. Thus, mail split into a spam group
22666 gets automatically marked as spam when you enter the group.
22668 So, when you exit a group, the @code{spam-processors} are applied, if
22669 any are set, and the processed mail is moved to the
22670 @code{ham-process-destination} or the @code{spam-process-destination}
22671 depending on the article's classification. If the
22672 @code{ham-process-destination} or the @code{spam-process-destination},
22673 whichever is appropriate, are @code{nil}, the article is left in the
22676 If a spam is found in any group (this can be changed to only non-spam
22677 groups with @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only}), it is
22678 processed by the active @code{spam-processors} (@pxref{Spam ELisp
22679 Package Global Variables}) when the group is exited. Furthermore, the
22680 spam is moved to the @code{spam-process-destination} (@pxref{Spam
22681 ELisp Package Global Variables}) for further training or deletion.
22682 You have to load the @code{gnus-registry.el} package and enable the
22683 @code{spam-log-to-registry} variable if you want spam to be processed
22684 no more than once. Thus, spam is detected and processed everywhere,
22685 which is what most people want. If the
22686 @code{spam-process-destination} is @code{nil}, the spam is marked as
22687 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
22689 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22690 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22692 If a ham mail is found in a ham group, as determined by the
22693 @code{ham-marks} parameter, it is processed as ham by the active ham
22694 @code{spam-processor} when the group is exited. With the variables
22695 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
22696 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} the behavior can be further
22697 altered so ham found anywhere can be processed. You have to load the
22698 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and enable the
22699 @code{spam-log-to-registry} variable if you want ham to be processed
22700 no more than once. Thus, ham is detected and processed only when
22701 necessary, which is what most people want. More on this in
22702 @xref{Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples}.
22704 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22705 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22707 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
22708 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
22709 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
22711 @node Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail
22712 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Filtering of Incoming Mail
22713 @cindex spam filtering
22714 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
22717 To use the @file{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
22718 must add the following to your fancy split list
22719 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
22725 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
22726 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
22727 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
22729 Also, @code{spam-split} will not modify incoming mail in any way.
22731 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
22732 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
22733 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
22734 but you can customize @code{spam-split-group}. Make sure the contents
22735 of @code{spam-split-group} are an @emph{unqualified} group name, for
22736 instance in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server} the value
22737 @samp{spam} will turn out to be @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The
22738 value @samp{nnimap+server:spam}, therefore, is wrong and will
22739 actually give you the group
22740 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam} which may or may not
22741 work depending on your server's tolerance for strange group names.
22743 You can also give @code{spam-split} a parameter,
22744 e.g. @code{spam-use-regex-headers} or @code{"maybe-spam"}. Why is
22747 Take these split rules (with @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and
22748 @code{spam-use-blackholes} set):
22751 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
22752 (any "ding" "ding")
22754 ;; @r{default mailbox}
22758 Now, the problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the
22759 ding folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam
22760 detected by SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through,
22761 when it's sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to
22762 the ding list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the
22763 invocation of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
22765 You can let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, but all other
22766 @code{spam-split} rules (including a second invocation of the
22767 regex-headers check) will be after the ding rule:
22772 ;; @r{all spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
22773 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
22774 (any "ding" "ding")
22775 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
22777 ;; @r{default mailbox}
22781 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
22782 your particular needs, and to target the results of those checks to a
22783 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
22784 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
22785 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
22786 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
22787 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
22789 You should still have specific checks such as
22790 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} set to @code{t}, even if you
22791 specifically invoke @code{spam-split} with the check. The reason is
22792 that when loading @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done
22793 depending on what @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. This
22794 is usually not critical, though.
22796 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
22798 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
22799 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
22800 the headers. By default, the nnimap back end will only retrieve the
22801 message headers. If you use @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
22802 @code{spam-check-ifile}, or @code{spam-check-stat} (the splitters that
22803 can benefit from the full message body), you should set this variable.
22804 It is not set by default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and
22805 that is not an appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user.
22807 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
22809 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
22810 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
22813 @node Spam ELisp Package Global Variables
22814 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Global Variables
22815 @cindex spam filtering
22816 @cindex spam filtering variables
22817 @cindex spam variables
22820 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
22821 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
22822 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
22823 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
22824 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
22825 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
22826 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
22827 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
22828 will be detected later.
22830 The format of the spam or ham processor entry used to be a symbol,
22831 but now it is a @sc{cons} cell. See the individual spam processor entries
22832 for more information.
22834 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
22835 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
22836 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
22837 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
22838 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
22839 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
22840 by customizing the corresponding variable
22841 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
22842 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
22843 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
22844 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
22845 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
22846 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
22847 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
22850 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
22852 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
22853 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
22854 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
22855 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
22856 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
22857 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
22858 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
22859 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
22860 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
22861 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
22862 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
22863 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
22864 processor which will study them as spam samples.
22866 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
22867 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
22868 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
22869 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
22870 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
22871 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
22872 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
22873 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
22876 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22877 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
22878 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
22879 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
22880 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
22881 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
22882 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
22887 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
22888 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
22889 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
22890 you really want to.
22893 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
22894 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
22895 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
22896 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
22897 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
22898 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
22901 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
22902 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
22903 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
22904 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
22905 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
22906 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
22907 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
22908 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
22909 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
22910 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
22911 group name list is a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
22912 the variable manually. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
22913 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
22914 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
22915 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
22917 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22918 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22920 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
22921 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
22922 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
22924 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
22925 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
22927 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
22928 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
22929 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
22930 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
22931 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
22933 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
22934 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
22935 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
22936 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
22937 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
22940 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
22941 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
22942 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
22943 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
22944 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
22945 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
22946 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
22947 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each group name list is a standard
22948 Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable manually. If the
22949 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
22950 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
22951 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
22952 group buffer then you need it here as well.
22954 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only backend such as
22955 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
22957 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
22958 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
22961 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
22962 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
22963 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
22964 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
22965 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
22966 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
22967 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
22969 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
22970 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
22971 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
22972 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
22974 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
22975 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
22976 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
22977 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
22978 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
22979 from the mail server.
22981 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
22982 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
22983 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
22984 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
22986 @node Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples
22987 @subsubsection Spam ELisp Package Configuration Examples
22988 @cindex spam filtering
22989 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
22990 @cindex spam configuration examples
22993 @subsubheading Ted's setup
22995 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
22997 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
22998 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
22999 (gnus-registry-initialize)
23002 ;; @r{I like @kbd{C-s} for marking spam}
23003 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map "\C-s" 'gnus-summary-mark-as-spam)
23006 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
23008 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
23009 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
23010 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
23011 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
23012 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
23013 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
23014 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
23015 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
23016 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
23017 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
23018 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
23019 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
23020 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
23021 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
23022 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
23023 (any "ding" "ding")
23024 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
23026 ;; @r{default mailbox}
23029 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
23031 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
23032 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
23033 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
23034 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
23036 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
23038 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
23039 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
23040 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
23041 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
23042 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
23044 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
23045 ((spam-autodetect . t))
23047 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
23049 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
23050 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
23052 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
23053 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
23054 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
23056 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
23058 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
23059 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
23061 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
23062 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
23063 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
23065 (gnus-ticked-mark))
23066 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
23067 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
23068 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
23070 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
23071 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
23072 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
23076 @subsubheading Using @file{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
23077 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
23079 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
23080 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
23081 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
23082 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
23083 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
23084 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
23085 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
23086 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
23087 @samp{training.spam} folders.
23089 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
23090 does most of the job for me:
23093 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
23094 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
23095 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
23096 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
23097 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
23098 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
23099 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
23104 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
23106 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
23107 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
23108 bogofilter or DCC).
23110 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
23111 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
23112 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark (@code{ham-marks},
23113 @ref{Spam ELisp Package Global Variables}). On group exit, those
23114 messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want to have
23115 the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter) and
23116 deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
23118 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
23119 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
23120 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
23121 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
23122 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
23123 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
23125 @item @b{Ham folders:}
23127 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
23128 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
23129 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
23130 @samp{training.ham}.
23133 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
23135 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
23137 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
23138 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
23139 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
23143 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
23146 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
23147 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
23148 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
23149 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
23150 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
23152 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
23153 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
23154 @cindex spam filtering
23155 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
23156 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
23159 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
23161 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
23162 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
23163 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
23164 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
23169 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
23171 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
23172 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
23173 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
23174 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
23175 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
23179 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
23181 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
23182 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
23183 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
23187 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
23189 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23190 customizing the group parameters or the
23191 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23192 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
23193 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
23197 Instead of the obsolete
23198 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
23199 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
23200 the same way, we promise.
23204 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
23206 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23207 customizing the group parameters or the
23208 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23209 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
23210 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
23215 Instead of the obsolete
23216 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
23217 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
23218 the same way, we promise.
23222 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
23223 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
23224 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
23225 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
23226 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
23228 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
23229 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
23230 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
23231 Emacs regular expression syntax.
23233 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
23234 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
23235 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
23236 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
23237 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
23238 @file{blacklist} respectively.
23240 @node BBDB Whitelists
23241 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
23242 @cindex spam filtering
23243 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
23244 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
23247 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
23249 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
23250 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
23251 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
23252 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
23253 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
23254 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
23255 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
23259 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
23261 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
23262 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
23263 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
23264 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
23265 classified as spammers.
23269 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
23271 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23272 customizing the group parameters or the
23273 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23274 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
23275 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
23280 Instead of the obsolete
23281 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
23282 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
23283 the same way, we promise.
23287 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
23288 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
23289 @cindex spam reporting
23290 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
23291 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
23294 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
23296 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23297 customizing the group parameters or the
23298 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23299 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
23300 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
23303 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
23307 Instead of the obsolete
23308 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
23309 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
23310 same way, we promise.
23314 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
23316 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
23317 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
23318 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
23319 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
23320 @code{spam-report.el} will use the @code{X-Report-Spam} header that
23325 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
23326 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
23327 @cindex spam filtering
23328 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
23331 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
23333 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
23334 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
23335 instead of the sender address. You must have the @code{hashcash.el}
23336 package loaded for @code{spam-use-hashcash} to work properly.
23337 Messages without a hashcash payment token will be sent to the next
23338 spam-split rule. This is an explicit filter, meaning that unless a
23339 hashcash token is found, the messages are not assumed to be spam or
23345 @subsubsection Blackholes
23346 @cindex spam filtering
23347 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
23350 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
23352 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
23353 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
23354 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
23355 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
23356 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
23357 contains outdated servers.
23359 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
23360 @file{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
23361 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
23362 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
23363 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
23364 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
23368 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
23370 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
23374 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
23376 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
23377 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
23381 @defvar spam-use-dig
23383 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
23384 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
23388 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
23389 ham processor for blackholes.
23391 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
23392 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
23393 @cindex spam filtering
23394 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
23397 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
23399 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
23400 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
23401 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
23402 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
23403 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
23404 message is spam or ham, respectively.
23408 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
23410 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
23411 the message, positively identify it as spam.
23415 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
23417 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
23418 the message, positively identify it as ham.
23422 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
23423 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
23426 @subsubsection Bogofilter
23427 @cindex spam filtering
23428 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
23431 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
23433 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
23436 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
23437 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
23438 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
23439 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
23440 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
23441 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
23443 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
23444 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
23447 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
23448 processing will be turned off.
23450 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
23454 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
23456 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
23457 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
23458 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
23459 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
23460 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
23461 installation documents for details.
23463 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
23467 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
23468 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23469 customizing the group parameters or the
23470 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23471 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
23472 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
23476 Instead of the obsolete
23477 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
23478 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
23479 the same way, we promise.
23482 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
23483 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23484 customizing the group parameters or the
23485 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23486 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
23487 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
23488 of non-spam messages.
23492 Instead of the obsolete
23493 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
23494 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
23495 the same way, we promise.
23498 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
23500 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
23501 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
23502 database directory.
23506 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
23507 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
23508 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
23509 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
23510 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
23511 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
23513 @node SpamAssassin backend
23514 @subsubsection SpamAssassin backend
23515 @cindex spam filtering
23516 @cindex spamassassin, spam filtering
23519 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin
23521 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use SpamAssassin.
23523 SpamAssassin assigns a score to each article based on a set of rules
23524 and tests, including a Bayesian filter. The Bayesian filter can be
23525 trained by associating the @samp{$} mark for spam articles. The
23526 spam score can be viewed by using the command @kbd{S t} in summary
23529 If you set this variable, each article will be processed by
23530 SpamAssassin when @code{spam-split} is called. If your mail is
23531 preprocessed by SpamAssassin, and you want to just use the
23532 SpamAssassin headers, set @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}
23535 You should not enable this is you use
23536 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}.
23540 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin-headers
23542 Set this variable if your mail is preprocessed by SpamAssassin and
23543 want @code{spam-split} to split based on the SpamAssassin headers.
23545 You should not enable this is you use @code{spam-use-spamassassin}.
23549 @defvar spam-spamassassin-path
23551 This variable points to the SpamAssassin executable. If you have
23552 @code{spamd} running, you can set this variable to the @code{spamc}
23553 executable for faster processing. See the SpamAssassin documentation
23554 for more information on @code{spamd}/@code{spamc}.
23558 SpamAssassin is a powerful and flexible spam filter that uses a wide
23559 variety of tests to identify spam. A ham and a spam processors are
23560 provided, plus the @code{spam-use-spamassassin} and
23561 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers} variables to indicate to
23562 spam-split that SpamAssassin should be either used, or has already
23563 been used on the article. The 2.63 version of SpamAssassin was used
23564 to test this functionality.
23566 @node ifile spam filtering
23567 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
23568 @cindex spam filtering
23569 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
23572 @defvar spam-use-ifile
23574 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
23575 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
23579 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
23581 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
23582 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
23583 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
23587 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
23589 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
23590 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
23591 the default value of @samp{spam}.
23594 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
23596 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
23597 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
23601 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
23602 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
23603 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
23604 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
23607 @node spam-stat spam filtering
23608 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
23609 @cindex spam filtering
23610 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
23614 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
23616 @defvar spam-use-stat
23618 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
23619 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
23623 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
23624 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23625 customizing the group parameters or the
23626 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23627 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
23628 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
23632 Instead of the obsolete
23633 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
23634 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
23635 the same way, we promise.
23638 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
23639 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23640 customizing the group parameters or the
23641 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
23642 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
23643 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
23644 of non-spam messages.
23648 Instead of the obsolete
23649 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
23650 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
23651 the same way, we promise.
23654 This enables @file{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
23655 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
23656 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
23657 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
23658 @code{spam-split} are provided.
23661 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
23662 @cindex spam filtering
23666 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
23667 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
23668 installed separately.
23670 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
23671 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
23672 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
23673 mail as a spam mail or not.
23675 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
23676 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
23677 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
23679 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Filtering Spam
23680 Using The Spam ELisp Package}) call SpamOracle.
23682 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
23683 To enable SpamOracle usage by @file{spam.el}, set the variable
23684 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
23685 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy} as described in
23686 the section @xref{Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package}. In
23687 this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is filtered using
23688 SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be moved to
23689 @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham messages stay
23693 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
23694 spam-split-group "Junk"
23695 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
23696 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
23697 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
23700 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
23701 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
23705 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
23706 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
23707 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
23711 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
23712 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
23713 store its analyses. This is controlled by the variable
23714 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
23715 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
23716 database to live somewhere special, set
23717 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
23720 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
23721 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
23722 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns the
23723 characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
23724 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
23725 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary buffer
23726 and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using @file{spam.el}'s
23727 spam- and ham-processors, which is much more convenient. For a
23728 detailed description of spam- and ham-processors, @xref{Filtering Spam
23729 Using The Spam ELisp Package}.
23731 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
23732 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23733 customizing the group parameter or the
23734 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
23735 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
23736 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
23740 Instead of the obsolete
23741 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
23742 that you use @code{'(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
23743 the same way, we promise.
23746 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
23747 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
23748 customizing the group parameter or the
23749 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
23750 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
23751 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
23756 Instead of the obsolete
23757 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
23758 that you use @code{'(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
23759 the same way, we promise.
23762 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
23763 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
23766 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
23767 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
23768 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
23770 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
23771 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
23772 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
23773 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
23774 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
23775 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
23777 @node Extending the Spam ELisp package
23778 @subsubsection Extending the Spam ELisp package
23779 @cindex spam filtering
23780 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
23781 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
23783 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
23784 incoming mail, provide the following:
23792 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
23793 "True if blackbox should be used.")
23798 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
23800 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
23804 (gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox ham spam-use-blackbox)
23805 (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox spam spam-use-blackbox)
23808 to @code{spam-list-of-processors}.
23812 (spam-use-blackbox spam-blackbox-register-routine
23814 spam-blackbox-unregister-routine
23818 to @code{spam-registration-functions}. Write the register/unregister
23819 routines using the bogofilter register/unregister routines as a
23820 start, or other restister/unregister routines more appropriate to
23826 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
23827 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other
23828 conventions. See the existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for
23829 examples of what you can do, and stick to the template unless you
23830 fully understand the reasons why you aren't.
23832 Make sure to add @code{spam-use-blackbox} to
23833 @code{spam-list-of-statistical-checks} if Blackbox is a statistical
23834 mail analyzer that needs the full message body to operate.
23838 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
23845 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
23846 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
23848 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
23849 variables. Instead the form @code{'(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
23850 @code{'(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
23851 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
23854 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
23855 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
23856 Only applicable to spam groups.")
23858 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
23859 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
23860 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
23869 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
23870 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
23872 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
23873 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
23874 variable customization.
23878 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
23880 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
23886 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
23887 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
23888 @cindex Paul Graham
23889 @cindex Graham, Paul
23890 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
23891 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
23892 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
23894 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
23895 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
23896 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
23897 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
23898 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
23899 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
23900 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
23901 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
23902 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
23905 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
23906 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
23907 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
23908 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
23909 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
23910 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
23911 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
23912 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
23914 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
23915 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
23916 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
23917 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
23918 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
23921 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
23922 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
23923 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
23926 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
23927 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
23929 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
23930 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
23931 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
23932 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
23933 need several hundred emails in both collections.
23935 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
23936 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
23937 per mail. Use the following:
23939 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
23940 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
23941 is treated as one spam mail.
23944 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
23945 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
23946 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
23949 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
23950 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
23951 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
23952 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
23953 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
23954 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
23956 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
23957 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
23958 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
23959 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
23960 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
23963 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
23964 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
23965 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
23966 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
23969 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
23970 reset the dictionary.
23972 @defun spam-stat-reset
23973 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
23976 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
23977 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
23978 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
23979 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
23980 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
23981 only non-spam mails.
23983 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
23984 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
23985 to update the dictionary incrementally.
23988 @defun spam-stat-save
23989 Save the dictionary.
23992 @defvar spam-stat-file
23993 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
23994 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
23997 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
23998 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
24000 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
24001 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
24004 (require 'spam-stat)
24008 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
24011 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
24012 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
24013 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
24014 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
24016 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
24017 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
24018 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
24019 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
24022 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
24023 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24027 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
24028 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
24031 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
24032 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
24033 expression are considered potential spam.
24036 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
24037 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
24038 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24042 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
24043 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
24044 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
24045 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
24046 mails, when creating the dictionary!
24049 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
24050 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24051 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
24055 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
24056 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
24057 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
24058 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
24059 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
24063 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
24064 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
24065 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24066 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
24071 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
24072 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
24074 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
24076 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
24077 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
24078 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
24081 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
24082 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
24083 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
24086 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
24087 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
24088 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
24089 already been processed as non-spam.
24092 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
24093 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
24094 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
24095 been processed as spam.
24098 @defun spam-stat-save
24099 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
24100 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
24103 @defun spam-stat-load
24104 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
24105 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
24108 @defun spam-stat-score-word
24109 Return the spam score for a word.
24112 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
24113 Return the spam score for a buffer.
24116 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
24117 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
24118 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
24121 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
24122 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
24125 (require 'spam-stat)
24129 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
24132 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
24133 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24134 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24135 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
24136 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
24137 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
24138 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24139 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24140 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
24141 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
24142 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
24143 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
24144 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24145 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24148 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
24151 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
24152 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
24153 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
24154 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
24155 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
24156 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
24160 @section Interaction with other modes
24165 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provided some useful functions for dired
24166 buffers. It is enabled with
24168 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
24173 @findex gnus-dired-attach
24174 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
24175 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
24178 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
24179 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
24180 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
24184 @findex gnus-dired-print
24185 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
24186 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
24189 @node Various Various
24190 @section Various Various
24196 @item gnus-home-directory
24197 @vindex gnus-home-directory
24198 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
24199 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
24201 @item gnus-directory
24202 @vindex gnus-directory
24203 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
24204 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
24205 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
24207 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
24208 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
24209 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
24210 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
24212 @item gnus-default-directory
24213 @vindex gnus-default-directory
24214 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
24215 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
24216 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
24217 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
24218 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
24219 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
24222 @vindex gnus-verbose
24223 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
24224 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
24225 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
24226 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
24227 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
24229 @item gnus-verbose-backends
24230 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
24231 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
24232 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
24234 @item nnheader-max-head-length
24235 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
24236 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
24237 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
24238 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
24239 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
24240 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
24241 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
24242 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
24243 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
24245 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
24246 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
24247 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
24248 read when doing the operation described above.
24250 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
24251 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
24253 @cindex invalid characters in file names
24254 @cindex characters in file names
24255 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
24256 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
24257 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
24261 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
24266 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
24267 Windows (phooey) systems.
24269 @item gnus-hidden-properties
24270 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
24271 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
24272 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
24273 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
24275 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
24276 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
24277 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
24278 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
24279 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
24281 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
24282 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
24283 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
24285 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
24286 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
24288 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
24289 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
24290 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
24291 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
24294 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
24302 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
24303 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
24305 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
24307 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
24313 Not because of victories @*
24316 but for the common sunshine,@*
24318 the largess of the spring.
24322 but for the day's work done@*
24323 as well as I was able;@*
24324 not for a seat upon the dais@*
24325 but at the common table.@*
24330 @chapter Appendices
24333 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
24334 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
24335 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
24336 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
24337 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
24338 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
24339 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
24340 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
24341 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
24348 @cindex installing under XEmacs
24350 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
24351 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
24352 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
24353 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
24354 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{w3},
24355 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
24362 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
24363 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
24365 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
24366 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
24367 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
24368 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
24369 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
24371 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
24372 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
24373 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
24374 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
24375 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
24376 appropriate name, don't you think?)
24378 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
24379 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
24380 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
24381 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
24384 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
24385 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
24386 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
24387 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
24388 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
24389 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
24390 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
24391 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
24392 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
24396 @node Gnus Versions
24397 @subsection Gnus Versions
24399 @cindex September Gnus
24401 @cindex Quassia Gnus
24402 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
24405 @cindex Gnus versions
24407 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
24408 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
24409 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
24411 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
24412 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
24414 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
24415 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
24417 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
24418 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
24420 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
24421 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
24424 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
24426 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
24427 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
24428 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
24429 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
24430 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
24431 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
24434 @node Other Gnus Versions
24435 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
24438 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
24439 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
24440 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
24441 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
24443 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
24444 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
24445 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
24446 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
24453 What's the point of Gnus?
24455 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
24456 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
24457 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
24458 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
24459 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
24460 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
24461 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
24462 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
24463 keep track of millions of people who post?
24465 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
24466 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
24467 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
24468 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
24469 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
24470 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
24471 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
24472 every one of you to explore and invent.
24474 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
24475 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
24478 @node Compatibility
24479 @subsection Compatibility
24481 @cindex compatibility
24482 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
24483 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
24484 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
24489 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
24493 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
24496 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
24499 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
24500 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
24501 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
24502 important variables have their values copied into their global
24503 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
24504 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
24506 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
24507 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
24508 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
24509 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
24510 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
24514 @cindex highlighting
24515 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
24516 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
24517 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
24518 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
24519 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
24520 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
24523 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
24524 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
24525 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
24526 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
24528 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
24529 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
24530 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
24531 to stop doing it the old way.
24533 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
24535 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24537 @cindex reporting bugs
24539 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
24540 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
24541 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
24543 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
24544 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
24545 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
24546 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
24551 @subsection Conformity
24553 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
24554 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
24562 There are no known breaches of this standard.
24566 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
24568 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
24569 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
24570 We do have some breaches to this one.
24576 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
24577 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
24578 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
24579 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
24580 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
24585 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
24586 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
24587 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
24588 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
24590 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
24591 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
24592 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
24594 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
24595 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
24597 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
24600 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
24601 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
24602 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
24603 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
24604 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
24607 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
24608 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
24609 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
24610 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
24612 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
24613 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
24615 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
24616 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
24617 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
24618 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
24619 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
24620 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
24621 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
24622 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
24626 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
24627 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
24632 @subsection Emacsen
24638 Gnus should work on:
24646 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
24650 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
24651 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
24654 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
24655 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
24656 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
24660 @node Gnus Development
24661 @subsection Gnus Development
24663 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
24664 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
24665 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
24666 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
24667 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
24668 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
24669 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
24670 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
24672 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
24673 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
24674 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
24675 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
24676 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
24679 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
24680 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
24681 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
24682 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
24683 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
24685 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
24686 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
24687 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
24688 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
24689 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
24690 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
24691 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
24692 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
24693 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
24694 can't be assumed to do so.
24699 @subsection Contributors
24700 @cindex contributors
24702 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
24703 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
24704 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
24705 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
24706 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
24707 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
24708 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
24709 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
24710 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
24711 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
24713 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
24719 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
24722 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
24723 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
24724 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
24725 functionality and stuff.
24728 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
24729 well as numerous other things).
24732 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
24735 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
24738 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
24741 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
24744 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
24745 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
24748 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
24751 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section.
24754 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
24757 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
24760 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
24763 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
24766 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
24767 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
24770 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
24773 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
24776 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
24779 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
24783 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
24786 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
24789 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
24792 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
24793 well as autoconf support.
24797 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
24798 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
24800 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
24815 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
24817 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
24821 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
24831 Alexei V. Barantsev,
24846 Massimo Campostrini,
24851 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
24852 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
24856 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
24859 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
24865 Michael Welsh Duggan,
24870 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
24874 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
24882 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
24884 Michelangelo Grigni,
24888 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
24890 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
24892 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
24899 Fran@,{c}ois Felix Ingrand,
24900 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
24901 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
24903 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
24913 Peter Skov Knudsen,
24914 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
24916 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
24917 Thor Kristoffersen,
24920 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
24938 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
24939 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
24946 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
24951 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
24955 John McClary Prevost,
24961 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
24966 Christian von Roques,
24969 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
24976 Philippe Schnoebelen,
24978 Randal L. Schwartz,
24992 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
24997 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
25017 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
25018 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
25019 (550kB and counting).
25021 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
25024 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
25025 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
25029 @subsection New Features
25030 @cindex new features
25033 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
25034 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
25035 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
25036 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
25037 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
25038 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10.
25039 * No Gnus:: Lars, FIXME!
25042 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
25043 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
25044 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
25047 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
25049 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
25054 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
25055 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
25058 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
25059 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
25062 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
25065 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
25066 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
25067 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
25070 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
25071 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
25072 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
25073 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
25076 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
25077 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
25080 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
25081 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
25082 (@pxref{The Active File}).
25085 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
25086 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
25089 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
25090 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
25091 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
25094 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
25095 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
25096 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
25099 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
25100 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
25103 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
25104 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
25107 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
25108 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
25111 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
25112 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
25115 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
25116 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
25119 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
25120 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
25123 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
25126 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
25127 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
25130 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
25131 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
25134 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
25135 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
25138 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
25141 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
25142 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
25145 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
25149 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
25153 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
25154 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
25157 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
25163 @node September Gnus
25164 @subsubsection September Gnus
25168 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
25172 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
25177 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
25178 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
25182 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
25183 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
25187 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
25191 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
25192 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
25195 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
25199 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
25202 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
25205 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
25208 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
25212 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
25213 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
25216 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
25220 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
25224 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
25228 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
25232 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
25235 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
25236 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
25239 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
25243 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
25244 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
25247 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
25250 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
25251 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
25252 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
25255 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
25259 The Gnus cache is much faster.
25262 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
25266 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
25267 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
25270 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
25271 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
25274 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
25275 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
25278 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
25279 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
25280 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
25283 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
25284 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
25287 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
25290 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
25293 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
25296 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
25299 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
25300 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
25303 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
25307 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
25310 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
25315 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
25318 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
25322 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
25325 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
25329 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
25332 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
25335 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
25336 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
25339 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
25340 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
25344 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
25345 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
25348 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
25352 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
25353 buffer to allow easier treatment.
25356 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
25359 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
25363 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
25367 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
25368 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
25371 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
25375 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
25376 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
25379 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
25380 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
25383 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
25387 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
25390 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
25393 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
25399 @subsubsection Red Gnus
25401 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
25405 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
25412 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
25415 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
25416 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
25419 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
25420 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
25424 Article washing status can be displayed in the
25425 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
25428 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
25431 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
25432 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
25435 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
25439 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
25440 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
25444 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
25445 Server Internals}).
25448 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
25452 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
25455 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
25456 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
25459 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
25460 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
25461 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
25464 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
25465 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
25468 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
25469 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
25472 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
25476 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
25477 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25480 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
25481 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
25484 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
25488 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
25491 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
25495 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
25496 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25499 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
25500 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
25503 A new command for reading collections of documents
25504 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
25505 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
25508 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
25512 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
25513 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
25516 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
25517 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
25518 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
25521 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
25522 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
25526 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
25530 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
25534 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
25539 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
25543 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
25547 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
25548 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
25551 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
25557 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
25559 New features in Gnus 5.6:
25564 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
25565 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
25566 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
25569 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
25570 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
25571 group, which is created automatically.
25574 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
25578 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
25581 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
25582 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
25585 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
25589 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
25592 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
25593 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
25596 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
25599 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
25603 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
25604 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
25607 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
25608 control over simplification.
25611 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
25614 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
25618 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
25621 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
25624 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
25625 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
25626 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
25629 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
25630 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
25633 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
25637 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
25638 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
25641 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
25642 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
25645 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
25649 A history of where mails have been split is available.
25652 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
25655 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
25656 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
25659 A new function for citing in Message has been
25660 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
25663 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
25666 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
25670 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
25671 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
25674 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
25675 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
25678 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
25681 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
25685 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
25686 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
25688 New features in Gnus 5.8:
25693 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
25694 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
25696 If you used procmail like in
25699 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
25700 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
25701 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
25702 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
25705 this now has changed to
25709 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
25713 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
25716 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
25717 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
25720 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
25721 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
25724 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
25725 called to position point.
25728 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
25729 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
25732 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
25733 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
25736 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
25737 subtly different manner.
25740 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
25741 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
25742 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
25745 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
25750 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
25753 New features in Gnus 5.10:
25758 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
25762 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
25763 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
25766 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
25767 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
25770 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
25772 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
25773 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
25774 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
25775 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
25776 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
25777 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
25778 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
25779 isn't save in general.
25784 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
25785 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
25786 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
25787 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
25792 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
25793 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
25794 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
25798 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
25801 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
25806 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
25807 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
25809 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
25810 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
25814 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
25815 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
25818 Retrieval of charters and control messages
25820 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
25821 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
25826 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
25827 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
25828 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
25831 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
25832 decompressed when activated.
25835 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
25836 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
25839 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
25842 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
25843 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
25846 Warn about email replies to news
25848 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
25849 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
25853 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
25854 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
25858 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
25859 opposed to old but unread messages).
25862 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
25863 Gcc articles as read.
25866 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
25869 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
25870 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
25873 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
25874 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
25877 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
25878 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
25881 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
25882 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
25885 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
25887 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
25888 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
25889 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
25890 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
25893 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
25895 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
25896 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
25897 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, iff you want
25898 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
25899 the second parameter.
25901 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
25902 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
25903 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
25904 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
25905 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
25906 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
25907 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
25908 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
25909 cycle used under Unix systems.
25911 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} superfluous, so it has
25915 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
25917 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
25918 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
25919 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
25920 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
25921 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
25925 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
25927 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
25928 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
25929 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
25930 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
25934 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
25936 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
25937 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
25938 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
25939 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
25941 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
25942 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
25943 message cited below.
25946 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
25949 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
25951 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
25952 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
25953 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
25954 variable in @file{~/.emacs} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
25955 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
25958 (setq gnus-parameters
25960 (gnus-show-threads nil)
25961 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
25962 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
25963 (to-group . "\\1"))))
25967 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now iconized for Emacs too.
25969 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.emacs} to
25973 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
25975 Earlier it was generated iff the user configurable email address was
25976 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
25977 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
25978 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
25979 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
25980 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
25981 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
25982 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
25983 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
25986 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
25988 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
25989 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
25990 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
25991 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
25992 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
25993 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
25996 References and X-Draft-Headers are no longer generated when you start
25997 composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
26001 Improved anti-spam features.
26003 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
26004 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
26005 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
26006 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
26007 are also new. @xref{Thwarting Email Spam}.
26010 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers.
26013 Face headers handling.
26016 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
26017 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
26020 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
26023 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
26025 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
26026 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
26027 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
26028 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
26029 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
26030 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
26031 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
26032 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
26033 when getting new mail, remove the function.
26036 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
26038 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
26039 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
26040 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
26041 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
26042 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
26043 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
26044 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
26045 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
26046 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
26047 was inserted directly.
26050 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
26052 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
26053 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
26059 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
26060 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
26061 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
26062 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
26063 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
26064 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
26065 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
26066 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
26067 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
26068 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
26069 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
26070 behaviour of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
26071 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
26072 is not needed any more.
26075 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
26077 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
26078 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
26079 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
26080 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
26081 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
26085 @file{deuglify.el} (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article})
26087 A new file from Raymond Scholz @email{rscholz@@zonix.de} for deuglifying
26088 broken Outlook (Express) articles.
26091 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
26093 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
26094 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
26095 lisp directory into load-path.
26097 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
26098 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
26101 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
26103 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
26106 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
26108 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
26109 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
26110 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
26111 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
26114 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
26116 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
26118 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
26119 'bbdb-complete-name)
26123 Externalizing and deleting of attachments.
26125 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
26126 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
26127 local files as external parts.
26129 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
26130 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
26131 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
26132 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
26133 that support editing.
26136 @code{gnus-default-charset}
26138 The default value is determined from the
26139 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
26140 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
26141 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
26144 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
26146 Add a new format of match like
26148 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
26149 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
26151 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
26153 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
26154 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
26158 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
26160 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
26161 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
26162 need add those two headers too.
26165 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
26167 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
26168 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
26169 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
26172 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
26173 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
26174 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
26178 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
26180 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
26183 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
26185 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
26188 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
26190 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
26191 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
26192 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
26195 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
26197 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
26201 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
26203 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
26204 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
26205 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
26206 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
26207 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
26208 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
26209 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
26210 The behaviour can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
26213 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
26215 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
26216 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
26217 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
26218 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
26219 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
26222 Extended format specs.
26224 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
26225 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
26226 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
26227 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
26228 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
26229 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
26232 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
26234 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
26235 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
26236 out other articles.
26238 @item Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
26240 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
26241 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
26242 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
26243 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
26246 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
26248 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
26249 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
26250 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
26253 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
26255 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
26256 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
26257 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
26258 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
26259 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
26260 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
26261 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
26262 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
26263 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
26264 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
26265 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
26268 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
26269 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
26272 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
26273 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
26274 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
26275 message, Message Manual}).
26278 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
26279 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
26281 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
26282 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
26283 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
26285 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
26289 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
26290 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
26292 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
26293 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
26294 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
26295 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
26298 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
26301 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
26304 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
26305 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
26308 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to symbol @code{best}.
26310 The behaviour for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
26311 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
26312 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
26313 invalidate the digital signature.
26317 @subsubsection No Gnus
26320 New features in No Gnus:
26321 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
26323 @include gnus-news.texi
26329 @section The Manual
26333 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
26334 either @code{texi2dvi}
26336 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
26337 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
26339 to get what you hold in your hands now.
26341 The following conventions have been used:
26346 This is a @samp{string}
26349 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
26352 This is a @file{file}
26355 This is a @code{symbol}
26359 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
26363 (setq flargnoze "yes")
26366 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
26369 (setq flumphel 'yes)
26372 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
26373 ever get them confused.
26377 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
26378 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
26379 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
26380 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
26381 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
26382 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
26383 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
26389 @node On Writing Manuals
26390 @section On Writing Manuals
26392 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
26393 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
26394 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
26395 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
26396 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
26397 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
26400 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
26401 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
26402 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
26405 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
26406 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
26411 @section Terminology
26413 @cindex terminology
26418 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
26419 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
26420 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
26421 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
26422 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
26426 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
26427 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
26428 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
26429 not posting, and replying is not following up.
26433 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
26437 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
26442 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
26443 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
26444 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
26445 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
26446 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
26447 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
26448 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
26449 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
26450 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
26453 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
26454 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
26455 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
26456 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
26457 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
26458 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
26460 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
26461 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
26462 access the articles.
26464 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
26465 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
26466 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
26471 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
26472 default, way of getting news.
26476 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
26477 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
26482 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
26483 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
26487 A message that has been posted as news.
26490 @cindex mail message
26491 A message that has been mailed.
26495 A mail message or news article
26499 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
26504 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
26509 A line from the head of an article.
26513 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
26514 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
26516 @item @acronym{NOV}
26517 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
26518 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
26519 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
26520 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
26521 normal @sc{head} format.
26525 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
26526 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
26527 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
26528 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
26529 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
26530 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
26532 @item killed groups
26533 @cindex killed groups
26534 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
26535 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
26537 @item zombie groups
26538 @cindex zombie groups
26539 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
26542 @cindex active file
26543 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
26544 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
26545 is rather large, as you might surmise.
26548 @cindex bogus groups
26549 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
26550 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
26551 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
26554 @cindex activating groups
26555 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
26556 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
26557 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
26561 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
26563 @item select method
26564 @cindex select method
26565 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
26568 @item virtual server
26569 @cindex virtual server
26570 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
26571 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
26572 whole is a virtual server.
26576 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
26577 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
26580 @item ephemeral groups
26581 @cindex ephemeral groups
26582 @cindex temporary groups
26583 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
26584 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
26585 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
26588 @cindex solid groups
26589 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
26590 group buffer are solid groups.
26592 @item sparse articles
26593 @cindex sparse articles
26594 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
26595 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
26599 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
26600 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
26604 @cindex thread root
26605 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
26606 articles in the thread.
26610 An article that has responses.
26614 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
26618 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
26619 specified by RFC 1153.
26622 @cindex splitting, terminolgy
26623 @cindex mail sorting
26624 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
26625 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
26626 incorrectly called mail filtering.
26632 @node Customization
26633 @section Customization
26634 @cindex general customization
26636 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
26637 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
26638 for some quite common situations.
26641 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
26642 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
26643 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
26644 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
26648 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
26649 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
26651 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
26652 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
26653 Gnus has to get from the @acronym{NNTP} server.
26657 @item gnus-read-active-file
26658 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
26659 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
26660 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
26661 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
26662 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
26664 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
26665 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
26666 the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast. Not all @acronym{NNTP} servers
26667 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
26671 @node Slow Terminal Connection
26672 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
26674 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
26675 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
26676 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
26680 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
26681 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
26682 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
26683 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
26684 horizontal and vertical recentering.
26686 @item gnus-visible-headers
26687 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
26688 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
26689 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
26690 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
26692 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
26694 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
26695 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
26696 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
26699 @item gnus-use-full-window
26700 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
26701 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
26702 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
26703 want to read them anyway.
26705 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
26706 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
26710 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
26711 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
26712 lines, which might save some time.
26716 @node Little Disk Space
26717 @subsection Little Disk Space
26720 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
26721 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
26725 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
26726 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
26727 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
26728 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
26731 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
26732 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
26733 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
26734 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
26737 @item gnus-save-killed-list
26738 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
26739 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
26740 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
26741 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
26747 @subsection Slow Machine
26748 @cindex slow machine
26750 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
26751 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
26753 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
26754 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
26756 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
26757 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
26758 summary buffer faster.
26760 Gnus uses the internal ELisp-based @code{uncompface} program for
26761 decoding an @code{X-Face} header normally in Emacs. If you feel it is
26762 slow, set @code{uncompface-use-external} to @code{t}. @xref{X-Face}.
26766 @node Troubleshooting
26767 @section Troubleshooting
26768 @cindex troubleshooting
26770 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
26778 Make sure your computer is switched on.
26781 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
26782 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
26786 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
26787 like @samp{Gnus v5.10.6} you have the right files loaded. Otherwise
26788 you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
26791 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
26792 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
26795 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
26796 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
26797 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
26798 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
26799 something like that.
26802 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
26805 @cindex reporting bugs
26807 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
26809 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
26810 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
26811 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
26812 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
26814 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
26815 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
26816 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
26817 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
26820 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
26821 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
26822 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
26823 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
26824 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
26825 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
26827 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
26828 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
26829 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
26833 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
26834 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
26837 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
26838 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
26839 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
26840 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
26841 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
26842 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
26843 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
26844 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
26845 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
26846 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
26847 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
26848 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
26849 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
26850 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
26855 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
26856 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
26857 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
26858 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
26859 helps isolating the real problem areas).
26861 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
26862 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
26863 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
26864 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
26865 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
26866 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
26867 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
26868 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
26869 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
26870 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
26871 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
26872 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
26873 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
26876 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
26877 @cindex ding mailing list
26878 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
26879 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
26880 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
26881 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
26885 @node Gnus Reference Guide
26886 @section Gnus Reference Guide
26888 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
26889 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
26890 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
26891 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
26894 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
26895 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
26896 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
26897 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
26898 and general methods of operation.
26901 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
26902 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
26903 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
26904 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
26905 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
26906 * Group Info:: The group info format.
26907 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
26908 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
26909 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
26913 @node Gnus Utility Functions
26914 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
26915 @cindex Gnus utility functions
26916 @cindex utility functions
26918 @cindex internal variables
26920 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
26921 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
26922 Below is a list of the most common ones.
26926 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
26927 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
26928 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
26930 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
26931 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
26932 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
26934 @item gnus-group-real-name
26935 @findex gnus-group-real-name
26936 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
26939 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
26940 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
26941 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
26942 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
26944 @item gnus-get-info
26945 @findex gnus-get-info
26946 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
26948 @item gnus-group-unread
26949 @findex gnus-group-unread
26950 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
26954 @findex gnus-active
26955 The active entry for @var{group}.
26957 @item gnus-set-active
26958 @findex gnus-set-active
26959 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
26961 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
26962 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
26963 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
26966 @item gnus-continuum-version
26967 @findex gnus-continuum-version
26968 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
26969 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
26972 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
26973 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
26974 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
26976 @item gnus-news-group-p
26977 @findex gnus-news-group-p
26978 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
26980 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
26981 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
26982 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
26984 @item gnus-server-to-method
26985 @findex gnus-server-to-method
26986 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
26988 @item gnus-server-equal
26989 @findex gnus-server-equal
26990 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
26992 @item gnus-group-native-p
26993 @findex gnus-group-native-p
26994 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
26996 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
26997 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
26998 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
27000 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
27001 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
27002 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
27004 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
27005 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
27006 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
27007 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
27009 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
27010 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
27011 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
27013 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
27014 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
27015 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
27017 @item gnus-check-backend-function
27018 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
27019 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
27020 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
27023 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
27027 @item gnus-read-method
27028 @findex gnus-read-method
27029 Prompts the user for a select method.
27034 @node Back End Interface
27035 @subsection Back End Interface
27037 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
27038 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
27039 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
27040 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
27041 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
27042 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
27044 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
27045 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
27046 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
27047 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
27048 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
27049 been opened, the function should fail.
27051 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
27052 name. Take this example:
27056 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
27057 (nntp-port-number 4324))
27060 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
27061 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
27063 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
27064 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
27065 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
27067 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
27068 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
27069 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
27071 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
27072 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
27073 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
27074 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
27075 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
27076 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
27079 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
27080 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
27081 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
27082 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
27085 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
27086 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
27087 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
27088 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
27089 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
27090 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
27091 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
27092 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
27093 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
27094 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
27096 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
27097 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
27098 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
27099 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
27100 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
27101 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
27102 of numbers as long as possible.
27104 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
27105 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
27106 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
27108 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
27111 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
27114 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
27115 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
27116 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
27117 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
27118 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
27119 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
27123 @node Required Back End Functions
27124 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
27128 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
27130 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
27131 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
27132 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
27133 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
27135 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
27136 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
27137 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
27138 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
27140 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
27141 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
27142 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
27143 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
27144 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
27145 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
27146 number, do maximum fetches.
27148 Here's an example HEAD:
27151 221 1056 Article retrieved.
27152 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
27153 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
27154 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
27155 Subject: Re: Something very droll
27156 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
27157 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
27159 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
27160 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
27161 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
27165 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
27166 these in the data buffer.
27168 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
27172 head = error / valid-head
27173 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
27174 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
27175 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
27176 header = <text> eol
27180 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
27182 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
27183 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
27187 nov-buffer = *nov-line
27188 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
27189 field = <text except TAB>
27192 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
27196 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
27198 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
27199 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
27201 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
27202 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
27203 server. In fact, it should do so.
27205 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
27206 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
27209 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
27211 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
27212 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
27215 There should be no data returned.
27218 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
27220 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
27221 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
27222 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
27223 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
27225 There should be no data returned.
27228 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
27230 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
27231 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
27232 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
27233 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
27235 There should be no data returned.
27238 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
27240 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
27242 There should be no data returned.
27245 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
27247 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
27248 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
27249 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
27250 it would be nice if that were possible.
27252 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
27253 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
27254 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
27255 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
27256 into its article buffer.
27258 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
27259 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
27260 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
27261 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
27262 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
27263 on successful article retrieval.
27266 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
27268 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
27269 making @var{group} the current group.
27271 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
27274 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
27277 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
27280 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
27281 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
27282 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
27283 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
27284 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
27285 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
27286 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
27287 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
27288 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
27292 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
27293 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
27294 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
27298 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
27300 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
27301 a no-op on most back ends.
27303 There should be no data returned.
27306 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
27308 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
27311 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
27314 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
27315 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
27318 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
27319 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
27320 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
27321 and the highest as 0.
27324 active-file = *active-line
27325 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
27327 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
27330 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
27331 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
27332 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
27335 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
27337 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
27338 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
27339 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
27340 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
27341 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
27342 clear if the posting could not be completed.
27344 There should be no result data from this function.
27349 @node Optional Back End Functions
27350 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
27354 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
27356 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
27357 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
27358 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
27360 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
27361 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
27362 former is in the same format as the data from
27363 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
27364 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
27367 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
27371 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
27373 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
27374 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
27375 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
27376 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
27377 should return a non-@code{nil} value.
27379 There should be no result data from this function.
27382 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
27384 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
27385 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
27386 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
27387 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
27388 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
27389 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
27390 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
27391 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
27393 There should be no result data from this function.
27396 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
27398 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
27399 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
27400 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
27401 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
27402 propagate the mark information to the server.
27404 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
27407 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
27410 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
27411 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
27412 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
27413 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
27414 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
27415 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
27416 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
27417 possible, not limit itself to these.
27419 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
27420 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
27421 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
27422 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
27424 An example action list:
27427 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
27428 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
27429 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
27432 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
27433 mark on (currently not used for anything).
27435 There should be no result data from this function.
27437 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
27439 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
27440 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
27441 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
27442 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
27443 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
27445 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
27446 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
27447 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
27450 There should be no result data from this function.
27453 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
27455 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
27456 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
27457 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
27458 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
27459 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
27460 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
27461 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
27462 local if that's practical.
27464 There should be no result data from this function.
27467 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
27469 The result data from this function should be a description of
27473 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
27475 description = <text>
27478 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
27480 The result data from this function should be the description of all
27481 groups available on the server.
27484 description-buffer = *description-line
27488 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
27490 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
27491 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
27492 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
27493 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
27494 in the active buffer format.
27496 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
27497 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
27498 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
27499 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
27500 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
27501 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
27502 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
27505 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
27507 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
27509 There should be no return data.
27512 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
27514 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
27515 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
27516 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
27517 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
27518 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
27521 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
27524 There should be no result data returned.
27527 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
27529 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
27530 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
27532 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
27533 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
27534 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
27535 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
27536 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
27537 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
27539 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
27540 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
27543 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
27544 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
27546 There should be no data returned.
27549 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
27551 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
27552 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
27553 this function in short order.
27555 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
27556 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
27558 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
27559 article for that group.
27561 There should be no data returned.
27564 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
27566 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
27567 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
27569 There should be no data returned.
27572 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
27574 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
27575 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
27576 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
27578 There should be no data returned.
27581 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
27583 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
27584 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
27586 There should be no data returned.
27591 @node Error Messaging
27592 @subsubsection Error Messaging
27594 @findex nnheader-report
27595 @findex nnheader-get-report
27596 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
27597 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
27598 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
27599 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
27600 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
27601 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
27604 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
27606 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
27609 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
27610 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
27611 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
27612 takes one argument---the server symbol.
27614 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
27615 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
27616 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
27619 @node Writing New Back Ends
27620 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
27622 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
27623 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
27624 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
27625 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
27626 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
27629 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
27630 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
27631 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
27633 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
27634 package called @code{nnoo}.
27636 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
27637 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
27643 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
27644 parameters. For instance:
27647 (nnoo-declare nndir
27651 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
27652 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
27655 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
27656 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
27657 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
27659 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
27660 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
27661 a function in those back ends.
27664 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
27665 "Where nndir will look for groups."
27666 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
27669 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
27670 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
27671 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
27673 @item nnoo-define-basics
27674 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
27678 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
27682 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
27683 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
27684 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
27686 @item nnoo-map-functions
27687 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
27688 functions from the parent back ends.
27691 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
27692 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
27693 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
27696 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
27697 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
27698 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
27699 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
27702 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
27703 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
27704 haven't already been defined.
27710 nnmh-request-newgroups)
27714 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
27715 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
27716 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
27721 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
27724 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
27725 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
27729 (require 'nnheader)
27733 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
27735 (nnoo-declare nndir
27738 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
27739 "Where nndir will look for groups."
27740 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
27742 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
27743 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
27746 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
27748 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
27749 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
27750 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
27752 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
27753 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
27755 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
27757 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
27759 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
27760 (setq nndir-directory
27761 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
27763 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
27764 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
27765 (push `(nndir-current-group
27766 ,(file-name-nondirectory
27767 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
27769 (push `(nndir-top-directory
27770 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
27772 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
27774 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
27775 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
27776 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
27777 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
27778 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
27782 nnmh-status-message
27784 nnmh-request-newgroups))
27790 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
27791 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
27793 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
27794 @findex gnus-declare-backend
27795 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
27796 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
27797 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
27799 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
27800 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
27805 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
27808 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
27810 The abilities can be:
27814 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
27816 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
27818 This back end supports both mail and news.
27820 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
27823 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
27824 articles and groups.
27826 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
27827 true for almost all back ends.
27828 @item prompt-address
27829 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
27830 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
27831 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
27835 @node Mail-like Back Ends
27836 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
27838 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
27839 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
27840 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
27841 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
27844 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
27845 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
27846 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
27849 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
27850 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
27853 This function takes four parameters.
27857 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
27860 @item exit-function
27861 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
27863 @item temp-directory
27864 Where the temporary files should be stored.
27867 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
27868 performed for one group only.
27871 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
27872 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
27873 find the article number assigned to this article.
27875 The function also uses the following variables:
27876 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
27877 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
27878 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
27879 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
27883 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
27884 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
27888 @node Score File Syntax
27889 @subsection Score File Syntax
27891 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
27892 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
27893 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
27895 Here's a typical score file:
27899 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
27906 BNF definition of a score file:
27909 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
27910 element = rule / atom
27911 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
27912 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
27913 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
27914 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
27916 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
27917 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
27918 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
27919 date-header = "date"
27920 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27921 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27922 score = "nil" / <integer>
27923 date = "nil" / <natural number>
27924 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
27925 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
27926 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
27927 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
27928 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27929 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
27930 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
27931 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
27932 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
27933 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
27934 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
27935 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
27936 exclude-files / read-only / touched
27937 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
27938 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
27939 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
27940 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
27941 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
27942 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
27943 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
27944 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
27945 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
27946 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
27947 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
27948 eval = "eval" space <form>
27949 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
27952 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
27955 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
27956 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
27957 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
27958 one looong line, then that's ok.
27960 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
27961 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27965 @subsection Headers
27967 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
27968 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
27969 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
27970 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
27972 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
27973 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
27974 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
27975 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
27976 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
27977 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
27978 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
27980 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
27981 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
27982 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
27983 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
27984 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
27986 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
27987 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
27993 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
27994 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
27996 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
27997 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
27998 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
27999 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
28001 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
28005 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
28008 is transformed into
28011 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
28014 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
28015 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
28018 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
28021 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
28022 is slightly tricky:
28025 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
28031 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
28034 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
28040 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
28047 and is equal to the previous range.
28049 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
28050 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
28051 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
28055 range = simple-range / normal-range
28056 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
28057 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
28058 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
28059 number *[ " " contents ]
28062 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
28063 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
28064 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
28065 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
28066 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
28071 @subsection Group Info
28073 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
28074 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
28075 describes the group.
28077 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
28078 second is a more complex one:
28081 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
28083 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
28084 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
28086 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
28089 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
28090 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
28091 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
28092 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
28093 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
28094 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
28095 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
28096 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
28097 this section is about.
28099 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
28100 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
28101 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
28103 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
28106 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
28107 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
28108 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
28109 group = quote <string> quote
28110 ralevel = rank / level
28111 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
28112 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
28113 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
28115 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
28116 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
28117 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
28118 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
28121 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
28122 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
28125 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
28126 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
28129 @item gnus-info-group
28130 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
28131 @findex gnus-info-group
28132 @findex gnus-info-set-group
28133 Get/set the group name.
28135 @item gnus-info-rank
28136 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
28137 @findex gnus-info-rank
28138 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
28139 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
28141 @item gnus-info-level
28142 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
28143 @findex gnus-info-level
28144 @findex gnus-info-set-level
28145 Get/set the group level.
28147 @item gnus-info-score
28148 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
28149 @findex gnus-info-score
28150 @findex gnus-info-set-score
28151 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
28153 @item gnus-info-read
28154 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
28155 @findex gnus-info-read
28156 @findex gnus-info-set-read
28157 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
28159 @item gnus-info-marks
28160 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
28161 @findex gnus-info-marks
28162 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
28163 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
28165 @item gnus-info-method
28166 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
28167 @findex gnus-info-method
28168 @findex gnus-info-set-method
28169 Get/set the group select method.
28171 @item gnus-info-params
28172 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
28173 @findex gnus-info-params
28174 @findex gnus-info-set-params
28175 Get/set the group parameters.
28178 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
28179 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
28181 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
28182 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
28183 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
28184 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
28187 @node Extended Interactive
28188 @subsection Extended Interactive
28189 @cindex interactive
28190 @findex gnus-interactive
28192 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
28193 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
28194 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
28197 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
28198 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
28203 The best thing to do would have been to implement
28204 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
28205 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
28206 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
28207 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
28208 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
28209 @code{interactive}.
28211 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
28216 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
28217 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
28221 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
28222 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
28223 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
28226 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
28230 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
28234 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
28240 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
28241 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
28245 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
28246 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
28247 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
28249 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
28250 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
28251 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
28252 Gnus, that's very useful.
28254 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
28255 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
28256 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
28257 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
28258 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
28259 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
28260 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
28261 following function:
28264 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
28268 (,function ,@@args))
28272 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
28273 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
28274 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
28277 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
28278 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
28279 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
28281 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
28282 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
28283 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
28286 @node Various File Formats
28287 @subsection Various File Formats
28290 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
28291 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
28295 @node Active File Format
28296 @subsubsection Active File Format
28298 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
28299 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
28302 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
28305 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
28306 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
28307 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
28308 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
28309 no.general 1000 900 y
28312 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
28315 active = *group-line
28316 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
28317 group = <non-white-space string>
28319 high-number = <non-negative integer>
28320 low-number = <positive integer>
28321 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
28324 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
28325 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
28328 @node Newsgroups File Format
28329 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
28331 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
28332 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
28333 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
28336 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
28337 Here's the definition:
28341 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
28342 group = <non-white-space string>
28344 description = <string>
28349 @node Emacs for Heathens
28350 @section Emacs for Heathens
28352 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
28353 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
28354 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
28355 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
28356 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
28357 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
28358 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
28362 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
28363 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
28368 @subsection Keystrokes
28372 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
28375 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
28378 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
28379 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
28380 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
28381 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
28382 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
28383 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
28385 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
28386 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
28387 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
28388 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
28389 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
28390 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
28391 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
28393 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
28394 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
28395 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
28396 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
28397 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
28398 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
28399 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
28401 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
28402 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
28403 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
28404 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
28405 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
28411 @subsection Emacs Lisp
28413 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
28414 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
28415 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
28416 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
28418 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
28419 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
28420 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
28421 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
28422 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
28423 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
28424 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
28427 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
28428 write the following:
28431 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
28434 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
28435 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
28436 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
28439 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
28440 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
28441 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
28442 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
28443 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
28445 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
28446 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
28447 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
28451 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
28455 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
28458 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
28459 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
28462 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
28465 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
28466 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
28469 @include gnus-faq.texi
28489 @c Local Variables:
28491 @c coding: iso-8859-1