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4 @settitle Gnus 5.2 Manual
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176 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
183 \thispagestyle{empty}
185 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
187 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
188 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
189 are preserved on all copies.
191 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
192 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
193 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
194 permission notice identical to this one.
196 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
197 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
206 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
208 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
210 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
211 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
212 are preserved on all copies.
215 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
216 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
217 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
218 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
221 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
222 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
223 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
224 permission notice identical to this one.
226 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
227 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
235 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
238 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
239 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
241 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
242 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
243 are preserved on all copies.
245 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
246 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
247 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
248 permission notice identical to this one.
250 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
251 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
260 @top The Gnus Newsreader
264 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
265 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
266 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
274 \thispagestyle{empty}
277 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
278 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
280 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
281 being accused of plagiarism:
283 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
284 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
285 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
286 even read news with it!
288 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
289 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
290 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
291 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
292 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
299 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
300 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
301 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
302 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
303 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
304 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
305 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
306 * Various:: General purpose settings.
307 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
308 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
309 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
310 * Key Index:: Key Index.
315 @chapter Starting Gnus
320 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
321 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
324 @findex gnus-other-frame
325 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
326 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
327 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
329 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
333 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
334 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
335 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
336 * Slave Gnusii:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
337 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
338 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
339 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
340 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
341 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
342 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
346 @node Finding the News
347 @section Finding the News
349 @vindex gnus-select-method
351 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
352 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
353 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
354 native method. All groups that are not fetched with this method are
357 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
358 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
361 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
364 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
367 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
370 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
371 certainly be much faster.
373 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
375 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
376 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
377 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
378 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
379 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
380 that fails as well, Gnus will will try to use the machine that is
381 running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long-shot, though.
383 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
384 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
385 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
386 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
388 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
389 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
390 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
391 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
392 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
393 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
395 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
397 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
398 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
399 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
400 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
401 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
402 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
404 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
406 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
407 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
408 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
409 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
410 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
411 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
414 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
415 would typically set this variable to
418 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
423 @section The First Time
424 @cindex first time usage
426 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
427 be subscribed by default.
429 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
430 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
431 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
432 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
435 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
436 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is here
437 defined as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
439 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
440 help you with most common problems.
442 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
443 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
447 @node The Server is Down
448 @section The Server is Down
449 @cindex server errors
451 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
452 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
453 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
455 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
456 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
457 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
458 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
459 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
460 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
461 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
463 @findex gnus-no-server
465 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
466 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
467 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
468 if you're in a hurry as well.
472 @section Slave Gnusiï
475 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
476 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (eg., if you
477 are using the two different Gnusiï to read from two different servers),
478 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
480 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusiï that use the same
483 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
484 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
485 @dfn{servants}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
486 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
487 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
488 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
489 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
491 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
492 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusiï should be started with
493 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
494 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contains information only
495 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
496 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
497 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
498 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
500 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
501 information in the normal (i. e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
504 @node Fetching a Group
505 @section Fetching a Group
507 @findex gnus-fetch-group
508 It it sometime convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
509 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
510 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
511 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
512 It takes the group name as a parameter.
519 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
520 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
521 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
523 This variable should contain a function. Some handy pre-fab values
528 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
529 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
530 Make all new groups zombies. You can browse the zombies later (with
531 @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly, or subscribe to them.
534 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
535 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
536 Subscribe all new groups randomly.
538 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
539 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
540 Subscribe all new groups alphabetically.
542 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
543 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
544 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically.
546 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
547 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
548 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
549 you about @strong{all} new groups.
551 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
552 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
557 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
558 A closely related variable is
559 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
560 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
561 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
562 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
565 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above to
566 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
567 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
569 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
570 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
571 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
574 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
577 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
578 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
579 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
580 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
581 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
582 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
583 subscribing these groups.
584 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
585 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
587 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
588 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
589 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
590 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
591 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
592 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
593 and if the the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
594 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
596 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
597 Yet another variable that meddles here is
598 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
599 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
600 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
601 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
602 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
603 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
604 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
605 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
607 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
608 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
609 you could set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
610 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
611 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
612 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
613 is @code{t} by default.
615 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
616 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
617 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
618 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
619 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster &
620 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
621 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
622 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
623 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
624 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
626 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
627 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
628 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
629 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
630 few days. If any do, then it works. If any don't, then it doesn't
631 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
632 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
633 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
634 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
635 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
636 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
638 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
639 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
640 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
641 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
642 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
643 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
647 @section Startup Files
648 @cindex startup files
651 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
652 information is traditionally stored in this file.
654 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
655 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
656 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
657 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
658 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
659 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
660 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
662 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
663 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
664 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
665 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file.
667 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
668 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
669 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
670 the file and save some space, as well as making exit from Gnus faster.
671 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
672 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
674 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
675 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
676 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
677 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
678 will also means that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
679 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
680 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
681 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
684 @vindex gnus-startup-file
685 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
686 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
687 file being whatever that one is with a @samp{.eld} appended.
689 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
690 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
691 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
692 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
693 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
694 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
695 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
696 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
697 control on or off. Version control is off by default when saving the
706 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
707 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
708 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
709 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
710 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
713 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
714 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
717 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
718 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
719 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
721 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
722 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
723 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
724 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
725 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
726 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
729 @node The Active File
730 @section The Active File
732 @cindex ignored groups
734 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
735 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
736 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
738 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
739 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
740 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
741 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
742 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
743 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
744 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
747 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
748 @c if you set it to anything else.
750 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
752 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
753 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
754 reading the active file. This variable is @code{t} by default.
756 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
757 you actually subscribe to.
759 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
760 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
761 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
762 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
764 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
765 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
766 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
767 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
768 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
769 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
771 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
772 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
773 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
774 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
775 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
776 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
778 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
779 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
782 @node Startup Variables
783 @section Startup Variables
788 @vindex gnus-load-hook
789 A hook that is run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
790 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
791 times you start Gnus.
793 @item gnus-startup-hook
794 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
795 A hook that is run after starting up Gnus successfully.
797 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
798 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
799 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
800 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
801 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
802 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
803 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
804 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
806 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
807 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
808 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
809 your boss might not notice that you are reading news instead of doing
812 @item gnus-no-groups-message
813 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
814 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
818 @node The Group Buffer
819 @chapter The Group Buffer
822 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
823 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
824 long as Gnus is active.
827 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
828 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
829 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
830 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
831 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
832 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
833 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
834 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
835 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
836 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
837 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
838 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
839 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
840 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
841 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
842 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
846 @node Group Buffer Format
847 @section Group Buffer Format
848 @cindex group buffer format
851 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
852 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
853 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
857 @node Group Line Specification
858 @subsection Group Line Specification
860 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
861 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
863 Here's a couple of example group lines:
866 25: news.announce.newusers
867 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
872 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
873 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
874 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
875 asterisk at the beginning of the line?)
877 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
878 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
879 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
880 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
881 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
882 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
884 The default value that produced those lines above is
885 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n}.
887 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
888 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
889 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
890 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
893 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
894 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
895 instead of wasting time reading news.)
897 Here's a list of all available format characters:
902 Only marked articles.
905 Whether the group is subscribed.
908 Level of subscribedness.
911 Number of unread articles.
914 Number of dormant articles.
917 Number of ticked articles.
920 Number of read articles.
923 Total number of articles.
926 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
929 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
938 Newsgroup description.
941 @samp{m} if moderated.
944 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
953 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
957 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
960 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
961 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
962 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
963 The default is @code{1}.
966 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
967 be a letter. @sc{gnus} will call the function
968 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
969 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current headers as
970 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
971 into the buffer just like information from any other specifier.
975 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
976 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
977 group, or a bogus (or semi-bogus) native group.
980 @node Group Modeline Specification
981 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
983 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
984 The mode line can be changed by setting
985 (@code{gnus-group-mode-line-format}). It doesn't understand that many
990 The native news server.
992 The native select method.
996 @node Group Highlighting
997 @subsection Group Highlighting
999 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1000 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1001 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1002 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1003 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1005 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1009 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1011 ,(custom-face-lookup "Red" nil nil t nil nil))
1012 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) .
1013 ,(custom-face-lookup "SeaGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1015 ,(custom-face-lookup "SpringGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1017 ,(custom-face-lookup "SteelBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1019 ,(custom-face-lookup "SkyBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1023 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1030 The number of unread articles in the group.
1034 Whether the group is a mail group.
1036 The level of the group.
1038 The score of the group.
1040 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1042 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1043 topic being inserted.
1046 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1047 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1048 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1050 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1051 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1052 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1053 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1054 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1057 @node Group Maneuvering
1058 @section Group Maneuvering
1059 @cindex group movement
1061 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1062 expected, hopefully.
1068 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1069 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1070 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1077 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1078 Go to the previous group group that has unread articles
1079 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1083 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1084 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1088 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1089 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1093 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1094 Go to the next unread group on the same level (or lower)
1095 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1099 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1100 Go to the previous unread group on the same level (or lower)
1101 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1104 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1110 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1111 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1112 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1117 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1118 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1119 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1123 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1124 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1125 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1128 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1129 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1130 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1131 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1135 @node Selecting a Group
1136 @section Selecting a Group
1137 @cindex group selection
1142 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1143 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1144 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1145 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1146 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1147 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1148 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, Gnus
1149 will fetch @var{N} number of articles. If @var{N} is positive, fetch
1150 the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is negative, fetch the
1151 @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1155 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1156 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1157 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1158 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1159 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1163 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1164 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1165 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1166 minimum amount off fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1167 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1168 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1169 enter some humongous group.
1172 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1173 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1174 This is yet one more command that does the same as the one above, but
1175 this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1176 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1180 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1181 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1182 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1183 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1184 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is when catching up a group from
1189 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1190 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1191 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1194 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1195 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1196 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1197 unread articles than this, Gnus will query the user before entering the
1198 group. The user can then specify how many articles should be fetched
1199 from the server. If the user specifies a negative number (@code{-n}),
1200 the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it is positive, the
1201 @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will be fetched.
1203 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1204 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1205 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1206 automatically when entering a group.
1211 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1212 full summary buffer.
1215 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1218 Select the most high-scored article in the group when entering the
1222 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1223 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1224 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1228 @node Subscription Commands
1229 @section Subscription Commands
1238 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1239 Toggle subscription to the current group
1240 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1246 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1247 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1248 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1249 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1255 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1256 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1262 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1263 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1266 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1267 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1268 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1269 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1270 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1276 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1277 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1281 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1282 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1285 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1286 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1287 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1288 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1289 be used with some caution. The only thing where this command comes in
1290 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1291 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level @code{7} will
1292 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1293 @file{.newsrc} file.
1297 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1301 @section Group Levels
1304 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1305 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1306 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1307 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1308 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1314 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1315 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1316 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1317 prompted for a level.
1320 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1321 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1322 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1323 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1324 Gnus considers groups on between levels 1 and
1325 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1326 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1327 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1328 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1329 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (default 9),
1330 completely dead. Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly
1331 the same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what
1332 articles you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and
1333 living groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely
1334 for reasons of efficiency.
1336 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1337 low levels (eg. 1 or 2).
1339 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1340 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1341 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1343 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1344 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1345 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1346 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1347 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1348 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1349 relevant legal ranges.
1351 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1352 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1353 will only move to groups that are of the same level (or lower). In
1354 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1355 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1356 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1359 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1360 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1361 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1364 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1365 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1366 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1367 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1370 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1371 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1372 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1373 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1375 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1376 Gnus will normally just activate groups that are on level
1377 @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to activate
1378 unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable to
1383 @section Group Score
1386 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1387 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1388 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1391 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1392 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1393 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1394 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1395 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1396 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1397 part and the score is the least significant part.)
1399 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1400 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1401 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1402 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1403 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1404 action after each summary exit, you can add
1405 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1406 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1407 slow things down somewhat.
1410 @node Marking Groups
1411 @section Marking Groups
1412 @cindex marking groups
1414 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1415 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1416 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1417 bidding on those groups.
1419 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1420 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1421 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1429 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1430 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1436 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1437 Remove the mark from the current group
1438 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1442 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1443 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1447 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1448 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1452 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1453 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1457 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1458 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1459 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1462 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1464 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1465 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1466 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1467 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1468 the command to be executed.
1471 @node Foreign Groups
1472 @section Foreign Groups
1474 Here are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1475 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1476 special-purpose groups:
1482 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1483 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1484 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1485 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1489 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1490 Rename the current group to something else
1491 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is legal only on some groups --
1492 mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow on some
1497 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1498 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1499 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1503 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1504 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1505 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1509 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1510 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1511 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1515 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1516 Make a directory group. You will be prompted for a directory name
1517 (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1521 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1522 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1526 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1527 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1528 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1529 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1530 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1531 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1532 group will be created from from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1536 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1537 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1538 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1539 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1543 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1544 Read an arbitrary directory as if with were a newsgroup with the
1545 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1549 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1550 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1551 Make a group based on some file or other
1552 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1553 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1554 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1555 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs}, and
1556 @code{forward}. If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will
1557 guess at the file type.
1560 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1561 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1562 This function will delete the current group
1563 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1564 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1565 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1566 absolutely sure of what you are doing.
1570 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1571 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1572 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}).
1576 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1577 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1578 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1581 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1584 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1585 If the @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1586 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1587 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1588 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers.
1591 @node Group Parameters
1592 @section Group Parameters
1593 @cindex group parameters
1595 Gnus stores all information on a group in a list that is usually known
1596 as the @dfn{group info}. This list has from three to six elements.
1597 Here's an example info.
1600 ("nnml:mail.ding" 3 ((1 . 232) 244 (256 . 270)) ((tick 246 249))
1601 (nnml "private") ((to-address . "ding@@ifi.uio.no")))
1604 The first element is the @dfn{group name}, as Gnus knows the group,
1605 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
1606 normally is a small integer. The third element is a list of ranges of
1607 read articles. The fourth element is a list of lists of article marks
1608 of various kinds. The fifth element is the select method (or virtual
1609 server, if you like). The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group
1610 parameters}, which is what this section is about.
1612 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
1613 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
1614 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
1616 The group parameters store information local to a particular group:
1621 If the group parameter list contains an element that looks like
1622 @code{(to-address . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used by
1623 the backend when doing followups and posts. This is primarily useful in
1624 mail groups that represent closed mailing lists---mailing lists where
1625 it's expected that everybody that writes to the mailing list is
1626 subscribed to it. Since using this parameter ensures that the mail only
1627 goes to the mailing list itself, it means that members won't receive two
1628 copies of your followups.
1630 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1631 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1632 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1633 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1634 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1635 list address instead.
1639 If the group parameter list has an element that looks like
1640 @code{(to-list . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used when
1641 doing a @kbd{a} in any group. It is totally ignored when doing a
1642 followup---except that if it is present in a news group, you'll get mail
1643 group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
1645 @item broken-reply-to
1646 @cindex broken-reply-to
1647 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
1648 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
1649 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
1650 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
1651 broken behavior. So there!
1655 If the group parameter list contains an element like @code{(to-group
1656 . "some.group.name")}, all posts will be sent to that group.
1660 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, all articles that
1661 are read will be marked as expirable. For an alternative approach,
1662 @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
1665 @cindex total-expire
1666 If this symbol is present, all read articles will be put through the
1667 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
1672 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
1673 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
1674 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
1675 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
1676 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
1677 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
1680 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
1681 @samp{file} into the current score file for the group in question. This
1682 means that all score commands you issue will end up in that file.
1685 When unsubscribing to a mailing list you should never send the
1686 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
1687 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
1688 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
1691 This parameter allows you to enter a arbitrary comment on the group.
1693 @item @var{(variable form)}
1694 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
1695 are entering. Say you want to turn threading off in
1696 @samp{news.answers}. You'd then put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in
1697 the group parameters of that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be
1698 made into a local variable in the summary buffer you enter, and the form
1699 @code{nil} will be @code{eval}ed there.
1701 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
1702 If you want to hear a beep when you enter the group
1703 @samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, you could put something like
1704 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group.
1705 @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the @code{(ding)}
1706 form, but who cares?
1710 If you want to change the group info you can use the @kbd{G E} command
1711 to enter a buffer where you can edit it.
1713 You usually don't want to edit the entire group info, so you'd be better
1714 off using the @kbd{G p} command to just edit the group parameters.
1717 @node Listing Groups
1718 @section Listing Groups
1719 @cindex group listing
1721 These commands all list various slices of the groups that are available.
1729 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
1730 List all groups that have unread articles
1731 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
1732 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
1733 only lists groups of level five or lower (i.e., just subscribed groups).
1739 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
1740 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
1741 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
1742 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
1743 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
1744 unsubscribed groups).
1748 @findex gnus-group-list-level
1749 List all unread groups on a specific level
1750 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
1751 with no unread articles.
1755 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
1756 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
1757 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
1758 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
1763 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
1764 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
1768 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
1769 List all subscribed groups with unread articles that match a regexp
1770 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
1774 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
1775 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
1779 @findex gnus-group-list-active
1780 List absolutely all groups that are in the active file(s) of the
1781 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
1782 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
1783 to do a @kbd{A m} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
1788 @findex gnus-group-apropos
1789 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
1790 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
1794 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
1795 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
1796 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
1800 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
1801 @cindex visible group parameter
1802 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
1803 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
1804 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
1805 get the same effect.
1807 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
1808 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
1809 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
1810 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
1811 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
1814 @node Sorting Groups
1815 @section Sorting Groups
1816 @cindex sorting groups
1818 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
1819 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
1820 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
1821 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
1822 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
1823 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
1828 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
1829 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
1830 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
1832 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
1833 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
1834 Sort by group level.
1836 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
1837 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
1838 Sort by group score.
1840 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
1841 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
1842 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
1843 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}.
1845 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
1846 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
1847 Sort by number of unread articles.
1849 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
1850 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
1851 Sort by alphabetically on the select method.
1856 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
1857 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
1861 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
1862 some sorting criteria:
1866 @kindex G S a (Group)
1867 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
1868 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
1869 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
1872 @kindex G S u (Group)
1873 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
1874 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
1875 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
1878 @kindex G S l (Group)
1879 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
1880 Sort the group buffer by group level
1881 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
1884 @kindex G S v (Group)
1885 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
1886 Sort the group buffer by group score
1887 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}).
1890 @kindex G S r (Group)
1891 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
1892 Sort the group buffer by group level
1893 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}).
1896 @kindex G S m (Group)
1897 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
1898 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
1899 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
1903 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
1906 @node Group Maintenance
1907 @section Group Maintenance
1908 @cindex bogus groups
1913 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
1914 Find bogus groups and delete them
1915 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
1919 @findex gnus-find-new-newsgroups
1920 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-find-new-newsgroups}). If
1921 given a prefix, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server for
1925 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
1926 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
1927 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
1928 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
1931 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
1932 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
1933 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
1934 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
1939 @node Browse Foreign Server
1940 @section Browse Foreign Server
1941 @cindex foreign servers
1942 @cindex browsing servers
1947 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1948 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
1949 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
1950 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
1953 @findex gnus-browse-mode
1954 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
1955 will be use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit
1956 (well, a lot) like a normal group buffer, but with one major difference
1957 - you can't enter any of the groups. If you want to read any of the
1958 news available on that server, you have to subscribe to the groups you
1959 think may be interesting, and then you have to exit this buffer. The
1960 new groups will be added to the group buffer, and then you can read them
1961 as you would any other group.
1963 Future versions of Gnus may possibly permit reading groups straight from
1966 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
1971 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1972 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1976 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1977 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1980 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
1981 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
1982 Enter the current group and display the first article
1983 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
1986 @kindex RET (Browse)
1987 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
1988 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
1992 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
1993 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
1994 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2000 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2001 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2005 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2006 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2007 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2012 @section Exiting Gnus
2013 @cindex exiting Gnus
2015 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2020 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2021 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2022 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2023 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2027 @findex gnus-group-exit
2028 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2032 @findex gnus-group-quit
2033 Quit Gnus without saving any startup files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2036 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2037 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2038 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2039 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2040 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2045 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2046 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2047 trying to customize meta-variables.
2052 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, feels her feet go
2053 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2054 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2060 @section Group Topics
2063 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2064 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2065 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2066 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2067 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2068 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2070 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2072 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2073 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2074 is a toggling command.)
2076 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2077 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2078 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2079 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2082 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2083 the hook for the group mode:
2086 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2090 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2091 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2092 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2096 @node Topic Variables
2097 @subsection Topic Variables
2098 @cindex topic variables
2100 Now, if you select a topic, if will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2101 really neat, I think.
2103 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2104 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2105 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
2106 Elements allowed are:
2118 Number of groups in the topic.
2120 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2122 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2125 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2126 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2127 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2128 The default is @code{2}.
2130 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2131 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2134 @node Topic Commands
2135 @subsection Topic Commands
2136 @cindex topic commands
2138 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2139 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2140 definitions slightly.
2146 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2147 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2148 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2152 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2153 Move the current group to some other topic
2154 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command understands the
2155 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2159 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2160 Copy the current group to some other topic
2161 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command understands the
2162 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2166 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2167 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2168 This command understands the process/prefix convention
2169 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2173 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2174 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2175 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2179 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2180 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2181 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2185 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2186 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2187 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2190 @kindex T M-# (Group)
2191 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2192 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2193 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2197 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2199 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2200 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2201 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2202 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2203 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2204 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2207 @kindex T TAB (Group)
2208 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2209 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2210 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2211 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2215 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2216 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}).
2220 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2221 Yank the previously killed group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}).
2222 Note that all topics will be yanked before all groups.
2226 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2227 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2230 @kindex T DEL (Group)
2231 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2232 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2236 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2237 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2238 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2243 @node Topic Topology
2244 @subsection Topic Topology
2245 @cindex topic topology
2248 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2254 2: alt.religion.emacs
2257 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2259 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2260 13: comp.sources.unix
2263 So, here we have one top-level topic, two topics under that, and one
2264 sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always just one (1)
2265 top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as follows:
2269 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2270 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2274 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2275 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2276 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2277 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2278 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2279 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2281 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2282 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2283 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2286 @node Misc Group Stuff
2287 @section Misc Group Stuff
2290 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2291 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2292 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2299 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2300 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}). @xref{The
2305 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2306 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). The current
2307 group name will be used as the default.
2311 @findex gnus-group-mail
2312 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2316 Variables for the group buffer:
2320 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2321 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2322 @code{gnus-group-mode-hook} is called after the group buffer has been
2325 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2326 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2327 @code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} is called after the group buffer is
2328 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2331 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2332 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2333 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2334 whether they are empty or not.
2339 @node Scanning New Messages
2340 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2341 @cindex new messages
2342 @cindex scanning new news
2348 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2349 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2350 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2351 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2352 command will force a total rereading of the active file(s) from the
2357 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2358 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2359 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2360 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}). The
2361 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} variable controls whether
2362 this command is to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t}
2365 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
2366 @cindex activating groups
2368 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
2369 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
2374 @findex gnus-group-restart
2375 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}).
2379 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
2380 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
2382 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
2383 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
2387 @node Group Information
2388 @subsection Group Information
2389 @cindex group information
2390 @cindex information on groups
2396 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
2399 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
2400 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
2401 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
2402 remote machine. @code{ange-ftp} will be used for fetching the file.
2406 @cindex describing groups
2407 @cindex group description
2408 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
2409 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
2410 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
2414 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
2415 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
2416 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
2421 @findex gnus-version
2422 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
2426 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
2427 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
2430 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
2433 @findex gnus-info-find-node
2434 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
2439 @subsection File Commands
2440 @cindex file commands
2446 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
2447 @vindex gnus-init-file
2448 @cindex reading init file
2449 Read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
2450 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
2454 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
2455 @cindex saving .newsrc
2456 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
2457 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
2458 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
2462 @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
2463 Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
2468 @node The Summary Buffer
2469 @chapter The Summary Buffer
2470 @cindex summary buffer
2472 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
2473 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
2476 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
2477 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
2478 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
2479 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
2480 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
2481 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
2482 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
2483 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
2484 * Threading:: How threads are made.
2485 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
2486 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
2487 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
2488 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
2489 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
2490 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
2491 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
2492 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
2493 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
2494 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
2495 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
2496 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
2497 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
2498 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
2499 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
2503 @node Summary Buffer Format
2504 @section Summary Buffer Format
2505 @cindex summary buffer format
2508 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
2509 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
2510 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
2513 @findex mail-extract-address-components
2514 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
2515 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
2516 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
2517 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
2518 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined function exist:
2519 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
2520 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
2521 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
2522 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
2523 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead.
2525 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
2526 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
2527 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
2528 with those specs that require it. The default is @samp{}.
2531 @node Summary Buffer Lines
2532 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
2534 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
2535 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
2536 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
2537 lines a a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions.
2539 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
2541 The following format specification characters are understood:
2549 Subject if the article is the root, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject}
2552 Full @code{From} line.
2554 The name (from the @code{From} header).
2556 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
2557 spec in that it uses @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is
2558 slower, but may be more thorough.
2560 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
2563 Number of lines in the article.
2565 Number of characters in the article.
2567 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
2569 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
2570 pushes everything after it off the screen).
2572 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{\[}, but can also be @samp{<}
2573 for adopted articles.
2575 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{\]}, but can also be @samp{>}
2576 for adopted articles.
2578 One space for each thread level.
2580 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
2588 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
2589 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
2590 default level. If the difference between
2591 @code{gnus-summary-default-level} and the score is less than
2592 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
2604 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
2605 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
2607 A single character will be displayed if the article has any children.
2609 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
2610 be a letter. @sc{gnus} will call the function
2611 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
2612 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
2613 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
2614 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
2617 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
2618 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
2619 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
2620 that. This means that it is illegal to have these specs after a
2621 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
2622 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
2624 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
2625 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
2627 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
2630 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
2631 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
2633 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
2634 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar. Set
2635 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you like. Here are the
2636 elements you can play with:
2642 Unprefixed group name.
2644 Current article number.
2648 Number of unread articles in this group.
2650 Number of unselected articles in this group.
2652 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
2653 either as @samp{<%U(+%u) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
2654 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
2655 and no unselected ones.
2657 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
2658 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
2660 Subject of the current article.
2664 Name of the current score file.
2666 Number of dormant articles.
2668 Number of ticked articles.
2670 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
2672 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
2676 @node Summary Highlighting
2677 @subsection Summary Highlighting
2681 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
2682 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
2683 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
2684 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
2685 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
2687 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
2688 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
2689 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
2690 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
2692 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
2693 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
2694 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) that is used to
2695 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
2697 @item gnus-summary-highlight
2698 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
2699 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
2700 list where the elements are on the format @code{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
2701 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
2702 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
2704 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
2705 ((> score default) . bold))
2707 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
2708 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
2712 @node Summary Maneuvering
2713 @section Summary Maneuvering
2714 @cindex summary movement
2716 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
2717 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
2719 None of these commands select articles.
2724 @kindex M-n (Summary)
2725 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
2726 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
2727 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
2728 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
2732 @kindex M-p (Summary)
2733 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
2734 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
2735 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
2736 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
2741 @kindex G j (Summary)
2742 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
2743 Ask for an article number and then go that article
2744 (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
2747 @kindex G g (Summary)
2748 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
2749 Ask for an article number and then go the summary line of that article
2750 (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
2753 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
2754 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
2755 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
2756 to the group buffer.
2758 Variables related to summary movement:
2762 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
2763 @item gnus-auto-select-next
2764 If you are at the end of the group and issue one of the movement
2765 commands, Gnus will offer to go to the next group. If this variable is
2766 @code{t} and the next group is empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and
2767 return to the group buffer. If this variable is neither @code{t} nor
2768 @code{nil}, Gnus will select the next group, no matter whether it has
2769 any unread articles or not. As a special case, if this variable is
2770 @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
2771 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same will
2772 happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
2773 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
2774 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
2775 @pxref{Group Levels}.
2777 @item gnus-auto-select-same
2778 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
2779 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
2780 article with the same subject as the current. This variable is not
2781 particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
2783 @item gnus-summary-check-current
2784 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
2785 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
2786 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
2787 Instead, they will choose the current article.
2789 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
2790 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
2791 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
2792 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
2793 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
2794 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
2795 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
2796 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
2802 @node Choosing Articles
2803 @section Choosing Articles
2804 @cindex selecting articles
2806 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
2807 and they all select and display an article.
2811 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
2812 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
2813 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
2814 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
2819 @kindex G n (Summary)
2820 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
2821 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
2826 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
2827 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
2832 @kindex G N (Summary)
2833 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
2834 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
2839 @kindex G P (Summary)
2840 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
2841 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
2844 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
2845 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
2846 Go to the next article with the same subject
2847 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
2850 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
2851 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
2852 Go to the previous article with the same subject
2853 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
2857 @kindex G f (Summary)
2859 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2860 Go to the first unread article
2861 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
2865 @kindex G b (Summary)
2867 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2868 Go to the article with the highest score
2869 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
2874 @kindex G l (Summary)
2875 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
2876 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
2879 @kindex G p (Summary)
2880 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
2881 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
2882 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
2883 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
2884 history as you like.
2887 Some variables that are relevant for moving and selecting articles:
2890 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
2891 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
2892 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
2893 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
2894 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
2895 the server and display it in the article buffer.
2897 @item gnus-select-article-hook
2898 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
2899 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
2900 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
2902 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
2903 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
2904 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
2905 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
2906 @findex gnus-unread-mark
2907 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
2908 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
2909 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
2910 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
2911 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
2912 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
2913 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
2914 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
2915 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
2920 @node Paging the Article
2921 @section Scrolling the Article
2922 @cindex article scrolling
2927 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
2928 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
2929 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
2930 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
2931 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
2934 @kindex DEL (Summary)
2935 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
2936 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
2939 @kindex RET (Summary)
2940 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
2941 Scroll the current article one line forward
2942 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
2946 @kindex A g (Summary)
2948 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
2949 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
2950 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
2951 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
2952 the way it came from the server.
2957 @kindex A < (Summary)
2958 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
2959 Scroll to the beginning of the article
2960 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
2965 @kindex A > (Summary)
2966 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
2967 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
2970 @kindex A s (Summary)
2971 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
2972 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
2973 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
2978 @node Reply Followup and Post
2979 @section Reply, Followup and Post
2982 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
2983 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
2987 @node Summary Mail Commands
2988 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
2990 @cindex composing mail
2992 Commands for composing a mail message:
2998 @kindex S r (Summary)
3000 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3001 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3002 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3007 @kindex S R (Summary)
3008 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3009 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3010 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3011 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3014 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3015 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3016 Forward the current article to some other person
3017 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}).
3020 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3021 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3022 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3023 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
3028 @kindex S m (Summary)
3029 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3030 Send a mail to some other person
3031 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3034 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3035 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3036 @cindex bouncing mail
3037 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3038 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3039 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3040 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3041 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3042 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3043 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3044 very well fail, though.
3047 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3048 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3049 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3050 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3051 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3052 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3053 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3054 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3055 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3056 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3058 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3059 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3060 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3061 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3062 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
3065 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3066 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3067 Digest the current series and forward the result using mail
3068 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3069 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3072 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3073 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3074 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3075 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}).
3079 @node Summary Post Commands
3080 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3082 @cindex composing news
3084 Commands for posting an article:
3090 @kindex S p (Summary)
3091 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3092 Post an article to the current group
3093 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3098 @kindex S f (Summary)
3099 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3100 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3104 @kindex S F (Summary)
3106 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3107 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3108 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3109 process/prefix convention.
3112 @kindex S u (Summary)
3113 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3114 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3115 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3119 @node Canceling and Superseding
3120 @section Canceling Articles
3121 @cindex canceling articles
3122 @cindex superseding articles
3124 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3125 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3127 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3129 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3131 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3132 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3133 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3134 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3136 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3137 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3140 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3141 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3142 your original article.
3144 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3146 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3147 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3148 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3151 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3152 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3153 have posted almost the same article twice.
3155 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3156 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3157 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3158 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*post-buf*}). There you will
3159 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3160 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3161 header by substituting one of those words for @code{Message-ID}. Then
3162 just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as you would do normally.
3163 The previous article will be canceled/superseded.
3165 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
3168 @node Marking Articles
3169 @section Marking Articles
3170 @cindex article marking
3171 @cindex article ticking
3174 There are several marks you can set on an article.
3176 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
3177 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
3178 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
3180 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
3183 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
3184 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
3185 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
3189 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
3193 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
3194 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
3198 @node Unread Articles
3199 @subsection Unread Articles
3201 The following marks mark articles as unread, in one form or other.
3203 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3204 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
3207 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
3208 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
3209 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
3210 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
3211 article forever, you'll have to save it. Ticked articles have a
3212 @samp{!} (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}) in the first column.
3215 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3216 A @dfn{dormant} article is marked with a @samp{?}
3217 (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}), and will only appear in the summary buffer
3218 if there are followups to it.
3221 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
3222 An @dfn{unread} article is marked with a @samp{SPACE}
3223 (@code{gnus-unread-mark}). These are articles that haven't been read at
3229 @subsection Read Articles
3230 @cindex expirable mark
3232 All the following marks mark articles as read.
3237 @vindex gnus-del-mark
3238 Articles that are marked as read. They have a @samp{r}
3239 (@code{gnus-del-mark}) in the first column. These are articles that the
3240 user has marked as read more or less manually.
3243 @vindex gnus-read-mark
3244 Articles that are actually read are marked with @samp{R}
3245 (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
3248 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
3249 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions are now
3250 @dfn{old} and marked with @samp{O} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
3253 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
3254 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
3257 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
3258 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
3261 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
3262 Marked as read by having a too low score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
3265 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
3266 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
3269 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
3270 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
3273 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
3274 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}).
3277 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
3278 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}).
3281 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
3282 They are interpreted differently by the adaptive scoring scheme,
3285 One more special mark, though:
3289 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
3290 You can also mark articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as
3291 such automatically). That doesn't make much sense in normal groups,
3292 because a user does not control the expiring of news articles, but in
3293 mail groups, for instance, articles that are marked as @dfn{expirable}
3294 can be deleted by Gnus at any time. Expirable articles are marked with
3295 @samp{E} (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
3300 @subsection Other Marks
3301 @cindex process mark
3304 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
3310 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
3311 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
3312 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
3313 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
3314 encounters the article.
3317 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
3318 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
3319 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
3320 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
3323 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
3324 Articles that are stored in the article cache will be marked with an
3325 @samp{*} in the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}).
3328 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
3329 Articles that are ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
3330 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
3331 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}.
3334 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
3335 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
3336 It the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
3337 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
3338 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
3341 @vindex gnus-process-mark
3342 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}. A
3343 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
3344 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
3345 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
3346 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
3350 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
3351 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
3352 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
3354 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
3355 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
3356 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
3360 @subsection Setting Marks
3361 @cindex setting marks
3363 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
3369 @kindex M t (Summary)
3370 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
3371 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
3376 @kindex M ? (Summary)
3377 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
3378 Mark the current article as dormant
3379 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}).
3383 @kindex M d (Summary)
3385 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
3386 Mark the current article as read
3387 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
3392 @kindex M k (Summary)
3393 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
3394 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
3395 and then select the next unread article
3396 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
3400 @kindex M K (Summary)
3401 @kindex C-k (Summary)
3402 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
3403 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
3404 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
3407 @kindex M C (Summary)
3408 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
3409 Mark all unread articles in the group as read
3410 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
3413 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
3414 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
3415 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
3416 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
3419 @kindex M H (Summary)
3420 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
3421 Catchup the current group to point
3422 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
3425 @kindex C-w (Summary)
3426 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
3427 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
3428 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
3431 @kindex M V k (Summary)
3432 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
3433 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
3434 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
3438 @kindex M c (Summary)
3439 @kindex M-u (Summary)
3440 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
3441 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
3442 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}).
3446 @kindex M e (Summary)
3448 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
3449 Mark the current article as expirable
3450 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
3453 @kindex M b (Summary)
3454 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
3455 Set a bookmark in the current article
3456 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
3459 @kindex M B (Summary)
3460 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
3461 Remove the bookmark from the current article
3462 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
3465 @kindex M V c (Summary)
3466 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
3467 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
3468 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
3471 @kindex M V u (Summary)
3472 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
3473 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
3474 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
3477 @kindex M V m (Summary)
3478 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
3479 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
3480 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
3481 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
3484 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
3485 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
3486 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
3487 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
3488 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
3489 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
3490 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
3491 The default is @code{t}.
3494 @node Setting Process Marks
3495 @subsection Setting Process Marks
3496 @cindex setting process marks
3503 @kindex M P p (Summary)
3504 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
3505 Mark the current article with the process mark
3506 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
3507 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
3511 @kindex M P u (Summary)
3512 @kindex M-# (Summary)
3513 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
3514 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
3517 @kindex M P U (Summary)
3518 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
3519 Remove the process mark from all articles
3520 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
3523 @kindex M P R (Summary)
3524 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
3525 Mark articles by a regular expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
3528 @kindex M P r (Summary)
3529 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
3530 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
3533 @kindex M P t (Summary)
3534 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
3535 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
3536 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
3539 @kindex M P T (Summary)
3540 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
3541 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
3542 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
3545 @kindex M P v (Summary)
3546 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
3547 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
3548 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
3551 @kindex M P s (Summary)
3552 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
3553 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
3556 @kindex M P S (Summary)
3557 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
3558 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
3559 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
3562 @kindex M P a (Summary)
3563 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
3564 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
3567 @kindex M P b (Summary)
3568 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
3569 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
3570 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
3578 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
3579 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
3580 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
3587 @kindex / / (Summary)
3588 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
3589 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
3590 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
3593 @kindex / a (Summary)
3594 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
3595 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
3596 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
3600 @kindex / u (Summary)
3602 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
3603 Limit the summary buffer to articles that are not marked as read
3604 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
3605 buffer to articles that are strictly unread. This means that ticked and
3606 dormant articles will also be excluded.
3609 @kindex / m (Summary)
3610 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
3611 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have not been marked
3612 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
3615 @kindex / n (Summary)
3616 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
3617 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
3618 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
3619 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3622 @kindex / w (Summary)
3623 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
3624 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
3625 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
3629 @kindex / v (Summary)
3630 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
3631 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
3632 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
3636 @kindex M S (Summary)
3637 @kindex / E (Summary)
3638 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
3639 Display all expunged articles
3640 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
3643 @kindex / D (Summary)
3644 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
3645 Display all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
3648 @kindex / d (Summary)
3649 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
3650 Hide all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
3653 @kindex / c (Summary)
3654 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
3655 Hide all dormant articles that have no children
3656 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
3659 @kindex / C (Summary)
3660 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
3661 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
3662 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
3663 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
3671 @cindex article threading
3673 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put replies to
3674 articles directly after the articles they reply to---in a hierarchical
3678 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
3679 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
3683 @node Customizing Threading
3684 @subsection Customizing Threading
3685 @cindex customizing threading
3691 @item gnus-show-threads
3692 @vindex gnus-show-threads
3693 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
3694 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
3695 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
3696 slower and more awkward.
3698 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
3699 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
3700 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
3701 more old headers---headers to articles that are marked as read. If you
3702 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
3703 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
3704 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
3705 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
3706 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
3707 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
3708 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
3709 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
3711 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
3712 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
3713 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
3714 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
3715 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
3716 articles that belong in the same thread together. This will leave
3717 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
3718 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
3719 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
3720 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
3721 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
3722 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
3723 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
3724 @code{nil} by default.
3726 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
3727 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
3728 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
3729 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
3730 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
3731 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
3732 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subjects lines. If
3733 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
3734 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
3735 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
3736 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
3738 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
3739 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
3740 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects.
3742 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
3743 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
3744 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
3745 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
3746 simplification is used.
3748 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
3749 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
3750 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
3751 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
3753 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
3755 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
3758 (mapconcat 'identity
3760 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
3761 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
3762 "answer" "reference" "announce"
3763 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
3768 (mapconcat 'identity
3769 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
3771 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
3774 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
3777 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
3778 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
3779 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
3780 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
3781 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
3782 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
3783 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process. The
3784 default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
3786 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
3787 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
3788 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
3789 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
3790 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
3791 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
3792 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever includes unrelated
3793 articles, but it's also means that people who have posted with broken
3794 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
3798 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
3799 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
3800 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
3801 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
3803 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
3804 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
3805 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
3808 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
3812 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
3813 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
3816 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
3817 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
3818 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
3819 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
3820 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
3821 read or killed the root in a previous session.
3823 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
3824 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
3825 There are four possible values:
3827 @cindex adopting articles
3832 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
3833 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
3834 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
3835 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
3838 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
3839 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
3840 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
3841 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
3842 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
3843 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
3844 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
3847 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
3848 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
3849 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
3853 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
3854 display them after one another.
3857 Don't gather loose threads.
3860 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
3861 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
3862 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
3865 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
3866 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
3867 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
3870 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
3871 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
3872 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
3873 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
3874 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
3877 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
3878 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
3879 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
3880 The default is @code{4}.
3884 @node Thread Commands
3885 @subsection Thread Commands
3886 @cindex thread commands
3892 @kindex T k (Summary)
3893 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
3894 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
3895 Mark all articles in the current sub-thread as read
3896 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
3897 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
3902 @kindex T l (Summary)
3903 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
3904 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
3905 Lower the score of the current thread
3906 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
3909 @kindex T i (Summary)
3910 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
3911 Increase the score of the current thread
3912 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
3915 @kindex T # (Summary)
3916 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
3917 Set the process mark on the current thread
3918 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
3921 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
3922 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
3923 Remove the process mark from the current thread
3924 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
3927 @kindex T T (Summary)
3928 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
3929 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
3932 @kindex T s (Summary)
3933 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
3934 Expose the thread hidden under the current article, if any
3935 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
3938 @kindex T h (Summary)
3939 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
3940 Hide the current (sub)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
3943 @kindex T S (Summary)
3944 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
3945 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
3948 @kindex T H (Summary)
3949 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
3950 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
3953 @kindex T t (Summary)
3954 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
3955 Re-thread the thread the current article is part of
3956 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
3957 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
3960 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
3961 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
3962 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
3963 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}.
3967 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
3968 understand the numeric prefix.
3973 @kindex T n (Summary)
3974 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
3975 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
3978 @kindex T p (Summary)
3979 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
3980 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
3983 @kindex T d (Summary)
3984 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
3985 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
3988 @kindex T u (Summary)
3989 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
3990 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
3993 @kindex T o (Summary)
3994 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
3995 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
3998 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
3999 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
4000 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
4001 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
4002 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
4003 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
4004 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If is
4005 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
4006 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
4007 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
4008 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
4009 that have subjects that are fuzzily equal will be included.
4015 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
4016 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
4017 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
4018 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4019 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
4020 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4021 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
4022 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
4023 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
4024 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
4025 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
4026 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
4027 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
4028 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
4030 Each function takes two threads and return non-@code{nil} if the first
4031 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
4032 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
4033 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
4034 in the list. You should probably always include
4035 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
4036 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
4037 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
4038 ascending article order.
4040 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
4041 number, you could do something like:
4044 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4045 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4046 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4047 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
4050 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
4051 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
4052 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
4053 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
4054 which the articles arrived.
4056 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
4060 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4062 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
4063 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
4066 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
4067 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
4068 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
4069 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
4072 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
4073 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
4074 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
4075 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
4076 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
4077 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
4078 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
4079 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
4080 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
4081 is uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
4082 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
4083 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
4084 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
4086 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
4090 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
4091 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
4092 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
4097 @node Asynchronous Fetching
4098 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
4099 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
4101 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
4102 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
4103 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
4104 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
4105 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
4107 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
4108 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
4110 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
4111 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
4112 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
4113 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
4114 connection is blocked.
4116 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
4117 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
4118 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
4119 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
4121 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
4122 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
4123 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
4124 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
4127 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
4130 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
4131 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
4132 happen automatically.
4134 @vindex nntp-async-number
4135 You can control how many articles that are to be pre-fetched by setting
4136 @code{nntp-async-number}. This is five by default, which means that when
4137 you read an article in the group, @code{nntp} will pre-fetch the next
4138 five articles. If this variable is @code{t}, @code{nntp} will pre-fetch
4139 all the articles that it can without bound. If it is @code{nil}, no
4140 pre-fetching will be made.
4142 @vindex gnus-asynchronous-article-function
4143 You may wish to create some sort of scheme for choosing which articles
4144 that @code{nntp} should consider as candidates for pre-fetching. For
4145 instance, you may wish to pre-fetch all articles with high scores, and
4146 not pre-fetch low-scored articles. You can do that by setting the
4147 @code{gnus-asynchronous-article-function}, which will be called with an
4148 alist where the keys are the article numbers. Your function should
4149 return an alist where the articles you are not interested in have been
4150 removed. You could also do sorting on article score and the like.
4153 @node Article Caching
4154 @section Article Caching
4155 @cindex article caching
4158 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
4159 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
4160 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
4161 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
4162 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
4164 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
4166 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
4167 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
4168 @vindex gnus-use-cache
4169 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
4170 all articles that are ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
4171 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
4172 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
4173 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
4175 When re-select a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
4176 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
4177 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
4178 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
4179 as dormant, and don't worry.
4181 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
4183 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
4184 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
4185 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
4186 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
4187 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
4188 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
4189 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
4190 articles that are marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
4191 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
4192 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
4194 @findex gnus-jog-cache
4195 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
4196 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
4197 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, and store them in
4198 the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this command if 1)
4199 your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really, really slow
4200 and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk. Seriously.
4202 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
4203 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
4204 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
4205 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
4206 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
4207 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
4208 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
4211 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
4212 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
4213 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
4214 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
4215 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
4216 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
4217 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
4218 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
4219 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
4223 @node Persistent Articles
4224 @section Persistent Articles
4225 @cindex persistent articles
4227 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
4228 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
4229 useful in my opinion.
4231 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
4232 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
4233 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
4234 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
4235 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
4236 the expiry going on at the news server.
4238 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
4239 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
4240 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
4246 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
4247 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
4250 @kindex M-* (Summary)
4251 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
4252 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
4253 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
4257 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
4259 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
4260 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
4261 interested in persistent articles:
4264 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
4268 @node Article Backlog
4269 @section Article Backlog
4271 @cindex article backlog
4273 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
4274 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
4275 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
4276 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
4277 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
4278 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
4279 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
4280 increase memory usage some.
4282 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
4283 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
4284 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
4285 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
4286 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
4287 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
4288 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
4290 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
4293 @node Saving Articles
4294 @section Saving Articles
4295 @cindex saving articles
4297 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
4298 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
4299 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
4300 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
4301 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
4303 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
4304 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
4305 unwanted headers before saving the article.
4307 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
4308 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
4309 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
4310 deleted before saving.
4316 @kindex O o (Summary)
4318 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
4319 Save the current article using the default article saver
4320 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
4323 @kindex O m (Summary)
4324 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
4325 Save the current article in mail format
4326 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
4329 @kindex O r (Summary)
4330 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
4331 Save the current article in rmail format
4332 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
4335 @kindex O f (Summary)
4336 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
4337 Save the current article in plain file format
4338 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
4341 @kindex O b (Summary)
4342 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
4343 Save the current article body in plain file format
4344 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
4347 @kindex O h (Summary)
4348 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
4349 Save the current article in mh folder format
4350 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
4353 @kindex O v (Summary)
4354 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
4355 Save the current article in a VM folder
4356 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
4359 @kindex O p (Summary)
4360 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
4361 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
4362 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
4365 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
4366 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
4367 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
4368 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
4369 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
4370 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
4371 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
4372 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
4373 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
4374 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
4375 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
4376 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
4380 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
4381 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
4382 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
4383 functions below, or you can create your own.
4387 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
4388 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
4389 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
4390 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
4391 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
4392 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4393 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
4395 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
4396 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
4397 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
4398 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
4399 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4400 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
4402 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
4403 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
4404 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
4405 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
4406 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
4407 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4408 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
4410 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
4411 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
4412 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
4413 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4414 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
4416 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
4417 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
4418 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
4419 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
4420 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
4423 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
4424 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
4425 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
4426 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
4427 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}. The former creates capitalized names, and
4428 the latter does not.
4430 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
4431 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
4432 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
4433 reader to use this setting.
4436 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
4437 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
4438 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
4439 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
4442 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
4443 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
4444 available functions that generate names:
4448 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
4449 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
4450 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
4452 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
4453 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
4454 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
4456 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
4457 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
4458 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
4460 @item gnus-plain-save-name
4461 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
4462 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
4465 @vindex gnus-split-methods
4466 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
4467 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
4468 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
4469 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
4473 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
4474 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
4475 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
4476 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
4479 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
4480 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
4481 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
4482 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function); or it
4483 can be a list (which will be @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions
4484 have a non-@code{nil} result, the @dfn{file} will be used as a default
4485 prompt. In addition, the result of the operation itself will be used if
4486 the function or form called returns a string or a list of strings.
4488 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
4489 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
4490 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
4491 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
4493 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
4494 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
4495 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
4498 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
4499 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
4500 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
4501 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
4502 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
4503 all the files in the toplevel directory
4504 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
4505 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
4506 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
4507 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
4509 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
4510 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
4511 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
4512 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
4513 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
4516 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
4520 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
4521 (setq gnus-default-article-save 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
4524 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
4525 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
4526 the toplevel directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
4527 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
4530 @node Decoding Articles
4531 @section Decoding Articles
4532 @cindex decoding articles
4534 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
4535 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
4538 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
4539 * Shared Articles:: Unshar articles.
4540 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
4541 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
4542 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
4545 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
4546 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
4547 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
4548 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
4549 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
4551 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
4552 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
4553 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
4555 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
4556 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
4557 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
4559 Subjects that are nonstandard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
4560 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
4561 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
4564 @node Uuencoded Articles
4565 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
4567 @cindex uuencoded articles
4572 @kindex X u (Summary)
4573 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
4574 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
4577 @kindex X U (Summary)
4578 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
4579 Uudecodes and saves the current series
4580 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
4583 @kindex X v u (Summary)
4584 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
4585 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
4588 @kindex X v U (Summary)
4589 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
4590 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
4591 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
4594 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
4595 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
4596 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
4597 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
4598 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
4600 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
4601 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
4602 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
4603 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
4606 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
4607 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
4608 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
4609 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
4610 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
4611 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
4615 @node Shared Articles
4616 @subsection Shared Articles
4618 @cindex shared articles
4623 @kindex X s (Summary)
4624 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
4625 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
4628 @kindex X S (Summary)
4629 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
4630 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
4633 @kindex X v s (Summary)
4634 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
4635 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
4638 @kindex X v S (Summary)
4639 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
4640 Unshars, views and saves the current series
4641 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
4645 @node PostScript Files
4646 @subsection PostScript Files
4652 @kindex X p (Summary)
4653 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
4654 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
4657 @kindex X P (Summary)
4658 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
4659 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
4660 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
4663 @kindex X v p (Summary)
4664 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
4665 View the current PostScript series
4666 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
4669 @kindex X v P (Summary)
4670 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
4671 View and save the current PostScript series
4672 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
4676 @node Decoding Variables
4677 @subsection Decoding Variables
4679 Adjective, not verb.
4682 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
4683 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
4684 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
4688 @node Rule Variables
4689 @subsubsection Rule Variables
4690 @cindex rule variables
4692 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
4693 variables are on the form
4696 (list '(regexp1 command2)
4703 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
4704 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
4706 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
4707 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
4710 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
4711 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
4714 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
4715 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
4716 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
4717 user and default view rules.
4719 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
4720 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
4721 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
4726 @node Other Decode Variables
4727 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
4730 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
4732 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
4733 All functions in this list will be called right each file has been
4734 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
4735 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
4736 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
4740 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
4741 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
4744 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
4745 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
4746 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
4749 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
4750 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
4751 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
4753 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
4754 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
4755 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
4756 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
4757 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
4760 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
4761 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
4762 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
4764 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
4765 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
4766 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
4767 looking for files to display.
4769 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
4770 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
4771 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
4774 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
4775 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
4776 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
4779 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
4780 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
4781 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
4784 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
4785 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
4786 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
4789 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
4790 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
4791 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark articles that were
4792 unsuccessfully decoded as unread.
4794 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
4795 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
4796 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
4797 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
4799 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
4800 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
4802 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
4803 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
4804 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
4805 @code{metamail} for viewing.
4807 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
4808 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
4809 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
4810 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
4811 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
4812 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
4813 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
4814 simply dropped them.
4819 @node Uuencoding and Posting
4820 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
4824 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
4825 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
4826 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
4827 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
4828 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
4829 for you when you post the article.
4831 @item gnus-uu-post-length
4832 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
4833 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
4834 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
4836 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
4837 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
4838 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
4839 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen are able
4840 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
4841 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
4842 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
4844 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
4845 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
4846 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
4847 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
4848 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
4849 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
4850 Default is @code{t}.
4856 @subsection Viewing Files
4857 @cindex viewing files
4858 @cindex pseudo-articles
4860 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
4861 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
4862 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
4863 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
4864 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
4865 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
4866 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
4868 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
4869 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
4870 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
4871 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
4873 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
4874 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
4875 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
4877 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
4878 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
4879 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
4880 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
4881 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
4883 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
4884 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
4885 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
4886 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
4887 a list of parameters to that command.
4889 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
4890 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
4891 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
4893 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
4894 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
4895 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
4898 @node Article Treatment
4899 @section Article Treatment
4901 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
4902 object of newsreaders are to actually, like, read what people have
4903 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
4904 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
4905 these articles easier.
4908 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
4909 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
4910 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
4911 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
4912 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
4916 @node Article Highlighting
4917 @subsection Article Highlighting
4920 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
4921 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
4926 @kindex W H a (Summary)
4927 @findex gnus-article-highlight
4928 Highlight the current article (@code{gnus-article-highlight}).
4931 @kindex W H h (Summary)
4932 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
4933 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
4934 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
4935 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
4936 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
4937 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
4938 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name and
4939 @var{content} is the face for highlighting the header value. The first
4940 match made will be used. Note that @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^}
4941 prepended---Gnus will add one.
4944 @kindex W H c (Summary)
4945 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
4946 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
4948 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
4951 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
4953 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
4954 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
4955 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
4957 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
4958 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
4959 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
4961 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
4962 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
4963 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
4965 @item gnus-cite-face-list
4966 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
4967 List of faces used for highlighting citations. When there are citations
4968 from multiple articles in the same message, Gnus will try to give each
4969 citation from each article its own face. This should make it easier to
4972 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
4973 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
4974 Regexp matching normal SuperCite attribution lines.
4976 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
4977 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
4978 Regexp matching mangled SuperCite attribution lines.
4980 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
4981 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
4982 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
4983 that it's a citation.
4985 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
4986 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
4987 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
4989 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
4990 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
4991 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
4993 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
4994 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
4995 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
4996 cited text belonging to the attribution.
5002 @kindex W H s (Summary)
5003 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
5004 @vindex gnus-signature-face
5005 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
5006 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
5007 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} in an article will be
5008 considered a signature and will be highlighted with
5009 @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by default.
5014 @node Article Hiding
5015 @subsection Article Hiding
5016 @cindex article hiding
5018 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
5019 too much cruft in most articles.
5024 @kindex W W a (Summary)
5025 @findex gnus-article-hide
5026 Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}).
5029 @kindex W W h (Summary)
5030 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
5031 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
5035 @kindex W W b (Summary)
5036 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
5037 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
5038 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
5041 @kindex W W s (Summary)
5042 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
5043 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}).
5046 @kindex W W p (Summary)
5047 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
5048 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}).
5051 @kindex W W c (Summary)
5052 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
5053 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
5054 customizing the hiding:
5058 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
5059 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
5060 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
5061 50), hide the cited text.
5063 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
5064 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
5065 The cited text must be have at least this length (default 10) before it
5068 @item gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
5069 @vindex gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
5070 Gnus adds buttons show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
5071 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
5072 by this format-like variable. These specs are legal:
5076 Start point of the hidden text.
5078 End point of the hidden text.
5080 Length of the hidden text.
5083 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
5084 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
5085 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
5090 @kindex W W C (Summary)
5091 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
5092 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
5093 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
5094 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
5095 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
5099 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
5100 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
5101 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
5103 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
5104 citation customization.
5106 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
5107 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
5108 signature. If it is a number, no signature may not be longer (in
5109 characters) than that number. If it is a function, the function will be
5110 called without any parameters, and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no
5111 signature in the buffer. If it is a string, it will be used as a
5112 regexp. If it matches, the text in question is not a signature.
5115 @node Article Washing
5116 @subsection Article Washing
5118 @cindex article washing
5120 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
5121 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
5123 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
5124 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
5130 @kindex W l (Summary)
5131 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
5132 Remove page breaks from the current article
5133 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}).
5136 @kindex W r (Summary)
5137 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
5138 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
5139 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
5142 @kindex W t (Summary)
5143 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
5144 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
5145 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
5148 @kindex W v (Summary)
5149 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
5150 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
5151 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
5154 @kindex W m (Summary)
5155 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
5156 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
5157 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
5160 @kindex W o (Summary)
5161 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
5162 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
5165 @kindex W w (Summary)
5166 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
5167 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
5170 @kindex W c (Summary)
5171 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
5172 Remove CR (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
5175 @kindex W L (Summary)
5176 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
5177 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
5178 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
5181 @kindex W q (Summary)
5182 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
5183 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
5186 @kindex W f (Summary)
5188 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
5189 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
5190 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
5191 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
5192 Look for and display any X-Face headers
5193 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
5194 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If
5195 this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell.
5196 If it is a function, this function will be called with the face as the
5197 argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp)
5198 matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown. The default
5199 action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the face; under
5200 XEmacs the default action is to display the face after the @code{From}
5204 @kindex W b (Summary)
5205 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
5206 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
5209 @kindex W B (Summary)
5210 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
5211 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
5212 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
5217 @node Article Buttons
5218 @subsection Article Buttons
5221 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
5222 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
5223 with the minimum of fuzz.
5225 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
5226 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
5227 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
5232 @item gnus-button-alist
5233 @vindex gnus-button-alist
5234 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
5237 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
5243 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
5244 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that match embedded URLs:
5245 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
5248 Gnus has to know which parts of the match is to be highlighted. This is
5249 a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp that is to be
5250 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use @code{0} here.
5253 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
5254 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
5255 avoid false matches.
5258 This function will be called when you click on this button.
5261 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
5262 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
5266 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
5269 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
5272 @item gnus-header-button-alist
5273 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
5274 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
5275 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
5276 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
5279 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
5282 @var{header} is a regular expression.
5284 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
5285 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
5286 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
5287 default values of the variables above.
5289 @item gnus-article-button-face
5290 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
5291 Face used on bottons.
5293 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
5294 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
5295 Face is used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
5301 @subsection Article Date
5303 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
5304 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
5305 when the article was sent.
5310 @kindex W T u (Summary)
5311 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
5312 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
5313 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
5316 @kindex W T l (Summary)
5317 @findex gnus-article-date-local
5318 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
5321 @kindex W T e (Summary)
5322 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
5323 Say how much time has (e)lapsed between the article was posted and now
5324 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}).
5327 @kindex W T o (Summary)
5328 @findex gnus-article-date-original
5329 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
5330 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and is
5331 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
5332 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
5333 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
5338 @node Summary Sorting
5339 @section Summary Sorting
5340 @cindex summary sorting
5342 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
5343 can't really see why you'd want that.
5348 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
5349 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
5350 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
5353 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
5354 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
5355 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
5358 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
5359 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
5360 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
5363 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
5364 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
5365 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
5368 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
5369 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
5370 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
5373 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
5374 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
5375 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
5376 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
5377 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
5381 @node Finding the Parent
5382 @section Finding the Parent
5383 @cindex parent articles
5384 @cindex referring articles
5386 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
5388 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
5389 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
5390 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
5391 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
5392 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
5393 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
5394 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
5395 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
5397 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
5398 @kindex A R (Summary)
5399 You can have Gnus fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References}
5400 header of the article by pushing @kbd{A R}
5401 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
5403 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
5404 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
5405 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
5406 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
5407 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
5408 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long thingies that look
5409 something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You have to get
5410 it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
5412 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
5413 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
5414 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
5415 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
5416 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the same
5417 as the one that keeps the spool you are reading from updated, but that's
5418 not really necessary.
5420 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
5421 not do a particularly excellent job of it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
5422 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
5423 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
5424 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
5425 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
5428 @node Alternative Approaches
5429 @section Alternative Approaches
5431 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
5432 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
5435 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
5436 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
5441 @subsection Pick and Read
5442 @cindex pick and read
5444 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{nn}) use a two-phased
5445 reading interface. The user first marks the articles she wants to read
5446 from a summary buffer. Then she starts reading the articles with just
5447 an article buffer displayed.
5449 @findex gnus-pick-mode
5450 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
5451 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
5452 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
5453 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
5454 it makes one additional command for switching to the summary buffer
5457 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
5461 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
5462 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5463 Pick the article (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5467 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5468 Unpick the article (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5472 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5473 Unpick all articles (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5477 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5478 Pick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5482 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5483 Unpick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5487 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5488 Pick the region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5492 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
5493 Unpick the region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
5497 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5498 Pick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5502 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5503 Unpick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5507 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5508 Pick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5512 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-buffer
5513 Unpick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-buffer}).
5517 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
5518 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
5519 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
5520 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
5521 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
5522 will still be visible when you are reading.
5526 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
5529 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
5532 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
5533 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
5537 @subsection Binary Groups
5538 @cindex binary groups
5540 @findex gnus-binary-mode
5541 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
5542 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
5543 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
5544 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
5545 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
5546 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
5549 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
5550 In fact, the only way to see the actual articles if you have turned this
5551 mode on is the @kbd{g} command (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
5553 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
5554 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
5558 @section Tree Display
5561 @vindex gnus-use-trees
5562 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
5563 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
5564 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
5567 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
5570 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
5571 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
5572 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
5574 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
5575 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
5576 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers. The default
5577 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}. For a list of legal specs, @pxref{Summary
5580 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
5581 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
5582 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
5583 default is @code{modeline}.
5585 @item gnus-tree-line-format
5586 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
5587 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
5588 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
5589 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
5590 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
5591 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
5597 The name of the poster.
5599 The @code{From} header.
5601 The number of the article.
5603 The opening bracket.
5605 The closing bracket.
5610 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5612 Variables related to the display are:
5615 @item gnus-tree-brackets
5616 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
5617 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
5618 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
5619 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
5620 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}))}.
5622 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
5623 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
5624 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
5625 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
5629 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
5630 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
5631 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
5632 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
5633 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
5634 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}.
5636 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
5637 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
5638 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
5639 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
5640 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
5641 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
5642 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
5646 Here's and example from a horizontal tree buffer:
5649 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
5659 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
5663 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
5664 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
5666 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
5668 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
5674 @node Mail Group Commands
5675 @section Mail Group Commands
5676 @cindex mail group commands
5678 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
5679 illegal in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
5681 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
5682 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5687 @kindex B e (Summary)
5688 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
5689 Expire all expirable articles in the group
5690 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
5693 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
5694 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
5695 Expunge all the expirable articles in the group
5696 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
5697 articles that are eligible for expiry in the current group will
5698 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
5701 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
5702 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
5703 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
5704 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
5705 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
5708 @kindex B m (Summary)
5710 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
5711 Move the article from one mail group to another
5712 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
5715 @kindex B c (Summary)
5717 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
5718 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
5719 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
5722 @kindex B C (Summary)
5723 @cindex crosspost mail
5724 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
5725 Crosspost the current article to some other group
5726 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
5727 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
5728 be properly updated.
5731 @kindex B i (Summary)
5732 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
5733 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
5734 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
5735 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
5737 Something similar can be done by just starting to compose a mail
5738 message. Instead of typing @kbd{C-c C-c} to mail it off, you can type
5739 @kbd{C-c M-C-p} instead. This will put the message you have just created
5740 into the current mail group.
5743 @kindex B r (Summary)
5744 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
5745 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
5749 @kindex B w (Summary)
5751 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
5752 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
5753 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
5754 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
5755 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}).
5758 @kindex B q (Summary)
5759 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
5760 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
5761 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
5762 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
5765 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
5766 @cindex moving articles
5767 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
5768 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
5769 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
5770 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
5771 suggestions you find reasonable.
5774 @node Various Summary Stuff
5775 @section Various Summary Stuff
5778 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
5779 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
5780 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
5784 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
5785 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
5786 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
5788 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
5789 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
5790 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
5791 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
5792 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
5793 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
5796 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
5797 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
5798 Is is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
5799 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
5800 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
5805 @node Summary Group Information
5806 @subsection Summary Group Information
5811 @kindex H f (Summary)
5812 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
5813 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
5814 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
5815 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
5816 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
5817 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
5818 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
5819 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} probably will be used for
5823 @kindex H d (Summary)
5824 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
5825 Give a brief description of the current group
5826 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
5827 rereading the description from the server.
5830 @kindex H h (Summary)
5831 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
5832 Give a very brief description of the most important summary keystrokes
5833 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
5836 @kindex H i (Summary)
5837 @findex gnus-info-find-node
5838 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
5842 @node Searching for Articles
5843 @subsection Searching for Articles
5848 @kindex M-s (Summary)
5849 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
5850 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
5851 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
5854 @kindex M-r (Summary)
5855 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
5856 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
5857 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
5861 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
5862 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
5863 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
5864 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}).
5867 @kindex M-& (Summary)
5868 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
5869 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
5870 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
5874 @node Really Various Summary Commands
5875 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
5880 @kindex A D (Summary)
5881 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
5882 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
5883 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
5884 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
5885 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
5886 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
5887 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages on
5888 some format, you @kbd{A D} and read these messages in a more convenient
5892 @kindex C-t (Summary)
5893 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
5894 Toggle truncation of summary lines (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}).
5898 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
5899 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
5900 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
5904 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
5905 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
5906 @cindex summary exit
5907 @cindex exiting groups
5909 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
5910 group and return you to the group buffer.
5916 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
5918 @findex gnus-summary-exit
5919 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
5920 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
5921 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
5922 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
5923 called before doing much of the exiting, and calls
5924 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
5925 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exiting
5930 @kindex Z E (Summary)
5932 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
5933 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
5934 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
5938 @kindex Z c (Summary)
5940 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
5941 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
5942 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
5945 @kindex Z C (Summary)
5946 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
5947 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
5948 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
5951 @kindex Z n (Summary)
5952 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
5953 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
5954 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
5957 @kindex Z R (Summary)
5958 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
5959 Exit this group, and then enter it again
5960 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
5961 all articles, both read and unread.
5965 @kindex Z G (Summary)
5966 @kindex M-g (Summary)
5967 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
5968 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
5969 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
5970 articles, both read and unread.
5973 @kindex Z N (Summary)
5974 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
5975 Exit the group and go to the next group
5976 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
5979 @kindex Z P (Summary)
5980 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
5981 Exit the group and go to the previous group
5982 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
5985 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
5986 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
5989 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
5990 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
5991 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
5992 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
5993 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
5994 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
5995 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
5996 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
5997 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
5998 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
5999 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
6000 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
6002 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
6004 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
6005 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
6006 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
6007 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
6008 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
6009 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
6010 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
6011 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
6012 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups.
6016 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
6017 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
6018 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
6019 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
6020 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
6023 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
6024 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
6025 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided.
6027 @cindex cross-posting
6030 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
6031 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
6032 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
6033 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
6034 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
6035 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
6036 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
6037 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
6038 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
6039 the cross reference mechanism.
6041 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
6042 @cindex overview.fmt
6043 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
6044 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
6045 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
6046 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
6047 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
6048 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
6051 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
6052 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
6053 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
6059 @node The Article Buffer
6060 @chapter The Article Buffer
6061 @cindex article buffer
6063 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
6064 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
6065 tell Gnus otherwise.
6068 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
6069 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
6070 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
6071 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer
6072 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
6076 @node Hiding Headers
6077 @section Hiding Headers
6078 @cindex hiding headers
6079 @cindex deleting headers
6081 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
6082 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
6084 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
6085 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
6086 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
6087 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
6088 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
6089 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
6090 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
6091 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
6092 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
6094 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
6098 @item gnus-visible-headers
6099 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
6100 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
6101 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
6102 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
6104 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
6105 the article and the subject, you'd say:
6108 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
6111 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers that are to
6114 @item gnus-ignored-headers
6115 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
6116 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
6117 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
6118 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
6119 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
6121 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
6122 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
6125 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
6128 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers that are to
6131 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
6132 variable will have no effect.
6136 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
6137 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
6138 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
6139 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
6140 the headers are to be displayed.
6142 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
6143 and then the subject, you might say something like:
6146 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
6149 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
6150 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers that
6151 are listed in this variable.
6153 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6154 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
6155 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
6156 You can hide further boring headers by entering
6157 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
6158 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
6159 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
6160 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
6161 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
6163 These conditions are:
6166 Remove all empty headers.
6168 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
6171 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
6172 @code{Newsgroups} header.
6174 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
6177 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
6181 To include the four first elements, you could say something like;
6184 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
6185 '(empty newsgroups followup-to reply-to))
6188 This is also the default value for this variable.
6192 @section Using @sc{mime}
6195 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
6196 while people stand around yawning.
6198 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
6199 while all newsreaders die of fear.
6201 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
6202 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
6203 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
6205 @vindex gnus-show-mime
6206 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
6207 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
6208 @findex metamail-buffer
6209 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by shoving the articles through
6210 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
6211 default. Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
6212 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
6213 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
6214 @sc{mime} headers in the article.
6216 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
6217 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
6218 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
6219 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
6220 comes streaming out out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
6221 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
6222 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
6223 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
6224 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
6226 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
6229 @node Customizing Articles
6230 @section Customizing Articles
6231 @cindex article customization
6233 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
6234 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
6235 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
6236 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
6238 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6239 By default it contains @code{gnus-article-hide-headers},
6240 @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}, and
6241 @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight}, but there are thousands, nay
6242 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
6243 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
6244 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
6247 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
6248 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
6249 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
6250 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
6251 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
6254 @node Article Keymap
6255 @section Article Keymap
6257 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
6258 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
6259 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
6260 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
6263 A few additional keystrokes are available:
6268 @kindex SPACE (Article)
6269 @findex gnus-article-next-page
6270 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
6273 @kindex DEL (Article)
6274 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
6275 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
6278 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
6279 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
6280 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
6281 @kbd{r}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
6282 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
6285 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
6286 @findex gnus-article-mail
6287 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
6288 given a prefix, include the mail.
6292 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
6293 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
6294 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
6298 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
6299 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
6300 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
6303 @kindex TAB (Article)
6304 @findex gnus-article-next-button
6305 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}. This
6306 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
6309 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
6310 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
6311 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}.
6317 @section Misc Article
6321 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
6322 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
6323 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
6324 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
6327 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
6328 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
6329 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
6330 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
6331 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
6332 the contents of the article buffer.
6334 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
6335 @item gnus-article-display-hook
6336 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
6337 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
6338 hiding headers, and the like.
6340 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
6341 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
6342 Hook called in article mode buffers.
6344 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
6345 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
6346 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
6347 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. It accepts exactly the same
6348 format specifications as that variable.
6349 @vindex gnus-break-pages
6351 @item gnus-break-pages
6352 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
6353 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
6354 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
6355 paging will not be done.
6357 @item gnus-page-delimiter
6358 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
6359 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
6364 @node Composing Messages
6365 @chapter Composing Messages
6370 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
6371 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
6372 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
6373 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
6374 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
6375 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
6376 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
6379 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
6380 * Post:: Posting and following up.
6381 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
6382 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
6383 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
6384 @c * Posting Styles:: An easier way to configure some key elements.
6385 @c * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
6386 @c * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
6389 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
6390 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
6396 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
6399 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
6400 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
6401 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
6402 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
6410 Variables for composing news articles:
6413 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
6414 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
6415 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
6416 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
6417 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
6418 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to sent the
6419 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
6420 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
6421 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
6424 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
6425 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
6426 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
6427 file. It is 1000 by default.
6432 @node Posting Server
6433 @section Posting Server
6435 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
6436 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
6438 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
6440 @vindex gnus-post-method
6442 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
6443 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
6444 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
6445 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
6446 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
6449 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
6452 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
6453 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
6454 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
6455 the ``current'' server for posting.
6457 If you give a zero prefix (i. e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
6458 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
6460 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
6461 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
6466 @section Mail and Post
6468 Here's a list of variables that are relevant to both mailing and
6472 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
6473 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
6474 @cindex mailing lists
6476 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists that are
6477 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
6478 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
6479 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
6480 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
6481 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that match the groups that
6482 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
6483 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
6484 still a pain, though.
6488 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
6489 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
6490 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
6493 @findex ispell-message
6495 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
6499 @node Archived Messages
6500 @section Archived Messages
6501 @cindex archived messages
6502 @cindex sent messages
6504 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail you send.
6505 The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to store
6506 the mail. If you want to disable this completely, you should set
6507 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil}.
6509 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
6510 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
6511 use to store sent messages. It is @code{(nnfolder "archive"
6512 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive/"))} by default, but you can use any
6513 mail select method (@code{nnml}, @code{nnmbox}, etc.). However,
6514 @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method for doing this sort of
6515 thing. If you don't like the default directory chosen, you could say
6519 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
6520 '(nnfolder "archive"
6521 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
6522 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
6523 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
6526 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
6528 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
6529 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
6530 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
6532 This variable can be:
6536 Messages will be saved in that group.
6537 @item a list of strings
6538 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
6539 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
6540 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
6545 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
6547 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
6550 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
6552 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
6555 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
6557 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
6558 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
6559 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
6560 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
6565 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
6566 '((if (message-news-p)
6571 This is the default.
6573 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
6574 messages in one file per month:
6577 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
6578 '((if (message-news-p)
6580 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
6581 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
6584 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
6585 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
6586 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
6587 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
6588 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
6589 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
6590 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
6591 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something nice --
6592 @samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
6593 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
6595 That's the default method of archiving sent mail. Gnus also offers two
6596 other variables for the people who don't like the default method. In
6597 that case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to
6598 @code{nil}; this will disable archiving.
6600 XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
6601 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.
6605 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
6606 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
6607 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
6608 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
6609 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
6612 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
6613 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
6614 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
6619 @c @node Posting Styles
6620 @c @section Posting Styles
6621 @c @cindex posting styles
6624 @c All them variables, they make my head swim.
6626 @c So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
6627 @c on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
6628 @c and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
6631 @c @vindex gnus-posting-styles
6632 @c One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
6633 @c variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
6634 @c came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
6635 @c a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
6640 @c (signature . "Peace and happiness")
6641 @c (organization . "What me?"))
6643 @c (signature . "Death to everybody"))
6644 @c ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
6645 @c (organization . "Emacs is it")))
6648 @c As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
6649 @c @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
6650 @c ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
6651 @c over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
6652 @c applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
6653 @c the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
6654 @c @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
6655 @c signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
6657 @c The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
6658 @c string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
6659 @c If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
6660 @c arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
6661 @c referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
6662 @c any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
6665 @c Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
6666 @c attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
6667 @c can be one of @code{signature}, @code{organization} or @code{from}. The
6668 @c attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
6669 @c a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
6672 @c The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
6673 @c return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
6674 @c list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
6676 @c So here's a new example:
6679 @c (setq gnus-posting-styles
6681 @c (signature . "~/.signature")
6682 @c (from . "user@@foo (user)")
6683 @c ("X-Home-Page" . (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
6684 @c (organization . "People's Front Against MWM"))
6686 @c (signature . my-funny-signature-randomizer))
6687 @c ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
6688 @c (signature . my-quote-randomizer))
6689 @c (posting-from-work-p
6690 @c (signature . "~/.work-signature")
6691 @c (from . "user@@bar.foo (user)")
6692 @c (organization . "Important Work, Inc"))
6694 @c (signature . "~/.mail-signature"))))
6701 @c If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
6702 @c you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
6703 @c craazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save the
6704 @c message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some other
6705 @c day, and send it when you feel its finished.
6707 @c Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
6708 @c some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
6709 @c automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
6710 @c If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
6711 @c article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
6715 @c @vindex gnus-draft-group-directory
6716 @c The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
6717 @c @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
6718 @c @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{gnus-draft-group-directory}
6719 @c controls both the name of the group and the location---the leaf element
6720 @c in the path will be used as the name of the group. What makes this
6721 @c group special is that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any
6722 @c articles as read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
6724 @c If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
6727 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
6728 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
6729 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
6730 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
6731 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
6732 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
6733 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
6734 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
6735 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
6736 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
6737 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
6738 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
6739 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
6740 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
6742 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
6743 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
6744 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
6746 @c @findex gnus-summary-send-draft
6747 @c @kindex S D c (Summary)
6748 @c When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
6749 @c draft group and push @kbd{S D c} (@code{gnus-summary-send-draft}) to do
6750 @c that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
6752 @c Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
6755 @c @findex gnus-summary-send-all-drafts
6756 @c If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
6757 @c doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{S D a} command
6758 @c (@code{gnus-summary-send-all-drafts}). This command understands the
6759 @c process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6762 @c @node Rejected Articles
6763 @c @section Rejected Articles
6764 @c @cindex rejected articles
6766 @c Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
6767 @c doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
6768 @c @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
6769 @c Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
6771 @c These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
6772 @c (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
6773 @c fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
6774 @c you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
6775 @c articles until some later time when the server feels better.
6777 @c The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
6778 @c (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
6779 @c typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
6782 @node Select Methods
6783 @chapter Select Methods
6784 @cindex foreign groups
6785 @cindex select methods
6787 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group that is not read by the usual (or
6788 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
6789 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
6790 personal mail group.
6792 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
6793 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
6794 list where the first element says what backend to use (eg. @code{nntp},
6795 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
6796 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
6797 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
6799 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
6800 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
6802 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
6805 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
6806 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
6807 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group, in
6808 all circumstances, @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the
6809 @code{nntp} backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
6811 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
6814 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
6815 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
6816 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
6817 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
6818 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
6822 @node The Server Buffer
6823 @section The Server Buffer
6825 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
6826 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
6827 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
6828 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
6829 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
6830 backend represents a virtual server.
6832 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
6833 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
6834 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
6835 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
6837 These select methods specifications can sometimes become quite
6838 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
6839 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number @code{13}, which
6840 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
6841 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
6842 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
6843 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
6845 To enter the server buffer, user the @kbd{^}
6846 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
6849 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
6850 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
6851 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
6852 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
6853 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
6854 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
6857 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
6858 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
6861 @node Server Buffer Format
6862 @subsection Server Buffer Format
6863 @cindex server buffer format
6865 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
6866 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
6867 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
6868 variable, with some simple extensions:
6873 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
6876 The name of this server.
6879 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
6882 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
6885 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
6886 The mode line can also be customized by using the
6887 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable. The following specs are
6898 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
6901 @node Server Commands
6902 @subsection Server Commands
6903 @cindex server commands
6909 @findex gnus-server-add-server
6910 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
6914 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
6915 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
6918 @kindex SPACE (Server)
6919 @findex gnus-server-read-server
6920 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
6924 @findex gnus-server-exit
6925 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
6929 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
6930 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
6934 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
6935 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
6939 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
6940 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
6944 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
6945 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
6950 @node Example Methods
6951 @subsection Example Methods
6953 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
6956 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
6959 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
6965 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
6966 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
6969 After these two elements, there may be a arbitrary number of
6970 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
6972 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
6973 port @code{15} from that machine. This is what the select method should
6977 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
6980 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
6981 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example.
6983 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
6984 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
6985 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
6989 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
6992 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
6995 Here's the method for a public spool:
6999 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
7000 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
7004 @node Creating a Virtual Server
7005 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
7007 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
7008 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
7010 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
7011 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
7012 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
7014 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
7016 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
7017 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
7018 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
7019 will contain the following:
7029 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
7030 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
7031 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
7034 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
7035 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
7036 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
7039 @node Servers and Methods
7040 @subsection Servers and Methods
7042 Wherever you would normally use a select method
7043 (eg. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
7044 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
7045 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
7049 @node Unavailable Servers
7050 @subsection Unavailable Servers
7052 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
7053 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
7054 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
7055 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
7056 actually the case or not.
7058 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
7059 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to the server
7060 @samp{nepholococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
7061 away from you, the machine is quite, so it takes 1 minute just to find
7062 out that it refuses connection from you today. If Gnus were to attempt
7063 to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't attempt to do
7064 that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'', it will
7065 regard that server as ``down''.
7067 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
7068 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
7070 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
7071 with the following commands:
7077 @findex gnus-server-open-server
7078 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
7079 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
7083 @findex gnus-server-close-server
7084 Close the connection (if any) to the server
7085 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
7089 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
7090 Mark the current server as unreachable
7091 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
7095 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
7096 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from all servers
7097 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
7103 @section Getting News
7104 @cindex reading news
7105 @cindex news backends
7107 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
7108 only two methods of getting news -- it can read from an @sc{nntp}
7109 server, or it can read from a local spool.
7112 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
7113 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
7118 @subsection @sc{nntp}
7121 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
7122 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
7123 server as the, uhm, address.
7125 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
7126 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
7127 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
7128 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
7130 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
7131 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
7132 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
7134 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
7139 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
7140 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
7141 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
7143 @cindex authentification
7144 @cindex nntp authentification
7145 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
7146 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
7147 @code{nntp-server-opened-hook} is run after a connection has been made.
7148 It can be used to send commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has
7149 been contacted. By default is sends the command @code{MODE READER} to
7150 the server with the @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. Another
7151 popular function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which will prompt you for
7152 an @sc{nntp} password and stuff.
7154 @item nntp-server-action-alist
7155 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
7156 This is an list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
7157 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
7158 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
7161 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
7165 You probably don't want to do that, though.
7167 The default value is
7170 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
7171 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook nntp-send-mode-reader)))
7174 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
7175 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
7177 @item nntp-maximum-request
7178 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
7179 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
7180 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
7181 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
7182 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
7183 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
7184 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
7186 @item nntp-connection-timeout
7187 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
7188 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
7189 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
7190 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
7191 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
7192 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
7193 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
7194 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
7195 no timeouts are done.
7197 @item nntp-command-timeout
7198 @vindex nntp-command-timeout
7199 @cindex PPP connections
7200 @cindex dynamic IP addresses
7201 If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
7202 address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
7203 changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
7204 waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
7205 unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
7206 then, if it sits waiting longer than that number of seconds for a reply
7207 from the server, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
7208 the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
7209 likely number is 30 seconds.
7211 @item nntp-retry-on-break
7212 @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
7213 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
7214 hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
7217 @item nntp-server-hook
7218 @vindex nntp-server-hook
7219 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
7222 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
7223 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
7224 @item nntp-open-server-function
7225 @vindex nntp-open-server-function
7226 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Two pre-made
7227 functions are @code{nntp-open-network-stream}, which is the default, and
7228 simply connects to some port or other on the remote system. The other
7229 is @code{nntp-open-rlogin}, which does an rlogin on the remote system,
7230 and then does a telnet to the @sc{nntp} server available there.
7232 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
7233 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
7234 If you use @code{nntp-open-rlogin} as the
7235 @code{nntp-open-server-function}, this list will be used as the
7236 parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
7238 @item nntp-end-of-line
7239 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
7240 String to use as end-of-line markers when talking to the @sc{nntp}
7241 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
7242 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
7244 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
7245 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
7246 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
7250 @vindex nntp-address
7251 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
7253 @item nntp-port-number
7254 @vindex nntp-port-number
7255 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
7258 @item nntp-buggy-select
7259 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
7260 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
7262 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
7263 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
7264 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
7265 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks whether @sc{nov}
7266 can be used automatically.
7268 @item nntp-xover-commands
7269 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
7272 List of strings that are used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
7273 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
7277 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
7278 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
7279 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
7280 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
7281 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
7282 lines that you do not want, and will not use. This variable says how
7283 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
7284 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
7285 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
7286 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
7287 @code{nntp} will never split requests.
7289 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
7290 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
7291 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
7293 @item nntp-async-number
7294 @vindex nntp-async-number
7295 How many articles should be pre-fetched when in asynchronous mode. If
7296 this variable is @code{t}, @code{nntp} will pre-fetch all the articles
7297 that it can without bound. If it is @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be
7300 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
7301 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
7302 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
7303 server closes connection.
7309 @subsection News Spool
7313 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
7314 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups like
7315 @samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}.
7317 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @samp{} (or
7318 anything else) as the address.
7320 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
7321 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
7322 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
7323 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
7327 @item nnspool-inews-program
7328 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
7329 Program used to post an article.
7331 @item nnspool-inews-switches
7332 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
7333 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
7335 @item nnspool-spool-directory
7336 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
7337 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
7338 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
7340 @item nnspool-nov-directory
7341 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
7342 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
7343 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
7345 @item nnspool-lib-dir
7346 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
7347 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
7349 @item nnspool-active-file
7350 @vindex nnspool-active-file
7351 The path of the active file.
7353 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
7354 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
7355 The path of the group descriptions file.
7357 @item nnspool-history-file
7358 @vindex nnspool-history-file
7359 The path of the news history file.
7361 @item nnspool-active-times-file
7362 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
7363 The path of the active date file.
7365 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
7366 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
7367 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
7370 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
7371 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
7373 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
7374 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
7375 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
7381 @section Getting Mail
7382 @cindex reading mail
7385 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
7389 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
7390 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
7391 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
7392 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
7393 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
7394 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
7395 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
7396 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
7397 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
7398 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
7402 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
7403 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
7405 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
7406 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
7407 and things will happen automatically.
7409 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a one file per
7410 mail backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
7413 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
7414 '((nnml "private")))
7417 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
7418 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
7419 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
7420 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
7421 like any other group.
7423 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
7426 (setq nnmail-split-methods
7427 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
7428 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
7432 This will result in three new mail groups being created:
7433 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
7434 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
7437 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
7438 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though,
7439 especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
7442 @node Splitting Mail
7443 @subsection Splitting Mail
7444 @cindex splitting mail
7445 @cindex mail splitting
7447 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
7448 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
7449 to be split into groups.
7452 (setq nnmail-split-methods
7453 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
7454 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
7458 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
7459 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
7460 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
7461 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
7462 determine if it belongs in this mail group.
7464 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
7465 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
7466 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
7467 mail belongs in that group.
7469 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
7470 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any
7471 mails that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps.
7473 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
7474 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
7475 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
7476 message. The function should return a list of groups names that it
7477 thinks should carry this mail message.
7479 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent
7480 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
7481 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
7482 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
7484 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
7485 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
7486 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
7487 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
7488 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
7490 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
7493 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
7494 the crossposted articles. However, not all files systems support hard
7495 links. If that's the case for you, set
7496 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
7497 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
7499 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
7500 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
7501 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
7502 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
7503 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
7504 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
7505 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
7506 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
7510 @node Mail Backend Variables
7511 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
7513 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
7517 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
7518 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
7519 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
7520 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
7522 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
7523 @item nnmail-spool-file
7527 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
7528 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
7529 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
7530 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
7531 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
7532 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
7533 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
7534 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
7535 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
7536 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
7537 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
7538 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
7539 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
7540 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
7541 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
7543 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
7544 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
7545 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
7546 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
7547 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
7548 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
7550 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
7551 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
7552 @item nnmail-use-procmail
7553 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
7554 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
7555 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
7556 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
7559 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
7560 @item nnmail-crash-box
7561 When the mail backends read a spool file, it is first moved to this
7562 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
7563 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
7566 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
7567 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
7568 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
7569 used for, well, anything, really.
7571 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
7572 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
7573 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
7574 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
7575 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
7576 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
7577 starting to handle the new mail) and
7578 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
7579 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
7580 default file modes the new mail files get:
7583 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
7584 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
7586 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
7587 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
7590 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
7591 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
7592 This variable says where to move the incoming mail to while processing
7593 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
7594 inhabits (i.e., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
7595 it will be used instead.
7597 @item nnmail-movemail-program
7598 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
7599 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
7600 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
7602 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
7603 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
7604 @cindex incoming mail files
7605 @cindex deleting incoming files
7606 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
7607 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{nil} by
7608 default for reasons of security.
7610 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
7611 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
7612 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
7613 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories like
7614 @file{mail.misc/}. If it is @code{nil}, the same group will end up in
7617 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
7618 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
7620 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
7625 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
7626 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
7627 @cindex mail splitting
7628 @cindex fancy mail splitting
7630 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
7631 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
7632 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
7633 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
7634 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
7635 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
7637 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
7640 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
7641 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
7642 ;; from real errors.
7643 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
7645 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
7646 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
7647 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
7648 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
7649 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
7650 ;; Other mailing lists...
7651 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
7652 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
7654 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen"))
7655 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
7659 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
7660 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
7661 the four possible split syntaxes:
7666 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name.
7668 @item (FIELD VALUE SPLIT)
7669 If the split is a list, and the first element is a string, then that
7670 means that if header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp),
7671 then store the message as specified by SPLIT.
7674 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
7675 bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them matches. A SPLIT is
7676 said to match if it will cause the mail message to be stored in one or
7680 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then process
7681 all SPLITs in the list.
7684 In these splits, FIELD must match a complete field name. VALUE must
7685 match a complete word according to the fundamental mode syntax table.
7686 You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial field names or
7689 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
7690 FIELD and VALUE can also be lisp symbols, in that case they are expanded
7691 as specified by the variable @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is
7692 an alist of cons cells, where the car of the cells contains the key, and
7693 the cdr contains a string.
7695 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
7696 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
7697 when all this splitting is performed.
7700 @node Mail and Procmail
7701 @subsection Mail and Procmail
7706 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
7707 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
7708 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
7709 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
7710 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
7712 This also means that you probably don't want to set
7713 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
7716 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
7717 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
7718 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends (except
7719 @code{nnmh}) actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
7720 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
7721 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
7723 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) what groups
7726 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example.
7728 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
7729 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
7731 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
7732 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
7733 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
7734 to include all your mail groups.
7736 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
7737 method will be created automatically.
7739 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
7740 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
7741 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
7742 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
7743 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
7744 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
7745 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
7746 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
7748 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
7749 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
7750 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
7751 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
7752 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
7754 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
7755 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directory into an @code{nnmh}
7756 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
7757 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
7758 ever expiring the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is quite,
7762 @node Incorporating Old Mail
7763 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
7765 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
7766 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
7767 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
7770 Doing so can be quite easy.
7772 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
7773 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
7774 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
7775 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
7776 your @code{nnml} groups.
7782 Go to the group buffer.
7785 Type `G f' and give the path of the mbox file when prompted to create an
7786 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
7789 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
7792 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group (@pxref{Setting
7796 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
7797 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7800 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
7801 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
7802 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
7803 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
7804 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
7806 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
7807 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
7808 using the new mail backend.
7812 @subsection Expiring Mail
7813 @cindex article expiry
7815 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
7816 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
7817 different approach to mail reading.
7819 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
7820 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
7821 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
7822 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
7823 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
7824 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
7827 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
7828 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
7829 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
7830 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
7831 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
7832 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
7833 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
7834 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
7836 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
7837 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
7838 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
7839 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
7840 articles that are marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
7841 column in the summary buffer.
7843 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
7844 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
7847 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
7848 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
7851 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
7852 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
7854 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
7855 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
7856 expirable article has to live. The default is seven days.
7858 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
7859 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
7860 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
7861 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
7864 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
7866 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
7868 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
7870 ((string= group "mail.junk")
7872 ((string= group "important")
7878 The group names that this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
7879 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
7881 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
7882 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can be either a number (not
7883 necessarily an integer) or the symbols @code{immediate} or
7886 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
7887 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
7889 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
7890 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
7891 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
7892 easier for procmail users.
7894 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
7895 By the way, that line up there about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
7896 articles is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
7897 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
7898 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
7899 caution. Even more dangerous is the
7900 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
7901 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
7902 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
7903 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
7904 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
7905 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
7906 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
7911 @subsection Duplicates
7913 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
7914 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
7915 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
7916 @cindex duplicate mails
7917 If you are a member of a couple of mailing list, you will sometime
7918 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
7919 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
7920 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s -
7921 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
7922 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
7923 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
7924 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
7925 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
7926 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
7927 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
7928 will generate a brand new @code{Message-ID} for the mail and insert a
7929 warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks that this is a
7930 duplicate of a different message.
7932 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
7933 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
7934 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
7935 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
7937 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
7940 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
7941 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
7945 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
7946 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
7947 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
7948 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
7949 (any mail "mail.misc")
7956 (setq nnmail-split-methods
7957 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
7962 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
7963 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
7964 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
7965 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
7966 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
7969 @node Not Reading Mail
7970 @subsection Not Reading Mail
7972 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
7973 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
7974 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
7976 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
7977 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
7979 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
7980 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
7981 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
7982 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
7983 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
7984 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
7985 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
7986 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
7987 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
7988 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
7989 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
7991 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
7992 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
7996 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
7997 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
7999 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
8000 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
8001 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
8004 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
8005 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
8006 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
8007 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
8008 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
8013 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
8015 @cindex unix mail box
8017 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
8018 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
8019 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
8020 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
8021 which group it belongs in.
8023 Virtual server settings:
8026 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
8027 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
8028 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
8030 @item nnmbox-active-file
8031 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
8032 The name of the active file for the mail box.
8034 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
8035 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
8036 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
8042 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
8046 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
8047 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
8048 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
8049 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
8050 article to say which group it belongs in.
8052 Virtual server settings:
8055 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
8056 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
8057 The name of the rmail mbox file.
8059 @item nnbabyl-active-file
8060 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
8061 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
8063 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
8064 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
8065 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
8070 @subsubsection Mail Spool
8072 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
8074 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
8075 format. It should be used with some caution.
8077 @vindex nnml-directory
8078 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files;
8079 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the correct
8080 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
8081 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
8083 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
8086 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
8087 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
8088 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
8089 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
8090 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
8091 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
8092 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
8093 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
8095 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
8096 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
8097 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes is the fastest
8098 backend when it comes to reading mail.
8100 Virtual server settings:
8103 @item nnml-directory
8104 @vindex nnml-directory
8105 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
8107 @item nnml-active-file
8108 @vindex nnml-active-file
8109 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
8111 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
8112 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
8113 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
8116 @item nnml-get-new-mail
8117 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
8118 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
8120 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
8121 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
8122 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
8124 @item nnml-nov-file-name
8125 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
8126 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
8128 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
8129 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
8130 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
8134 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
8135 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
8136 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
8137 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
8138 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
8139 might take a while to complete.
8143 @subsubsection MH Spool
8145 @cindex mh-e mail spool
8147 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
8148 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
8149 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
8150 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
8152 Virtual server settings:
8155 @item nnmh-directory
8156 @vindex nnmh-directory
8157 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
8159 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
8160 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
8161 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
8164 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
8165 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
8166 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
8167 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
8168 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
8169 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
8170 to set this variable to @code{t}.
8175 @subsubsection Mail Folders
8177 @cindex mbox folders
8178 @cindex mail folders
8180 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
8181 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
8182 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
8185 Virtual server settings:
8188 @item nnfolder-directory
8189 @vindex nnfolder-directory
8190 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
8192 @item nnfolder-active-file
8193 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
8194 The name of the active file.
8196 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
8197 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
8198 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
8200 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
8201 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
8202 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
8205 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
8206 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
8207 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
8208 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
8209 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
8210 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
8214 @section Other Sources
8216 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
8217 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
8221 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
8222 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
8223 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
8224 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
8228 @node Directory Groups
8229 @subsection Directory Groups
8231 @cindex directory groups
8233 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
8234 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
8237 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp}, that most
8238 wonderful of all wonderful Emacs packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I
8239 didn't think much about it---a backend to read directories. Big deal.
8241 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
8242 enter @file{"/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/"} as the the
8243 directory name, ange-ftp will actually allow you to read this directory
8244 over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
8246 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
8248 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
8249 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
8250 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
8251 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
8254 @node Anything Groups
8255 @subsection Anything Groups
8258 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
8259 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
8260 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
8263 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
8264 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
8265 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
8266 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
8267 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
8268 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
8269 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
8270 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (eg. a C source
8271 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
8272 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
8275 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
8276 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
8277 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
8278 in the article buffer, just as usual.
8280 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
8281 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
8282 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
8283 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
8285 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
8286 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
8287 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
8288 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
8289 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
8290 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
8291 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
8292 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
8297 @item nneething-map-file-directory
8298 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
8299 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
8300 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
8302 @item nneething-exclude-files
8303 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
8304 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
8305 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
8307 @item nneething-map-file
8308 @vindex nneething-map-file
8309 Name of the map files.
8313 @node Document Groups
8314 @subsection Document Groups
8316 @cindex documentation group
8319 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
8320 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
8327 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
8332 The standard Unix mbox file.
8334 @cindex MMDF mail box
8336 The MMDF mail box format.
8339 Several news articles appended into a file.
8342 @cindex rnews batch files
8343 The rnews batch transport format.
8344 @cindex forwarded messages
8353 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
8354 @cindex RFC 341 digest
8355 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
8357 @item standard-digest
8358 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
8361 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
8364 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
8365 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
8366 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
8369 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
8370 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
8371 group. And that's it.
8373 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
8374 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
8375 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
8376 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
8377 @code{nndoc}, set the process mark on all the articles in the buffer
8378 (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r}) using
8379 @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL} file is
8380 now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can delete
8381 that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
8383 Virtual server variables:
8386 @item nndoc-article-type
8387 @vindex nndoc-article-type
8388 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
8389 @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{news}, @code{rnews},
8390 @code{mime-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, or @code{guess}.
8392 @item nndoc-post-type
8393 @vindex nndoc-post-type
8394 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
8395 a mail group. There are two legal values: @code{mail} (the default)
8405 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
8406 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
8407 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
8409 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
8410 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
8411 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
8414 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
8415 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
8416 that interested in doing things properly.
8418 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
8419 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
8425 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
8426 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie, or you can use Gnus to create the
8427 packet with the @kbd{O s} command.
8430 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
8433 You put the packet in your home directory.
8436 You fire up Gnus using the @code{nnsoup} backend as the native server.
8439 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
8443 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
8447 You transfer this packet to the server.
8450 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
8453 You then repeat until you die.
8457 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
8458 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
8461 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
8462 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
8463 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
8468 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
8472 @kindex G s b (Group)
8473 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
8474 Pack all unread articles in the current group
8475 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
8476 process/prefix convention.
8479 @kindex G s w (Group)
8480 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
8481 Save all data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
8484 @kindex G s s (Group)
8485 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
8486 Send all replies from the replies packet
8487 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
8490 @kindex G s p (Group)
8491 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
8492 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
8495 @kindex G s r (Group)
8496 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
8497 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
8500 @kindex O s (Summary)
8501 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
8502 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
8503 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
8509 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
8514 @item gnus-soup-directory
8515 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
8516 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
8517 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
8519 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
8520 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
8521 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
8522 reply packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/}.
8524 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
8525 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
8526 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
8529 @item gnus-soup-packer
8530 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
8531 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
8532 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
8534 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
8535 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
8536 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
8537 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
8539 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
8540 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
8541 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
8543 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
8544 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
8545 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
8546 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
8552 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
8555 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
8556 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
8557 you can read them at leisure.
8559 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
8563 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
8564 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
8565 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
8566 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
8568 @item nnsoup-directory
8569 @vindex nnsoup-directory
8570 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
8571 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
8573 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
8574 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
8575 All replies will stored in this directory before being packed into a
8576 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
8578 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
8579 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
8580 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
8581 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
8582 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
8584 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
8585 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
8586 The index type of the replies packet. The is @samp{?n}, which means
8587 ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
8589 @item nnsoup-active-file
8590 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
8591 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
8592 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
8593 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
8594 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
8597 @vindex nnsoup-packer
8598 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
8599 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
8601 @item nnsoup-unpacker
8602 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
8603 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
8604 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
8606 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
8607 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
8608 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
8611 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
8612 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
8613 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
8620 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
8622 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
8623 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
8624 more for that to happen.
8626 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
8627 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
8628 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
8631 In specific, this is what it does:
8634 (setq gnus-inews-article-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
8635 (setq send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
8638 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
8639 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
8640 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
8643 @node Combined Groups
8644 @section Combined Groups
8646 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
8650 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
8651 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
8655 @node Virtual Groups
8656 @subsection Virtual Groups
8658 @cindex virtual groups
8660 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
8663 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small group, you can
8664 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
8665 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
8667 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
8668 regexp to match component groups.
8670 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
8671 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
8672 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
8673 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
8676 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
8677 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
8680 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
8683 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
8684 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
8686 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
8687 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
8688 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
8689 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
8692 "^nntp+some.server.jp:soc.motss$\\|^nntp+some.server.no:soc.motss$"
8695 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
8696 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
8697 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
8698 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
8699 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}.
8701 One limitation, however---all groups that are included in a virtual
8702 group has to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
8703 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
8705 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
8706 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
8707 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
8708 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
8709 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
8710 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
8711 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
8712 effect if you have two virtual groups that contain the same component
8713 group. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
8714 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
8715 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
8718 @node Kibozed Groups
8719 @subsection Kibozed Groups
8723 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
8724 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
8725 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
8726 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
8728 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
8729 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
8730 @code{nnkiboze} group. There most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
8731 and @code{nnvirtual} ends.
8733 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
8734 must have a score file to say what articles that are to be included in
8735 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
8737 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
8738 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
8739 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
8740 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
8741 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
8742 all the articles in all the components groups and run them through the
8743 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
8744 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
8746 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
8747 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
8748 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
8749 Stranger things have happened.
8751 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
8752 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
8754 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
8755 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
8756 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
8757 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
8758 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
8759 on what groups that have been searched through to find component
8762 Articles that are marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have their
8763 @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
8770 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
8771 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
8772 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
8775 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
8776 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
8777 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
8778 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
8779 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
8781 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
8782 before generating the summary buffer.
8784 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
8785 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
8786 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
8788 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
8789 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
8790 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
8791 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
8794 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
8795 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
8796 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
8797 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
8798 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
8799 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus *knows* what you read.
8800 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
8801 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
8802 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
8803 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
8804 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
8805 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
8809 @node Summary Score Commands
8810 @section Summary Score Commands
8811 @cindex score commands
8813 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
8814 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
8815 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
8816 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
8817 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
8819 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
8820 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
8821 some other score file (eg. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
8822 score file the current one.
8824 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
8829 @kindex V s (Summary)
8830 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
8831 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
8834 @kindex V S (Summary)
8835 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
8836 Display the score of the current article
8837 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
8840 @kindex V t (Summary)
8841 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
8842 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
8843 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
8846 @cindex V R (Summary)
8847 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
8848 Run the current summary through the scoring process
8849 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
8850 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
8851 effect you're having.
8854 @kindex V a (Summary)
8855 @findex gnus-summary-score-entry
8856 Add a new score entry, and allow specifying all elements
8857 (@code{gnus-summary-score-entry}).
8860 @kindex V c (Summary)
8861 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
8862 Make a different score file the current
8863 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
8866 @kindex V e (Summary)
8867 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
8868 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
8869 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
8873 @kindex V f (Summary)
8874 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
8875 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
8876 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
8879 @kindex V F (Summary)
8880 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
8881 Flush the score cahe (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
8882 after editing score files.
8885 @kindex V C (Summary)
8886 @findex gnus-score-customize
8887 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
8888 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
8891 @kindex I C-i (Summary)
8892 @findex gnus-summary-raise-score
8893 Increase the score of the current article
8894 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-score}).
8897 @kindex L C-l (Summary)
8898 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
8899 Lower the score of the current article
8900 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-score}).
8903 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
8908 @kindex V m (Summary)
8909 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
8910 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
8911 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
8914 @kindex V E (Summary)
8915 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
8916 Expunge all articles with a score below the default score (or the
8917 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
8920 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
8921 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
8926 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
8927 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
8929 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
8934 Score on the author name.
8937 Score on the subject line.
8940 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
8943 Score on thread---the References line.
8949 Score on the number of lines.
8952 Score on the Message-ID.
8965 The third key is the match type. Which match types are legal depends on
8966 what headers you are scoring on.
9010 Greater than number.
9015 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
9016 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
9017 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
9021 Temporary score entry.
9024 Permanent score entry.
9027 Immediately scoring.
9032 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
9033 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
9034 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
9035 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
9037 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
9038 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
9039 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
9040 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
9041 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
9043 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
9044 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
9045 pretend they are keymaps or not.
9048 @node Group Score Commands
9049 @section Group Score Commands
9050 @cindex group score commands
9052 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
9058 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
9059 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
9060 all the time. This command will flush the cache
9061 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
9066 @node Score Variables
9067 @section Score Variables
9068 @cindex score variables
9072 @item gnus-use-scoring
9073 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
9074 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
9075 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
9077 @item gnus-kill-killed
9078 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
9079 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
9080 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
9081 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
9082 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
9083 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
9084 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
9086 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
9087 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
9088 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
9089 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
9090 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
9092 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
9093 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
9094 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
9095 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
9097 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
9098 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
9100 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
9101 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
9102 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files that are
9103 unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
9104 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
9105 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
9106 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
9109 @item gnus-save-score
9110 @vindex gnus-save-score
9111 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
9112 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
9113 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
9115 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
9116 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
9117 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
9118 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
9119 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
9120 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
9121 manually entered data.
9123 @item gnus-summary-default-score
9124 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
9125 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
9127 @item gnus-score-over-mark
9128 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
9129 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
9130 default. Default is @samp{+}.
9132 @item gnus-score-below-mark
9133 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
9134 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
9135 default. Default is @samp{-}.
9137 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
9138 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
9139 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
9140 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
9142 Predefined functions available are:
9145 @item gnus-score-find-single
9146 @findex gnus-score-find-single
9147 Only apply the group's own score file.
9149 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
9150 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
9151 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
9152 default. For instance, if the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus},
9153 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
9154 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
9155 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
9156 then a regexp match is done.
9158 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
9159 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
9161 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
9162 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
9163 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
9164 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE} or @file{all.emacs.SCORE},
9165 but you can have @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and
9166 @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
9169 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
9170 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
9171 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
9172 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
9173 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
9174 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
9177 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
9178 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
9179 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
9180 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
9181 are expired. It's 7 by default.
9183 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
9184 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
9185 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
9186 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
9187 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
9188 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
9189 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
9192 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
9193 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
9194 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
9199 @node Score File Format
9200 @section Score File Format
9201 @cindex score file format
9203 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
9204 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
9205 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
9207 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
9211 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
9213 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
9215 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
9217 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
9222 (mark-and-expunge -10)
9226 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
9227 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
9228 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
9229 (gnus-summary-make-false-root 'empty))
9233 This example demonstrates absolutely everything about a score file.
9235 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
9236 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
9237 has to be legal syntactically, if not semantically.
9239 Six keys are supported by this alist:
9244 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
9245 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
9246 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
9247 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
9248 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
9249 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
9250 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
9251 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
9252 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
9253 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
9254 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
9255 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
9256 to articles that matches these score entries.
9258 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
9259 score entry has one to four elements.
9263 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
9264 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
9268 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
9269 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
9270 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
9271 is successful. If this element is not present, the
9272 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
9273 instead. This is 1000 by default.
9276 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
9277 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
9278 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
9279 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
9280 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 ce.
9283 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
9284 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
9285 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
9286 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
9289 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
9290 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp) as
9291 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types and @code{e} and
9292 @code{E} (exact match) types. If this element is not present, Gnus will
9293 assume that substring matching should be used. @code{R} and @code{S}
9294 differ from the other two in that the matches will be done in a
9295 case-sensitive manner. All these one-letter types are really just
9296 abbreviations for the @code{regexp}, @code{string} and @code{exact}
9297 types, which you can use instead, if you feel like.
9300 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
9301 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
9304 For the Date header we have three match types: @code{before}, @code{at}
9305 and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this ever being useful, but,
9306 like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide this function. Just in
9307 case. You never know. Better safe than sorry. Once burnt, twice shy.
9308 Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have sex on a first date.
9310 @item Head, Body, All
9311 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
9315 This match key will add a score entry on all articles that followup to
9316 some author. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header uses.
9319 This match key will add a score entry on all articles that are part of
9320 a thread. Uses the same match types as the @code{References} header
9326 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
9327 lower than this number will be marked as read.
9330 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
9331 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
9333 @item mark-and-expunge
9334 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
9335 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
9338 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
9339 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
9340 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
9341 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
9342 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
9345 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
9346 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
9350 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. This files will
9351 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
9355 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
9356 ignored when handling global score files.
9359 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
9360 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}).
9363 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
9364 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
9365 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
9366 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
9368 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
9372 (mark-and-expunge -100)
9375 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
9376 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
9377 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
9378 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
9379 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
9381 I.e. -- the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
9382 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
9383 ordinary scoring rules.
9386 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
9387 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
9388 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
9389 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
9390 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
9391 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
9392 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
9393 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
9394 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
9395 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
9396 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
9400 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
9401 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
9402 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
9403 file for a number of groups.
9406 @cindex local variables
9407 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
9408 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
9409 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
9410 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
9415 @node Score File Editing
9416 @section Score File Editing
9418 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
9419 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
9420 with a mode for that.
9422 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
9423 additional commands:
9428 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
9429 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
9430 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
9431 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
9434 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
9435 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
9436 Insert the current date in numerical format
9437 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
9441 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
9442 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
9443 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
9444 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
9445 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
9450 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
9452 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
9453 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
9455 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
9456 e} to begin editing score files.
9459 @node Adaptive Scoring
9460 @section Adaptive Scoring
9461 @cindex adaptive scoring
9463 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
9464 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
9465 stupidity, to be precise.
9467 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
9468 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
9469 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
9470 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
9471 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
9474 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
9475 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
9476 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
9477 might look something like this:
9480 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
9481 '((gnus-unread-mark)
9482 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
9483 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
9484 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
9485 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
9486 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
9487 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
9488 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
9490 (gnus-low-score-mark)
9491 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
9494 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
9495 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
9496 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
9497 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
9498 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
9499 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
9502 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
9503 will be applied to each article.
9505 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
9506 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
9507 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
9508 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
9510 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
9511 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
9512 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
9513 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
9515 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
9516 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
9517 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
9518 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
9519 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
9520 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
9522 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
9523 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
9524 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
9525 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
9526 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
9527 aspirins afterwards.)
9529 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
9530 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
9531 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
9533 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
9534 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
9535 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
9537 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
9538 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
9539 let you use different rules in different groups.
9541 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
9542 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
9543 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
9546 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
9547 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
9548 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
9549 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
9550 the length of the match is less than
9551 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
9552 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
9556 @node Followups To Yourself
9557 @section Followups To Yourself
9559 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
9560 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
9561 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
9562 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
9563 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
9564 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
9568 @item gnus-score-followup-article
9569 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
9570 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
9573 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
9574 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
9575 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
9579 @vindex gnus-inews-article-hook
9580 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
9581 @code{gnus-inews-article-hook}.
9585 @section Scoring Tips
9586 @cindex scoring tips
9592 @cindex scoring crossposts
9593 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
9594 the @code{Xref} header.
9596 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
9599 @item Multiple crossposts
9600 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
9601 more than, say, 3 groups:
9603 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
9606 @item Matching on the body
9607 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
9608 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
9609 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
9610 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
9611 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
9612 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
9613 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
9616 @item Marking as read
9617 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
9618 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
9619 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
9623 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
9625 @item Negated character classes
9626 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
9627 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
9628 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
9632 @node Reverse Scoring
9633 @section Reverse Scoring
9634 @cindex reverse scoring
9636 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
9637 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
9638 like this in your score file:
9642 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
9647 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
9648 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
9651 @node Global Score Files
9652 @section Global Score Files
9653 @cindex global score files
9655 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
9656 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
9657 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
9659 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
9660 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
9661 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
9663 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
9664 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
9665 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
9666 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
9667 files are applicable to which group.
9669 Say you want to use all score files in the
9670 @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory and the single score
9671 file @file{/ftp@@ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE}:
9674 (setq gnus-global-score-files
9675 '("/ftp@@ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
9676 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
9679 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
9680 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
9681 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
9682 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
9683 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
9685 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
9686 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
9688 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
9689 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
9690 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
9691 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
9692 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
9693 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
9695 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
9701 Articles that are heavily crossposted are probably junk.
9703 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
9705 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
9707 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
9708 lowered out of existence.
9710 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
9711 articles completely.
9714 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
9715 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
9716 old articles for a long time.
9719 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
9720 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
9721 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
9722 holding our breath yet?
9729 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
9730 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
9731 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
9733 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
9734 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
9735 files into score files.
9737 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
9738 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
9739 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
9740 that isn't a very good idea.
9742 XCNormal kill files look like this:
9745 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9746 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
9750 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove them from
9751 the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
9753 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
9754 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
9757 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
9762 @kindex M-k (Summary)
9763 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
9764 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
9767 @kindex M-K (Summary)
9768 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
9769 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
9772 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
9778 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
9779 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
9783 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
9784 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
9787 Kill file variables:
9790 @item gnus-kill-file-name
9791 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
9792 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
9793 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
9794 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
9795 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
9796 course) is called just @file{KILL}.
9798 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
9799 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
9800 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
9801 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
9804 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
9805 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
9806 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
9807 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
9808 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
9809 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
9810 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
9811 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
9812 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
9814 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
9815 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
9816 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
9825 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
9826 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
9827 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
9829 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
9830 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
9831 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
9832 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
9833 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
9834 Once it has found for you some people you agree with it tells you, in
9835 the form of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use
9836 this prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
9840 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
9841 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
9842 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
9843 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
9847 @node Using GroupLens
9848 @subsection Using GroupLens
9850 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
9851 Bit Bureau (BBB). At the moment the only better bit in town is at
9852 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html}.
9854 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
9858 @item gnus-use-grouplens
9859 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
9860 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
9861 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
9863 @item grouplens-pseudonym
9864 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
9865 This variable should be set to the pseudonum you got when registering
9866 with the Better Bit Bureau.
9868 @item grouplens-newsgroups
9869 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
9870 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
9874 Thats the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
9875 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
9876 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
9877 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
9878 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
9879 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
9882 @node Rating Articles
9883 @subsection Rating Articles
9885 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
9886 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
9887 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
9888 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
9891 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
9896 @kindex r (GroupLens)
9897 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
9898 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
9901 @kindex k (GroupLens)
9902 @findex grouplens-score-thread
9903 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
9904 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
9905 threads in rec.humor.
9909 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
9910 the score of the article you're reading.
9915 @kindex n (GroupLens)
9916 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
9917 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
9920 @kindex , (GroupLens)
9921 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
9922 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
9926 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
9927 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
9930 @node Displaying Predictions
9931 @subsection Displaying Predictions
9933 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
9934 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
9935 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
9936 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
9937 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
9939 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
9940 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
9941 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
9942 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
9943 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
9944 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
9945 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
9946 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
9947 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
9948 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
9949 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
9950 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
9951 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
9953 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
9954 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
9955 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
9956 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
9958 The following are legal values for that variable.
9961 @item prediction-spot
9962 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
9965 @item confidence-interval
9966 A numeric confidence interval.
9968 @item prediction-bar
9969 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
9971 @item confidence-bar
9972 Numerical confidence.
9974 @item confidence-spot
9975 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
9977 @item prediction-num
9978 Plain-old numeric value.
9980 @item confidence-plus-minus
9981 Prediction +/i confidence.
9986 @node GroupLens Variables
9987 @subsection GroupLens Variables
9991 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
9992 The summary line format used in summary buffers that are GroupLens
9993 enhanced. It accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format
9994 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). The default is
9995 @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
9997 @item grouplens-bbb-host
9998 Host running the bbbd server. The default is
9999 @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu}.
10001 @item grouplens-bbb-port
10002 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
10004 @item grouplens-score-offset
10005 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
10006 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
10009 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
10010 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
10011 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
10021 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
10022 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
10023 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
10024 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
10025 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
10026 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
10027 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
10028 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
10029 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
10030 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
10031 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
10032 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
10036 @node Process/Prefix
10037 @section Process/Prefix
10038 @cindex process/prefix convention
10040 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
10041 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
10043 This is a method for figuring out what articles that the user wants the
10044 command to be performed on.
10048 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
10049 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
10050 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
10051 with the current one.
10053 @vindex transient-mark-mode
10054 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
10055 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
10057 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
10058 process mark, perform the operation on the articles that are marked with
10061 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
10062 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
10064 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
10067 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
10068 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
10069 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
10070 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
10071 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
10072 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
10073 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
10074 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
10078 @section Interactive
10079 @cindex interaction
10083 @item gnus-novice-user
10084 @vindex gnus-novice-user
10085 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
10086 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
10087 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
10088 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
10091 @item gnus-expert-user
10092 @vindex gnus-expert-user
10093 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will never ever be asked any
10094 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
10095 matter how strange.
10097 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
10098 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
10099 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
10100 is @code{t} by default.
10102 @item gnus-interactive-exit
10103 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
10104 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
10109 @node Formatting Variables
10110 @section Formatting Variables
10111 @cindex formatting variables
10113 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables that
10114 are called things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
10115 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
10116 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
10117 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
10120 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
10121 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
10122 lots of percentages everywhere.
10124 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
10125 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
10126 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''. Just like a
10127 normal format spec, almost.
10129 You can also say @samp{%6,4y}, which means that the field will never be
10130 more than 6 characters wide and never less than 4 characters wide.
10132 There are also specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the
10133 format variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers
10134 will get the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it
10135 will be highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse
10138 Text inside the @samp{%[} and @samp{%]} specifiers will have their
10139 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
10140 default. If you say @samp{%1[} instead, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1}
10141 instead, and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes
10142 for the @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
10143 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
10145 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
10148 ;; Create three face types.
10149 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
10150 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
10152 ;; We want the article count to be in
10153 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
10154 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
10155 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
10157 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
10158 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
10160 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
10161 (setq gnus-group-line-format
10162 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
10165 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
10166 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
10168 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
10169 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
10170 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
10171 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
10172 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
10173 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
10174 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}.
10176 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
10177 mode-line variables.
10179 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
10180 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
10182 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
10183 @findex gnus-update-format
10184 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
10185 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
10186 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
10187 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
10190 @node Windows Configuration
10191 @section Windows Configuration
10192 @cindex windows configuration
10194 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
10196 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
10197 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
10198 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
10199 @code{t} by default.
10201 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
10202 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
10203 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
10206 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
10207 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
10208 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
10212 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
10213 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
10214 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
10215 possible names is listed below.
10217 The @dfn{value} (i. e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
10218 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
10221 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
10225 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
10226 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
10227 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
10228 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
10229 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
10230 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
10231 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
10232 size spec per split.
10234 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
10237 Here's a more complicated example:
10240 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
10241 (summary 0.25 point)
10242 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
10246 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
10247 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
10248 occupy, not a percentage.
10250 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
10251 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
10252 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
10253 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
10254 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
10257 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
10260 (article (horizontal 1.0
10265 (summary 0.25 point)
10270 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
10271 @code{horizontal} thingie?
10273 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
10274 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
10275 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
10276 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
10277 the screen is to be given to this strip.
10279 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
10280 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
10281 lines from the splits.
10283 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a legal split
10287 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
10288 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
10289 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
10290 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
10291 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] ")"
10292 size = number | frame-params
10293 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
10296 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
10297 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
10298 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
10299 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
10301 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
10302 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
10303 @cindex window height
10304 @cindex window width
10305 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
10306 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 2) characters high, and all
10307 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
10308 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
10309 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
10310 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
10312 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
10313 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
10314 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
10315 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
10317 @findex gnus-configure-frame
10318 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
10319 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
10320 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
10321 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
10322 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
10323 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
10324 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
10325 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
10326 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
10327 configuration list.
10330 (gnus-configure-frame
10334 (article 0.3 point))
10342 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
10343 @code{frame} split:
10346 (gnus-configure-frame
10349 (summary 0.25 point)
10351 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
10352 (user-position . t)
10353 (left . -1) (top . 1))
10358 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
10359 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
10360 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
10361 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
10362 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
10363 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
10366 Here's a list of all possible keys for
10367 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
10369 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
10370 @code{browse}, @code{group-mail}, @code{summary-mail},
10371 @code{summary-reply}, @code{info}, @code{summary-faq},
10372 @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server}, @code{reply}, @code{reply-yank},
10373 @code{followup}, @code{followup-yank}, @code{edit-score}.
10375 @findex gnus-add-configuration
10376 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
10377 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
10378 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
10379 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
10382 (gnus-add-configuration
10383 '(article (vertical 1.0
10385 (summary .25 point)
10389 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
10390 @file{.gnus} file or in some startup hook -- they should be run after
10391 Gnus has been loaded.
10395 @section Compilation
10396 @cindex compilation
10397 @cindex byte-compilation
10399 @findex gnus-compile
10401 Remember all those line format specification variables?
10402 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
10403 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
10404 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
10405 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
10406 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
10409 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
10410 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
10411 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
10412 you'll get top speed again.
10416 @section Mode Lines
10419 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
10420 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
10421 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
10422 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
10423 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
10424 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
10425 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
10428 @cindex display-time
10430 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
10431 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
10432 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
10433 to display (eg. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
10434 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
10435 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
10436 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
10437 additional elements on the mode line (eg. a clock), you should modify
10440 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
10442 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
10443 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
10445 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
10446 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
10447 (length display-time-string)))))
10450 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
10451 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either.
10454 @node Highlighting and Menus
10455 @section Highlighting and Menus
10457 @cindex highlighting
10460 @vindex gnus-visual
10461 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the prettifying Gnus
10462 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
10463 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
10466 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
10467 following elements are legal, and are all included by default:
10470 @item group-highlight
10471 Do highlights in the group buffer.
10472 @item summary-highlight
10473 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
10474 @item article-highlight
10475 Do highlights in the article buffer.
10477 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
10479 Create menus in the group buffer.
10481 Create menus in the summary buffers.
10483 Create menus in the article buffer.
10485 Create menus in the browse buffer.
10487 Create menus in the server buffer.
10489 Create menus in the score buffers.
10491 Create menus in all buffers.
10494 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
10495 buffers, you could say something like:
10498 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
10501 If you want only highlighting and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
10504 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
10507 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
10508 in all Gnus buffers.
10510 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
10513 @item gnus-mouse-face
10514 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
10515 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
10516 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
10518 @item gnus-display-type
10519 @vindex gnus-display-type
10520 This variable is symbol indicating the display type Emacs is running
10521 under. The symbol should be one of @code{color}, @code{grayscale} or
10522 @code{mono}. If Gnus guesses this display attribute wrongly, either set
10523 this variable in your @file{~/.emacs} or set the resource
10524 @code{Emacs.displayType} in your @file{~/.Xdefaults}.
10526 @item gnus-background-mode
10527 @vindex gnus-background-mode
10528 This is a symbol indicating the Emacs background brightness. The symbol
10529 should be one of @code{light} or @code{dark}. If Gnus guesses this
10530 frame attribute wrongly, either set this variable in your @file{~/.emacs} or
10531 set the resource @code{Emacs.backgroundMode} in your @file{~/.Xdefaults}.
10532 `gnus-display-type'.
10535 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
10539 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
10540 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
10541 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
10543 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
10544 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
10545 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
10547 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
10548 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
10549 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
10551 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
10552 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
10553 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
10555 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
10556 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
10557 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
10559 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
10560 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
10561 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
10572 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
10573 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
10574 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
10575 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
10576 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
10580 @vindex gnus-carpal
10581 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
10582 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
10583 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
10588 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
10589 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
10590 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
10592 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
10593 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
10594 Face used on buttons.
10596 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
10597 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
10598 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
10600 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
10601 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
10602 Buttons in the group buffer.
10604 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
10605 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
10606 Buttons in the summary buffer.
10608 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
10609 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
10610 Buttons in the server buffer.
10612 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
10613 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
10614 Buttons in the browse buffer.
10617 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
10618 is either a cons cell where the car contains a text to be displayed and
10619 the cdr contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
10627 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
10628 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
10629 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
10630 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
10631 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
10633 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
10634 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
10635 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
10637 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
10638 been idle for thirty minutes:
10641 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
10644 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
10648 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
10651 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter works together
10652 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
10653 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
10655 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
10656 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
10657 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
10658 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
10660 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
10661 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
10662 @var{idle} minutes.
10664 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
10665 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
10668 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
10669 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
10670 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
10672 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
10673 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
10674 seconds. This is @code{60} by default. If you change that variable,
10675 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
10677 @vindex gnus-use-demon
10678 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
10679 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
10681 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
10682 your @file{.gnus} file:
10684 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
10686 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
10689 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
10690 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
10691 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
10692 Some ready-made functions to do this has been created:
10693 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection}, and
10694 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
10695 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
10697 @findex gnus-demon-init
10698 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
10699 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
10700 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
10701 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
10702 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
10704 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you overdo it. Adding
10705 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
10706 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
10715 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
10716 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
10718 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
10719 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
10720 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
10721 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
10724 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
10725 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
10726 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
10727 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
10729 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
10730 this will make spam disappear.
10732 There are some variables to customize, of course:
10735 @item gnus-use-nocem
10736 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
10737 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
10740 @item gnus-nocem-groups
10741 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
10742 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
10743 default is @code{("alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
10745 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
10746 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
10747 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
10748 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
10749 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;" "jem@@xpat.com;" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
10750 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
10752 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
10755 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
10756 @cindex Chris Lewis
10757 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
10758 usenet abuse than anybody else.
10761 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
10762 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
10763 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
10765 @item jem@@xpat.com;
10767 Jem---Korean despammer who is getting very busy these days.
10769 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
10770 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
10771 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
10774 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
10775 ones you want to listen to.
10777 @item gnus-nocem-directory
10778 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
10779 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
10780 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
10782 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
10783 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
10784 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
10785 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
10786 might then see old spam.
10794 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
10795 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
10796 over your shoulder as you read news.
10799 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
10800 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
10801 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons -- the easy way.
10802 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
10803 * Picon Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
10808 @subsection Picon Basics
10810 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site
10811 (@samp{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}):
10814 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
10815 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
10816 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
10817 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
10818 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
10819 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
10820 @code{GIF} formats.
10823 Please see the above mentioned web site for instructions on obtaining
10824 and installing the picons databases, or the following ftp site:
10825 @samp{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
10827 @vindex gnus-picons-database
10828 Gnus expects picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
10829 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
10832 @node Picon Requirements
10833 @subsection Picon Requirements
10835 To use have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
10836 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
10839 Additionally, you must have @code{xpm} support compiled into XEmacs.
10841 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
10842 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you must have
10843 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
10844 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
10848 @subsection Easy Picons
10850 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
10851 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
10854 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
10855 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
10856 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-prepare-hook 'gnus-group-display-picons t)
10857 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
10862 @subsection Hard Picons
10864 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
10865 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
10866 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
10867 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
10868 feature, you need to first decide where to display them.
10872 @item gnus-picons-display-where
10873 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
10874 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
10875 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
10876 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
10877 @samp{"*scratch*"} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
10878 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration routines --
10879 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
10883 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
10884 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
10886 Now that you've made that decision, you need to add the following
10887 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get
10888 displayed at the right time.
10890 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
10891 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
10893 @item gnus-article-display-picons
10894 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
10895 Looks up and display the picons for the author and the author's domain
10896 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to
10897 the @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
10899 @item gnus-group-display-picons
10900 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
10901 Displays picons representing the current group. This function should
10902 be added to the @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook} or to the
10903 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} if @code{gnus-picons-display-where}
10904 is set to @code{article}.
10906 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
10907 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
10908 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
10909 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
10913 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
10914 to the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
10917 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
10921 @node Picon Configuration
10922 @subsection Picon Configuration
10924 The following variables offer further control over how things are
10925 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
10926 don't need to worry about.
10929 @item gnus-picons-database
10930 @vindex gnus-picons-database
10931 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
10932 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
10933 subdirectories. Defaults to @file{/usr/local/faces}.
10935 @item gnus-picons-news-directory
10936 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directory
10937 Sub-directory of the faces database containing the icons for
10940 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
10941 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
10942 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
10943 faces. Defaults to @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc/MISC")}.
10945 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
10946 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
10947 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
10948 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
10949 want to add @samp{unknown} to this list.
10951 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
10952 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
10953 The command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
10954 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
10955 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
10956 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
10958 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
10959 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
10960 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
10961 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
10963 @item gnus-picons-buffer
10964 @vindex gnus-picons-buffer
10965 The name of the buffer that @code{picons} points to. Defaults to
10966 @samp{*Icon Buffer*}.
10971 @node Various Various
10972 @section Various Various
10979 @vindex gnus-verbose
10980 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
10981 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
10982 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
10983 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
10984 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
10986 @item gnus-verbose-backends
10987 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
10988 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
10989 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
10991 @item nnheader-max-head-length
10992 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
10993 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
10994 as little as possible. This variable (default @code{4096}) specifies
10995 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
10996 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
10997 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
10998 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
10999 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
11002 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
11003 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
11005 @cindex illegal characters in file names
11006 @cindex characters in file names
11007 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
11008 For instance, if @samp{:} is illegal as a file character in file names
11009 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
11012 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
11016 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
11017 Windows (phooey) systems.
11019 @item gnus-hidden-properties
11020 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
11021 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
11022 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
11023 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
11025 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
11026 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
11027 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
11028 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
11029 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
11037 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
11038 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
11040 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
11042 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
11047 Not because of victories @*
11050 but for the common sunshine,@*
11052 the largess of the spring.
11055 but for the day's work done@*
11056 as well as I was able;@*
11057 not for a seat upon the dais@*
11058 but at the common table.@*
11063 @chapter Appendices
11066 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
11067 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
11068 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
11069 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
11070 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
11071 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
11072 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
11080 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
11081 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
11083 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
11084 can point your (feh!) web browser to
11085 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
11086 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
11087 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
11089 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
11090 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)}, is, of course, short for
11091 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
11092 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
11093 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
11094 appropriate name, don't you think?)
11096 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
11097 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
11098 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
11099 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
11101 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
11102 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution.
11104 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'') was
11105 released under the name ``Gnus 5.2''.
11108 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
11109 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
11110 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
11111 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
11112 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
11113 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
11114 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
11115 * Censorship:: This manual has been censored.
11122 What's the point of Gnus?
11124 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
11125 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
11126 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
11127 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
11128 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
11129 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
11130 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
11131 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
11132 keep track of millions of people who post?
11134 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
11135 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
11136 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
11137 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
11138 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
11139 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
11140 everywhere I could imagine useful. By doing so, I'm inviting every one
11141 of you to explore and invent.
11143 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x hail-emacs}.
11146 @node Compatibility
11147 @subsection Compatibility
11149 @cindex compatibility
11150 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
11151 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
11152 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
11157 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
11161 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
11164 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @pxref{Decoding
11167 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
11168 buffers. All variables that are relevant while reading a group are
11169 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
11170 important variables have their values copied into their global
11171 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
11172 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
11174 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
11175 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
11176 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
11177 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
11178 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
11182 @cindex highlighting
11183 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
11184 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
11185 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
11186 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
11187 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
11188 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
11191 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
11192 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
11193 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
11194 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
11196 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
11197 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
11198 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
11199 to stop doing it the old way.
11201 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
11203 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
11205 @cindex reporting bugs
11207 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
11208 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
11209 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
11213 @subsection Conformity
11215 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
11216 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
11223 There are no known breaches of this standard.
11227 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
11229 @item Usenet Seal of Approval
11230 @cindex Usenet Seal of Approval
11231 Gnus hasn't been formally through the Seal process, but I have read
11232 through the Seal text and I think Gnus would pass.
11234 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
11235 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
11236 We do have some breaches to this one.
11241 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
11242 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
11245 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
11246 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
11247 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
11248 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
11249 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
11252 Gnus does line breaking on this header. I infer from RFC1036 that being
11253 conservative in what you output is not creating 5000-character lines, so
11254 it seems like a good idea to me. However, this standard-to-be says that
11255 whitespace in the @code{References} header is to be preserved, so... It
11256 doesn't matter one way or the other to Gnus, so if somebody tells me
11257 what The Way is, I'll change it. Or not.
11262 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliantly with regards to the texts
11263 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
11268 @subsection Emacsen
11274 Gnus should work on :
11279 Emacs 19.30 and up.
11282 XEmacs 19.13 and up.
11285 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.30 and up.
11289 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
11290 reliably, at least.
11292 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various platforms:
11297 The mouse-face on Gnus lines under Emacs and Mule is delimited to
11298 certain parts of the lines while they cover the entire line under
11302 The same with current-article marking---XEmacs puts an underline under
11303 the entire summary line while Emacs and Mule are nicer and kinder.
11306 XEmacs features more graphics---a logo and a toolbar.
11309 Citation highlighting us better under Emacs and Mule than under XEmacs.
11312 Emacs 19.26-19.28 have tangible hidden headers, which can be a bit
11319 @subsection Contributors
11320 @cindex contributors
11322 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
11323 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
11324 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
11325 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
11326 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
11327 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
11328 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
11329 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
11330 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
11331 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
11333 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
11338 @item Masanobu @sc{Umeda}
11339 The writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
11341 @item Per Abrahamsen
11342 Custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as well as numerous
11345 @item Luis Fernandes
11346 Design and graphics.
11349 @file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on @dfn{picons}
11353 @file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section (@pxref{GroupLens}).
11355 @item Sudish Joseph
11356 Innumerable bug fixes.
11359 @file{gnus-topic.el}.
11361 @item Steven L. Baur
11362 Lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
11364 @item Vladimir Alexiev
11365 The refcard and reference booklets.
11367 @item Felix Lee & JWZ
11368 I stole some pieces from the XGnus distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
11371 @file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
11373 @item Peter Mutsaers
11374 Orphan article scoring code.
11379 @item Hallvard B Furuseth
11380 Various bits and pieces, especially dealing with .newsrc files.
11382 @item Brian Edmonds
11383 @file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
11385 @item Ricardo Nassif and Mark Borges
11388 @item Kevin Davidson
11389 Came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
11393 Peter Arius, Stainless Steel Rat, Ulrik Dickow, Jack Vinson, Daniel
11394 Quinlan, Frank D. Cringle, Geoffrey T. Dairiki, Fabrice Popineau and
11395 Andrew Eskilsson have all contributed code and suggestions.
11399 @subsection New Features
11400 @cindex new features
11405 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
11406 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
11409 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
11410 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
11413 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
11416 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
11417 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
11418 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
11421 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
11422 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
11423 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
11424 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
11427 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
11428 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
11431 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
11432 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
11433 (@pxref{The Active File}).
11436 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
11437 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
11440 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
11441 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
11442 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
11445 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
11446 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
11447 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
11450 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
11451 the @file{.emacs} file.
11454 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
11455 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
11458 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
11459 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
11462 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
11463 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
11466 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
11467 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
11470 Gnus can fetch articles asynchronously on a second connection to the
11471 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
11474 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
11477 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
11478 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
11481 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
11482 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
11485 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
11486 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
11489 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
11492 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
11493 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
11496 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
11500 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
11504 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
11505 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
11508 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
11512 Gnus can use NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
11516 This is, of course, just a @emph{short} overview of the @emph{most}
11517 important new features. No, really. There are tons more. Yes, we have
11518 feeping creaturism in full effect, but nothing too gratuitous, I would
11522 @node Newest Features
11523 @subsection Newest Features
11526 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
11529 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
11533 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
11535 A better and simpler method for specifying mail composing methods.
11537 Allow posting through mail-to-news gateways.
11539 Really do unbinhexing.
11542 And much, much, much more. There is more to come than has already been
11543 implemented. (But that's always true, isn't it?)
11545 @code{<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/sgnus/todo>} is where the actual
11546 up-to-the-second todo list is located, so if you're really curious, you
11547 could point your Web browser over that-a-way.
11551 @subsection Censorship
11554 This version of the Gnus manual (as well as Gnus itself) has been
11555 censored in accord with the Communications Decency Act. This law was
11556 described by its proponents as a ban on pornography---which was a
11557 deception, since it prohibits far more than that. This manual did not
11558 contain pornography, but part of it was prohibited nonetheless.
11560 For information on US government censorship of the Internet, and
11561 what you can do to bring back freedom of the press, see the web
11562 site @samp{http://www.vtw.org/}.
11566 @section Terminology
11568 @cindex terminology
11573 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
11574 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
11575 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
11576 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
11577 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
11581 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
11582 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
11583 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
11584 not posting, and replying is not following up.
11588 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
11592 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
11597 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
11598 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
11599 is all done by the backends.
11603 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
11604 default, way of getting news.
11608 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
11609 These are groups that use different backends for getting news.
11613 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
11614 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
11618 A nessage that has been posted as news.
11621 @cindex mail message
11622 A message that has been mailed.
11626 A mail message or news article
11630 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
11635 The rest of an article. Everything that is not in the head is in the
11640 A line from the head of an article.
11644 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
11645 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
11649 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
11650 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
11651 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
11652 normal @sc{head} format.
11656 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
11657 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
11658 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
11659 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
11660 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
11661 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
11663 @item killed groups
11664 @cindex killed groups
11665 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
11666 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
11668 @item zombie groups
11669 @cindex zombie groups
11670 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
11673 @cindex active file
11674 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
11675 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
11676 is rather large, as you might surmise.
11679 @cindex bogus groups
11680 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
11681 server (i. e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
11682 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
11686 A machine than one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
11688 @item select method
11689 @cindex select method
11690 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
11693 @item virtual server
11694 @cindex virtual server
11695 A named select method. Since a select methods defines all there is to
11696 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the who things as a
11697 whole is a virtual server.
11702 @node Customization
11703 @section Customization
11704 @cindex general customization
11706 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
11707 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
11708 for some quite common situations.
11711 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
11712 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
11713 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
11714 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
11718 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
11719 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
11721 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
11722 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
11723 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
11727 @item gnus-read-active-file
11728 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
11729 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
11730 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-news} and
11731 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
11732 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
11734 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
11735 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
11736 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
11737 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
11741 @node Slow Terminal Connection
11742 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
11744 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that
11745 runs Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce the
11746 amount of data that is sent over the wires as much as possible.
11750 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
11751 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
11752 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
11753 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
11754 horizontal and vertical recentering.
11756 @item gnus-visible-headers
11757 Cut down on the headers that are included in the articles to the
11758 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
11759 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
11760 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
11762 @item gnus-article-display-hook
11763 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
11765 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
11766 '(gnus-article-hide-headers gnus-article-hide-signature
11767 gnus-article-hide-citation))
11770 @item gnus-use-full-window
11771 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
11772 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
11773 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
11774 want to read them anyway.
11776 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
11777 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
11780 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
11781 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
11782 lines, which might save some time.
11786 @node Little Disk Space
11787 @subsection Little Disk Space
11790 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
11791 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
11795 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
11796 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
11797 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
11798 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
11801 @item gnus-save-killed-list
11802 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
11803 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
11804 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
11805 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
11811 @subsection Slow Machine
11812 @cindex slow machine
11814 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
11815 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
11817 Set@code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
11818 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
11820 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
11821 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
11822 summary buffer faster.
11824 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
11825 processing a bit faster.
11828 @node Troubleshooting
11829 @section Troubleshooting
11830 @cindex troubleshooting
11832 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
11840 Make sure your computer is switched on.
11843 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
11844 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
11848 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
11849 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
11850 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
11851 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
11854 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
11858 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
11861 @cindex reporting bugs
11863 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
11865 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
11866 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
11867 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
11868 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
11870 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
11871 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
11872 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
11873 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
11876 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
11877 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you send back
11878 just ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
11879 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
11880 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
11881 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
11883 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
11884 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
11885 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
11888 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
11889 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
11891 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
11892 @cindex ding mailing list
11893 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@ifi.uio.no}.
11894 Write to @samp{ding-request@@ifi.uio.no} to subscribe.
11897 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
11898 @section A Programmer's Guide to Gnus
11900 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
11901 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
11902 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
11903 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
11906 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
11907 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
11908 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
11909 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
11910 and general method of operations.
11913 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
11914 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
11915 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
11916 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
11917 * Group Info:: The group info format.
11918 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
11919 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
11923 @node Backend Interface
11924 @subsection Backend Interface
11926 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
11927 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
11928 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
11929 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
11930 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
11931 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
11933 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
11934 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
11935 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
11936 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
11937 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
11938 been opened, the function should fail.
11940 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
11941 name. Take this example:
11945 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
11946 (nntp-port-number 4324))
11949 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
11950 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
11952 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
11953 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
11954 server environments that it pulls down/pushes up when needed.
11956 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
11957 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
11958 always check whether are present before attempting to call.
11960 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
11961 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
11962 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
11963 ``resulting data'', I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
11964 talk about ``return value'', I talk about the function value returned by
11967 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
11968 some might be said to not be. The latter are backends that generally
11969 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
11970 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
11973 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
11976 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
11979 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
11980 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
11981 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
11985 @node Required Backend Functions
11986 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
11990 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
11992 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
11993 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
11994 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
11995 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
11997 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
11998 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
11999 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
12000 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
12002 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try to fetch "extra
12003 headers, in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
12004 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
12005 article number in @code{articles}, and fill in the gaps as well. The
12006 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
12007 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
12008 number, do maximum fetches.
12010 Here's an example HEAD:
12013 221 1056 Article retrieved.
12014 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
12015 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
12016 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
12017 Subject: Re: Something very droll
12018 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
12019 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
12021 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
12022 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
12023 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
12027 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
12028 these in the data buffer.
12030 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
12034 head = error / valid-head
12035 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
12036 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
12037 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
12038 header = <text> eol
12041 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
12042 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
12046 nov-buffer = *nov-line
12047 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
12048 field = <text except TAB>
12051 For a closer explanation what should be in those fields,
12055 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
12057 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
12058 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that defines this virtual server.
12060 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
12061 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
12062 server. In fact, it should do so.
12064 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
12065 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
12068 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
12070 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
12071 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
12074 There should be no data returned.
12077 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
12079 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
12080 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
12081 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
12082 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
12084 There should be no data returned.
12087 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
12089 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
12090 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
12091 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
12092 attempt to reconnect to a server that is has lost connection to.
12094 There should be no data returned.
12097 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
12099 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
12101 There should be no data returned.
12104 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
12106 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
12107 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
12108 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
12109 it would be nice if that were possible.
12111 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
12112 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
12113 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
12114 another, and Gnus mainly request articles to be inserted directly into
12115 its article buffer.
12117 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
12118 the car is the group name the article was fetched from, and the cdr is
12119 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
12120 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
12121 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
12122 on successful article retrievement.
12125 @item (nnchoke-open-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
12127 Make @var{group} the current group.
12129 There should be no data returned by this function.
12132 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
12134 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
12135 making @var{group} the current group.
12137 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
12140 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
12143 The first number is the status, which should be @code{211}. Next is the
12144 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
12145 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
12146 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
12147 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
12148 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
12149 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
12150 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
12153 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
12154 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
12155 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
12159 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
12161 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
12162 a no-op on most backends.
12164 There should be no data returned.
12167 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
12169 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
12172 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
12175 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
12176 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
12179 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
12180 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
12183 active-file = *active-line
12184 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
12186 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
12189 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
12190 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
12191 (@samp{=other-group} or none of the above (@samp{y}).
12194 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
12196 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
12197 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
12198 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
12199 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
12200 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
12201 clear if the posting could not be completed.
12203 There should be no result data from this function.
12208 @node Optional Backend Functions
12209 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
12213 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
12215 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
12216 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
12217 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
12219 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
12220 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
12221 former is in the same format as the data from
12222 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
12223 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
12226 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
12230 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
12232 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
12233 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
12234 information (as is the case with virtual an imap groups). This function
12235 may alter the info in any manner it sees fit, and should return the
12236 (altered) group info. This function may alter the group info
12237 destructively, so no copying is needed before boogeying.
12239 There should be no result data from this function.
12242 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
12244 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
12245 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
12246 user is following up is news or mail. This function should return
12247 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
12248 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
12249 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
12250 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.)
12252 There should be no result data from this function.
12255 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
12257 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
12258 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
12259 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
12260 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
12261 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
12263 The only use for this that I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
12264 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
12265 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
12268 There should be no result data from this function.
12271 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
12273 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
12274 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
12275 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
12276 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
12277 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
12278 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
12279 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
12281 There should be no result data from this function.
12284 @item (nnchoke-request-asynchronous GROUP &optional SERVER ARTICLES)
12286 This is a request to fetch articles asynchronously later.
12287 @var{articles} is an alist of @var{(article-number line-number)}. One
12288 would generally expect that if one later fetches article number 4, for
12289 instance, some sort of asynchronous fetching of the articles after 4
12290 (which might be 5, 6, 7 or 11, 3, 909 depending on the order in that
12291 alist) would be fetched asynchronously, but that is left up to the
12292 backend. Gnus doesn't care.
12294 There should be no result data from this function.
12297 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
12299 The result data from this function should be a description of
12303 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
12305 description = <text>
12308 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
12310 The result data from this function should be the description of all
12311 groups available on the server.
12314 description-buffer = *description-line
12318 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
12320 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
12321 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
12322 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
12325 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
12327 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
12329 There should be no return data.
12332 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
12334 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
12335 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
12336 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
12337 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
12338 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
12341 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
12344 There should be no result data returned.
12347 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
12350 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
12351 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
12353 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
12354 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
12355 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
12356 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
12357 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
12358 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
12360 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
12361 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
12364 The function should return a cons where the car is the group name and
12365 the cdr is the article number that the article was entered as.
12367 There should be no data returned.
12370 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
12372 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
12373 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
12374 this function in short order.
12376 The function should return a cons where the car is the group name and
12377 the cdr is the article number that the article was entered as.
12379 There should be no data returned.
12382 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
12384 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
12385 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
12387 There should be no data returned.
12390 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
12392 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
12393 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
12394 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
12396 There should be no data returned.
12399 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
12401 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
12402 articles that are in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
12404 There should be no data returned.
12409 @node Writing New Backends
12410 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
12412 The various backends share many similarities. @code{nnml} is just like
12413 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
12414 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
12415 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
12416 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
12419 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
12420 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
12421 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
12423 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
12424 package called @code{nnoo}.
12426 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
12427 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
12434 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
12435 parameters. For instance:
12438 (nnoo-declare nndir
12442 @code{nndir} has here declared that it intends to inherit functions from
12443 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
12446 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
12447 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
12448 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
12450 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
12451 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
12452 a function in those backends.
12455 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
12456 "Where nndir will look for groups."
12457 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
12460 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
12461 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
12462 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
12464 @item nnoo-define-basics
12465 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
12469 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
12473 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
12474 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
12475 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
12477 @item nnoo-map-functions
12478 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
12479 functions from the parent backends.
12482 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
12483 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
12484 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
12487 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
12488 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
12489 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
12490 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
12493 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
12494 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
12495 haven't already been defined.
12501 nnmh-request-newgroups)
12505 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
12506 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
12507 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
12512 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
12515 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
12516 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
12520 (require 'nnheader)
12524 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
12526 (nnoo-declare nndir
12529 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
12530 "Where nndir will look for groups."
12531 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
12533 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
12534 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
12537 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
12538 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
12539 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
12541 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
12542 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
12544 ;;; Interface functions.
12546 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
12548 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
12549 (setq nndir-directory
12550 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
12552 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
12553 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
12554 (push `(nndir-current-group
12555 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
12557 (push `(nndir-top-directory
12558 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
12560 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
12562 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
12563 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
12564 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
12565 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
12566 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
12570 nnmh-status-message
12572 nnmh-request-newgroups))
12579 @node Score File Syntax
12580 @subsection Score File Syntax
12582 Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
12583 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
12584 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
12586 Here's a typical score file:
12590 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
12597 BNF definition of a score file:
12600 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
12601 element = rule / atom
12602 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
12603 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
12604 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
12605 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
12607 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
12608 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
12609 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
12610 date-header = "date"
12611 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
12612 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
12613 score = "nil" / <integer>
12614 date = "nil" / <natural number>
12615 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
12616 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
12617 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
12618 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
12619 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
12620 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
12621 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
12622 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
12623 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
12624 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
12625 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
12626 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
12627 exclude-files / read-only / touched
12628 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
12629 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
12630 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
12631 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
12632 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
12633 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
12634 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
12635 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
12636 adapt = "adapt" [ space "nil" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
12637 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
12638 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
12639 eval = "eval" space <form>
12640 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
12643 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
12646 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
12647 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
12648 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
12649 one looong line, then that's ok.
12651 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
12656 @subsection Headers
12658 Gnus uses internally a format for storing article headers that
12659 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
12660 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
12661 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
12663 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
12664 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (eg.,
12665 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
12666 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
12667 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
12668 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
12669 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
12671 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
12672 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
12673 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these slots --
12674 they all have predictable names beginning with @code{mail-header-} and
12675 @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
12677 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
12684 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
12685 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
12687 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
12688 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
12689 that you want to callify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
12690 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
12692 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
12696 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
12699 is transformed into
12702 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
12705 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
12706 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
12709 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
12712 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
12713 is slightly tricky:
12716 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
12722 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
12725 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
12731 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
12738 and is equal to the previous range.
12740 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
12741 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
12742 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
12746 range = simple-range / normal-range
12747 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
12748 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
12749 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
12750 number *[ " " contents ]
12753 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
12754 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
12755 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
12756 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
12757 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
12762 @subsection Group Info
12764 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
12765 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
12766 describes the group.
12768 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
12769 second is a more complex one:
12772 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
12774 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
12775 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
12777 (auto-expire (to-address "ding@@ifi.uio.no")))
12780 The first element is the group name as Gnus knows the group; the second
12781 is the group level; the third is the read articles in range format; the
12782 fourth is a list of article marks lists; the fifth is the select method;
12783 and the sixth contains the group parameters.
12785 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
12788 info = "(" group space level space read
12789 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
12790 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
12791 group = quote <string> quote
12792 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
12794 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
12795 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
12796 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
12797 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
12800 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
12801 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
12805 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
12806 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
12810 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
12811 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
12812 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
12814 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
12815 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
12816 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
12817 Gnus, that's very useful.
12819 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
12820 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
12821 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
12822 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
12823 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
12824 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
12825 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
12826 following function:
12829 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
12833 (,function ,@@args))
12837 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
12838 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs -- it
12839 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
12842 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
12843 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
12844 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
12847 @node Various File Formats
12848 @subsection Various File Formats
12851 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
12852 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
12856 @node Active File Format
12857 @subsubsection Active File Format
12859 The active file lists all groups that are available on the server in
12860 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
12863 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
12866 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
12867 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
12868 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
12869 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
12870 no.general 1000 900 y
12873 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
12876 active = *group-line
12877 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
12878 group = <non-white-space string>
12880 high-number = <non-negative integer>
12881 low-number = <positive integer>
12882 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
12886 @node Newsgroups File Format
12887 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
12889 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
12890 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
12891 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
12894 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
12895 Here's the definition:
12899 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
12900 group = <non-white-space string>
12902 description = <string>
12906 @node Emacs for Heathens
12907 @section Emacs for Heathens
12909 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
12910 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
12911 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
12912 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
12913 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
12914 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
12915 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
12919 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
12920 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
12925 @subsection Keystrokes
12929 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
12932 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
12935 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
12936 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
12937 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
12938 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
12939 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
12940 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
12942 The shift key is normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
12943 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
12944 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
12945 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
12946 keyboards. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
12947 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
12948 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
12950 Now, us Emacs people doesn't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
12951 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
12952 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
12953 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
12954 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
12955 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
12956 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
12958 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
12959 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
12960 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
12961 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
12962 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
12968 @subsection Emacs Lisp
12970 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
12971 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
12972 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
12973 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
12975 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
12976 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
12977 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
12978 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
12979 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
12980 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
12981 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
12984 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
12985 write the following:
12988 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
12991 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
12992 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
12993 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
12996 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
12997 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
12998 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
12999 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
13000 previous ``form'', which here is a simple @code{setq} statement.
13002 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
13003 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
13004 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
13008 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
13012 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
13015 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
13016 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
13019 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
13022 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
13023 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
13026 @include gnus-faq.texi