10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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282 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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291 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
293 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
296 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
297 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
298 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
299 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
300 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
301 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
302 License'' in the Emacs manual.
304 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
305 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
306 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
308 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
309 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
310 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
311 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
319 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
321 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
322 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
324 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
325 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
326 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
327 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
328 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
329 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
330 License'' in the Emacs manual.
332 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
333 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
334 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
336 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
337 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
338 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
339 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
347 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
350 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
351 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
353 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
355 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
356 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
357 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
358 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
359 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
360 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
361 License'' in the Emacs manual.
363 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
364 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
365 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
367 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
368 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
369 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
370 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
379 @top The Gnus Newsreader
383 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
384 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
385 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
388 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v0.12.
399 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
400 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
402 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
403 being accused of plagiarism:
405 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
406 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
407 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
408 can even read news with it!
410 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
411 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
412 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
413 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
414 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
420 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
421 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
422 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
423 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
424 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
425 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
426 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
427 * Various:: General purpose settings.
428 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
429 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
430 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
431 * Key Index:: Key Index.
433 Other related manuals
435 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
436 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
437 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
438 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
441 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
445 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
446 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
447 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
448 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
449 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
450 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
451 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
452 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
453 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
454 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
455 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
459 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
460 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
461 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
465 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
466 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
467 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
468 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
469 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
470 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
471 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
472 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
473 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
474 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
475 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
476 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
477 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
478 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
479 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
480 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
481 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
485 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
486 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
487 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
491 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
492 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
493 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
494 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
495 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
499 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
500 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
501 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
502 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
503 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
507 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
508 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
509 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
510 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
511 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
512 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
513 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
514 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
515 * Threading:: How threads are made.
516 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
517 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
518 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
519 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
520 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
521 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
522 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
523 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
524 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
525 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
526 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
527 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
528 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
529 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
530 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
531 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
532 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
533 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
534 or reselecting the current group.
535 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
536 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
537 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
538 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
540 Summary Buffer Format
542 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
543 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
544 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
545 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
549 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
550 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
552 Reply, Followup and Post
554 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
555 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
556 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
557 * Canceling and Superseding::
561 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
562 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
563 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
565 * Generic Marking Commands::
566 * Setting Process Marks::
570 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
571 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
572 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
576 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
577 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
579 Customizing Threading
581 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
582 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
583 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
584 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
588 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
589 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
590 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
591 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
592 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
593 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
597 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
598 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
599 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
603 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
604 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
605 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
606 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
607 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
608 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
609 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
610 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
611 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
612 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
614 Alternative Approaches
616 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
617 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
619 Various Summary Stuff
621 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
622 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
623 * Summary Generation Commands::
624 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
628 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
629 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
630 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
631 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
632 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
636 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
637 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
638 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
639 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
640 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
641 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
642 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
643 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
647 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
648 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
649 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
650 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
651 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
652 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
653 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
654 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
658 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
659 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
660 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
661 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
662 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
663 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
664 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
668 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
669 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
673 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
674 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
675 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
679 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
680 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
681 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
682 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
683 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
684 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
685 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
686 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
687 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
688 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
689 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
690 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
691 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
695 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
696 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
697 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
699 Choosing a Mail Back End
701 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
702 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
703 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
704 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
705 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
706 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
711 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
712 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
713 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
714 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
715 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
716 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
720 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
721 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
722 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
723 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
724 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
728 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
729 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
730 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
731 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
732 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
736 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
740 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
741 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
742 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
746 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
747 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
751 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
752 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
753 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
754 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
755 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
756 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
757 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
758 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
759 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
760 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
761 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
765 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
766 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
767 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
771 * Group Agent Commands::
772 * Summary Agent Commands::
773 * Server Agent Commands::
777 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
778 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
779 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
780 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
781 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
782 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
783 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
784 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
785 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
786 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
787 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
788 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
789 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
790 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
791 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
792 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
793 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
797 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
798 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
799 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
800 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
804 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
805 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
806 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
810 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
811 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
812 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
813 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
814 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
815 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
816 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
817 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
818 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
819 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
820 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
821 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
822 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
823 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
824 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
825 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
826 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
827 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
828 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
832 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
833 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
834 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
835 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
836 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
837 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
838 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
839 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
843 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
844 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
845 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
846 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
847 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
851 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
852 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
853 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
854 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
855 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
859 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
860 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
861 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
862 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
863 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
864 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
868 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
869 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
870 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
871 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
872 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
873 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
874 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
875 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
876 * Frequently Asked Questions::
880 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
881 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
882 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
883 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
884 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
885 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
886 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
887 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
888 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
892 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
893 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
894 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
895 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
896 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
900 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
901 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
902 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
903 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
907 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
908 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
909 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
910 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
911 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
912 * Group Info:: The group info format.
913 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
914 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
915 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
919 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
920 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
921 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
922 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
923 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
924 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
928 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
929 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
933 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
934 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
940 @chapter Starting Gnus
945 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
946 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
949 @findex gnus-other-frame
950 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
951 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
952 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
954 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
955 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
956 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
958 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
959 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
962 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
963 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
964 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
965 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
966 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
967 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
968 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
969 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
970 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
971 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
972 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
976 @node Finding the News
977 @section Finding the News
980 @vindex gnus-select-method
982 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
983 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
984 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
985 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
988 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
989 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
992 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
995 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
998 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1001 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1002 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1003 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1005 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1007 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1008 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1009 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1010 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1011 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1012 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1014 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1015 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1016 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1017 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1019 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1020 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1021 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1022 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1023 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1024 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1025 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1026 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1027 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1030 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1032 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1033 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1034 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1035 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1036 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1037 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1039 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1041 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1042 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1043 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1044 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1045 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1046 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1049 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1050 you would typically set this variable to
1053 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1057 @node The First Time
1058 @section The First Time
1059 @cindex first time usage
1061 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1062 be subscribed by default.
1064 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1065 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1066 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1067 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1070 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1071 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1072 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1074 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1075 help you with most common problems.
1077 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1078 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1082 @node The Server is Down
1083 @section The Server is Down
1084 @cindex server errors
1086 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1087 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1088 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1090 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1091 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1092 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1093 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1094 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1095 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1096 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1098 @findex gnus-no-server
1099 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1101 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1102 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1103 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1104 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1105 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1106 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1107 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1111 @section Slave Gnusae
1114 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1115 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1116 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1117 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1119 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1120 @code{.newsrc} file.
1122 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1123 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1124 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1125 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1126 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1127 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1128 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1130 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1131 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1132 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1133 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1134 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1135 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1136 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1137 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1139 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1140 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1142 If the @code{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1143 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1144 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1145 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1146 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1148 @node Fetching a Group
1149 @section Fetching a Group
1150 @cindex fetching a group
1152 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1153 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1154 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1155 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1156 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1157 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1163 @cindex subscription
1165 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1166 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1167 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1168 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1169 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1170 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1171 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1172 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1173 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1176 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1177 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1178 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1182 @node Checking New Groups
1183 @subsection Checking New Groups
1185 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1186 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1187 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1188 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1189 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1190 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1191 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1192 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1193 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1194 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1196 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1197 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1198 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1199 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1200 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1201 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1202 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1203 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1204 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1205 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1206 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1208 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1209 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1210 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1211 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1212 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1213 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1216 @node Subscription Methods
1217 @subsection Subscription Methods
1219 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1220 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1221 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1223 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1224 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1226 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1230 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1231 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1232 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1233 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1234 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1236 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1237 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1238 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1239 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1241 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1242 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1243 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1245 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1246 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1247 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1248 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1249 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1250 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1251 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1252 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1253 up. Or something like that.
1255 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1256 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1257 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1258 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1259 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1261 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1262 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1263 Kill all new groups.
1265 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1266 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1267 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1268 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1269 topic parameter that looks like
1275 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1278 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1283 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1284 A closely related variable is
1285 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1286 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1287 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1288 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1291 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1292 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1293 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1294 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1297 @node Filtering New Groups
1298 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1300 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1301 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1302 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1305 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1308 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1309 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1310 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1311 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1312 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1313 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1314 subscribing these groups.
1315 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1316 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1318 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1319 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1320 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1321 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1322 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1323 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1324 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1325 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1327 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1328 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1329 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1330 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1331 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1332 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1333 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1334 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1335 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1336 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1339 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1340 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1343 @node Changing Servers
1344 @section Changing Servers
1345 @cindex changing servers
1347 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1348 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1349 very flaky and you want to use another.
1351 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1352 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1356 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1357 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1358 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1359 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1362 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1363 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1364 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1365 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1367 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1368 @findex gnus-change-server
1369 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1370 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1371 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1372 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1373 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1375 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1376 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1377 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1378 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1379 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1381 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1382 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1383 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1384 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1385 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1386 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1388 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1389 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1390 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1391 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1393 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1394 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1395 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1396 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1397 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1398 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1399 cache for all groups).
1403 @section Startup Files
1404 @cindex startup files
1409 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1410 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1412 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1413 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1414 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1415 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1416 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1417 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1418 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1420 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1421 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1422 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1423 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1424 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1425 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1427 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1428 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1429 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1430 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1431 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1432 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1433 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1434 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1435 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1436 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1438 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1439 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1440 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1441 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1442 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1443 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1444 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1445 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1446 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1447 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1448 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1449 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1451 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1452 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1453 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1454 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1456 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1457 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1458 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1459 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1460 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1461 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1462 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1463 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1464 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1465 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1468 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1469 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1471 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1472 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1475 @vindex gnus-init-file
1476 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1477 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1478 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1479 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1480 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1481 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1482 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1483 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1484 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1490 @cindex dribble file
1493 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1494 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1495 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1496 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1497 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1500 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1501 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1504 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1505 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1506 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1508 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1509 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1510 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1511 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1512 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1513 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1515 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1516 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1517 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1520 @node The Active File
1521 @section The Active File
1523 @cindex ignored groups
1525 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1526 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1527 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1529 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1530 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1531 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1532 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1533 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1534 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1535 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1538 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1539 @c if you set it to anything else.
1541 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1543 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1544 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1545 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1547 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1548 you actually subscribe to.
1550 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1551 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1552 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1553 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1555 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1556 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1557 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1558 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1559 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1560 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1562 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1563 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1564 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1567 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1568 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1569 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1570 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1571 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1572 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1574 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1575 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1577 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1578 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1580 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1581 secondary select methods.
1584 @node Startup Variables
1585 @section Startup Variables
1589 @item gnus-load-hook
1590 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1591 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1592 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1593 times you start Gnus.
1595 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1596 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1597 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1599 @item gnus-startup-hook
1600 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1601 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1603 @item gnus-started-hook
1604 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1605 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1608 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1609 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1610 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1611 generating the group buffer.
1613 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1614 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1615 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1616 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1617 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1618 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1619 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1620 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1622 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1623 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1624 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1625 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1626 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1627 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1629 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1630 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1631 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1633 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1634 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1635 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1637 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1638 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1639 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1640 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1646 @chapter Group Buffer
1647 @cindex group buffer
1649 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1651 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1652 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1653 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1654 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1655 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1656 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1657 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1658 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1659 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1660 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1661 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1662 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1663 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1664 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1665 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1666 @c human rights at 9...
1669 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1670 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1671 long as Gnus is active.
1675 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1676 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1677 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1678 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1679 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1680 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1681 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1682 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1688 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1689 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1690 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1691 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1692 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1693 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1694 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1695 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1696 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1697 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1698 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1699 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1700 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1701 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1702 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1703 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1704 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1708 @node Group Buffer Format
1709 @section Group Buffer Format
1712 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1713 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1714 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1718 @node Group Line Specification
1719 @subsection Group Line Specification
1720 @cindex group buffer format
1722 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1723 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1725 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1728 25: news.announce.newusers
1729 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1734 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1735 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1736 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1737 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1739 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1740 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1741 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1742 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1743 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1744 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1746 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1748 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1749 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1750 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1751 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1752 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1754 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1755 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1756 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1758 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1763 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1766 Whether the group is subscribed.
1769 Level of subscribedness.
1772 Number of unread articles.
1775 Number of dormant articles.
1778 Number of ticked articles.
1781 Number of read articles.
1784 Number of unseen articles.
1787 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1788 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1790 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1791 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1792 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1793 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1794 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1795 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1796 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1797 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1800 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1803 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1812 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1813 comment element in the group parameters.
1816 Newsgroup description.
1819 @samp{m} if moderated.
1822 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1828 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1834 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1838 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1841 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1842 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1843 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1844 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1845 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1848 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1850 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1854 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1857 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1861 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1862 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1863 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1864 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1865 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1866 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1871 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1872 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1873 group, or a bogus native group.
1876 @node Group Modeline Specification
1877 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1878 @cindex group modeline
1880 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1881 The mode line can be changed by setting
1882 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1883 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1887 The native news server.
1889 The native select method.
1893 @node Group Highlighting
1894 @subsection Group Highlighting
1895 @cindex highlighting
1896 @cindex group highlighting
1898 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1899 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1900 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1901 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1902 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1904 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1908 (cond (window-system
1909 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1910 (defface my-group-face-1
1911 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1912 (defface my-group-face-2
1913 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1914 (defface my-group-face-3
1915 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1916 (defface my-group-face-4
1917 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1918 (defface my-group-face-5
1919 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1921 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1922 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1923 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1924 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1925 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1926 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1929 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1931 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1938 The number of unread articles in the group.
1942 Whether the group is a mail group.
1944 The level of the group.
1946 The score of the group.
1948 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1950 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1951 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1953 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1954 topic being inserted.
1957 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1958 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1959 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1961 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1962 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1963 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1964 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1965 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1968 @node Group Maneuvering
1969 @section Group Maneuvering
1970 @cindex group movement
1972 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1973 expected, hopefully.
1979 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1980 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1981 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1987 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1988 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1989 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1993 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1994 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1998 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1999 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2003 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2004 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2005 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2009 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2010 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2011 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2014 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2020 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2021 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2022 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2027 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2028 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2029 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2033 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2034 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2035 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2038 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2039 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2040 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2041 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2045 @node Selecting a Group
2046 @section Selecting a Group
2047 @cindex group selection
2052 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2053 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2054 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2055 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2056 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2057 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2058 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2059 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2060 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2061 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2063 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2064 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2065 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2067 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2068 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2073 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2074 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2075 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2076 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2077 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2081 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2082 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2083 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2084 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2085 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2086 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2087 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2088 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2089 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2090 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2093 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2094 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2095 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2096 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2097 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2100 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2101 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2102 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2103 doing any processing of its contents
2104 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2105 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2106 manner will have no permanent effects.
2110 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2111 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2112 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2113 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2114 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2115 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2116 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2117 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2120 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2121 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2122 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2123 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2124 Which article this is is controlled by the
2125 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2131 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2134 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2137 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2139 @item unseen-or-unread
2140 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2141 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2145 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2149 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2150 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2152 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2153 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2154 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2155 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2159 @node Subscription Commands
2160 @section Subscription Commands
2161 @cindex subscription
2169 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2170 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2171 Toggle subscription to the current group
2172 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2178 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2179 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2180 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2181 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2187 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2188 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2189 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2195 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2196 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2199 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2200 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2201 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2202 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2203 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2209 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2210 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2214 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2215 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2218 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2219 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2220 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2221 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2222 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2223 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2224 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2225 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2226 @file{.newsrc} file.
2230 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2240 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2241 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2242 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2243 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2244 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2245 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2250 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2251 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2252 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2256 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2257 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2258 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2260 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2261 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2262 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2263 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2264 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2265 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2272 @section Group Levels
2276 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2277 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2278 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2279 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2280 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2282 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2288 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2289 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2290 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2291 prompted for a level.
2294 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2295 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2296 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2297 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2298 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2299 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2300 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2301 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2302 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2303 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2304 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2305 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2306 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2307 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2308 reasons of efficiency.
2310 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2311 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2313 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2314 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2315 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2316 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2317 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2318 groups are hidden, in a way.
2320 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2321 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2322 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2323 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2324 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2325 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2327 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2328 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2329 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2330 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2331 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2332 list of killed groups.)
2334 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2335 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2336 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2338 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2339 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2340 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2341 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2342 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2343 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2344 relevant valid ranges.
2346 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2347 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2348 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2349 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2350 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2351 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2354 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2355 one with the best level.
2357 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2358 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2359 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2362 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2363 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2364 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2365 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2368 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2369 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2370 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2371 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2373 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2374 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2375 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2376 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2377 to 5. The default is 6.
2381 @section Group Score
2386 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2387 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2388 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2391 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2392 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2393 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2394 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2395 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2396 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2397 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2398 least significant part.))
2400 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2401 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2402 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2403 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2404 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2405 action after each summary exit, you can add
2406 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2407 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2408 slow things down somewhat.
2411 @node Marking Groups
2412 @section Marking Groups
2413 @cindex marking groups
2415 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2416 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2417 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2418 bidding on those groups.
2420 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2421 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2422 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2430 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2431 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2437 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2438 Remove the mark from the current group
2439 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2443 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2444 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2448 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2449 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2453 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2454 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2458 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2459 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2460 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2463 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2465 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2466 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2467 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2468 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2469 the command to be executed.
2472 @node Foreign Groups
2473 @section Foreign Groups
2474 @cindex foreign groups
2476 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2477 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2478 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2479 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2486 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2487 @cindex making groups
2488 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2489 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2490 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2494 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2495 @cindex renaming groups
2496 Rename the current group to something else
2497 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2498 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2504 @findex gnus-group-customize
2505 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2509 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2510 @cindex renaming groups
2511 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2512 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2516 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2517 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2518 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2522 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2523 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2524 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2528 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2530 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2531 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2536 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2537 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2541 @cindex (ding) archive
2542 @cindex archive group
2543 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2544 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2545 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2546 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2547 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2548 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2549 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2553 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2555 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2556 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2557 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2558 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2562 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2564 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2565 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2566 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2570 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2571 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2573 Make a group based on some file or other
2574 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2575 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2576 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2577 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2578 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2579 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2580 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2581 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2582 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2586 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2587 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2588 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2589 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2593 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2597 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2598 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2599 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2600 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2601 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2602 @xref{Web Searches}.
2604 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2605 to a particular group by using a match string like
2606 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2609 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2610 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2611 This function will delete the current group
2612 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2613 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2614 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2615 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2616 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2620 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2621 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2622 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2626 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2627 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2628 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2631 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2634 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2635 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2636 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2637 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2638 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2639 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2643 @node Group Parameters
2644 @section Group Parameters
2645 @cindex group parameters
2647 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2648 Here's an example group parameter list:
2651 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2655 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2656 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2657 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2658 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2660 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2661 is an alist of regexps and values.
2663 The following group parameters can be used:
2668 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2671 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2674 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2675 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2676 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2677 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2678 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2680 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2681 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2682 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2683 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2684 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2685 list address instead.
2687 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2691 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2694 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2697 It is totally ignored
2698 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2699 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2701 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2702 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2703 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2704 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2705 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2707 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2708 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2709 sending the message.
2711 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2712 @cindex Mail List Groups
2713 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2714 entering summary buffer.
2716 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2721 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2722 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2723 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2724 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2725 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2726 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2728 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2729 directly uses this group parameter.
2733 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2734 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2735 of whether it has any unread articles.
2737 @item broken-reply-to
2738 @cindex broken-reply-to
2739 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2740 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2741 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2742 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2743 broken behavior. So there!
2747 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2748 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2752 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2753 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2754 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2759 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2760 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2761 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2762 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2763 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2764 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2765 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2766 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2767 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2771 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2772 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2773 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2775 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2778 @cindex total-expire
2779 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2780 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2781 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2782 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2785 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2789 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2790 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2791 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2792 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2793 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2794 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2795 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2798 @cindex score file group parameter
2799 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2800 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2801 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2804 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2805 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2806 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2807 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2810 @cindex admin-address
2811 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2812 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2813 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2814 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2818 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2819 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2823 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2826 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2827 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2830 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2834 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2836 Here are some examples:
2840 Display only unread articles.
2843 Display everything except expirable articles.
2845 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2846 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2850 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2851 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2852 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2853 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2854 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2858 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2859 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2860 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2864 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2865 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2866 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2870 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2871 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2872 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2874 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2876 @item ignored-charsets
2877 @cindex ignored-charset
2878 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2879 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2880 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2882 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2885 @cindex posting-style
2886 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2887 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2888 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2889 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2890 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2892 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2893 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2894 like this in the group parameters:
2899 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2900 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2905 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2906 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2910 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2911 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2912 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2913 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2914 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2918 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2919 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2920 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2921 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2923 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2924 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2925 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2926 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2929 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2930 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2934 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2937 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2938 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2939 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2940 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2941 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2942 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2943 @code{eval}ed there.
2945 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2946 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2947 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2948 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2949 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2950 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2951 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2952 parameters for the group.
2955 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2956 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2957 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2958 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2959 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2963 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2964 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2965 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2966 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2967 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2969 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2970 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2974 (setq gnus-parameters
2976 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2977 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2978 (gnus-summary-line-format
2979 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2983 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2987 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2991 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2994 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2995 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2998 @node Listing Groups
2999 @section Listing Groups
3000 @cindex group listing
3002 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3010 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3011 List all groups that have unread articles
3012 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3013 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3014 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3015 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3022 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3023 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3024 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3025 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3026 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3027 unsubscribed groups).
3031 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3032 List all unread groups on a specific level
3033 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3034 with no unread articles.
3038 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3039 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3040 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3041 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3046 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3047 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3051 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3052 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3053 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3057 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3058 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3062 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3063 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3064 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3065 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3066 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3067 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3068 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3069 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3073 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3074 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3075 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3079 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3080 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3081 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3085 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3086 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3090 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3091 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3095 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3096 List groups limited within the current selection
3097 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3101 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3102 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3106 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3107 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3111 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3112 @cindex visible group parameter
3113 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3114 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3115 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3116 get the same effect.
3118 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3119 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3120 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3121 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3122 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3125 @node Sorting Groups
3126 @section Sorting Groups
3127 @cindex sorting groups
3129 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3130 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3131 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3132 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3133 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3134 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3139 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3140 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3141 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3143 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3144 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3145 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3147 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3148 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3149 Sort by group level.
3151 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3152 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3153 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3155 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3156 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3157 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3158 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3160 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3161 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3162 Sort by number of unread articles.
3164 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3165 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3166 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3168 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3169 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3170 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3175 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3176 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3180 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3181 some sorting criteria:
3185 @kindex G S a (Group)
3186 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3187 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3188 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3191 @kindex G S u (Group)
3192 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3193 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3194 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3197 @kindex G S l (Group)
3198 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3199 Sort the group buffer by group level
3200 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3203 @kindex G S v (Group)
3204 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3205 Sort the group buffer by group score
3206 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3209 @kindex G S r (Group)
3210 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3211 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3212 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3215 @kindex G S m (Group)
3216 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3217 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3218 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3221 @kindex G S n (Group)
3222 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3223 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3224 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3228 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3229 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3231 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3232 commands will sort in reverse order.
3234 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3238 @kindex G P a (Group)
3239 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3240 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3241 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3244 @kindex G P u (Group)
3245 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3246 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3247 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3250 @kindex G P l (Group)
3251 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3252 Sort the groups by group level
3253 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3256 @kindex G P v (Group)
3257 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3258 Sort the groups by group score
3259 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3262 @kindex G P r (Group)
3263 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3264 Sort the groups by group rank
3265 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3268 @kindex G P m (Group)
3269 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3270 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3271 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3274 @kindex G P n (Group)
3275 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3276 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3277 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3280 @kindex G P s (Group)
3281 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3282 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3286 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3290 @node Group Maintenance
3291 @section Group Maintenance
3292 @cindex bogus groups
3297 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3298 Find bogus groups and delete them
3299 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3303 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3304 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3305 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3306 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3307 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3311 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3312 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3313 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3314 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3315 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3316 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3319 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3320 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3321 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3322 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3327 @node Browse Foreign Server
3328 @section Browse Foreign Server
3329 @cindex foreign servers
3330 @cindex browsing servers
3335 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3336 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3337 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3338 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3341 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3342 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3343 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3344 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3346 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3351 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3352 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3356 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3357 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3360 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3361 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3362 Enter the current group and display the first article
3363 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3366 @kindex RET (Browse)
3367 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3368 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3372 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3373 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3374 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3380 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3381 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3385 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3386 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3390 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3391 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3392 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3397 @section Exiting Gnus
3398 @cindex exiting Gnus
3400 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3405 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3406 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3407 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3408 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3412 @findex gnus-group-exit
3413 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3414 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3418 @findex gnus-group-quit
3419 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3420 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3423 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3424 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3425 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3426 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3427 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3432 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3433 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3434 trying to customize meta-variables.
3439 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3440 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3441 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3447 @section Group Topics
3450 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3451 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3452 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3453 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3454 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3455 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3459 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3460 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3471 2: alt.religion.emacs
3474 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3476 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3477 13: comp.sources.unix
3480 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3482 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3483 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3484 is a toggling command.)
3486 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3487 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3488 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3489 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3492 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3493 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3494 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3497 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3501 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3502 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3503 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3504 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3505 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3509 @node Topic Commands
3510 @subsection Topic Commands
3511 @cindex topic commands
3513 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3514 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3515 definitions slightly.
3517 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3518 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3519 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3520 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3521 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3522 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3524 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3531 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3532 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3533 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3537 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3539 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3540 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3541 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3542 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3545 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3546 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3547 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3548 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3552 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3553 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3554 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3555 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3561 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3562 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3563 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3567 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3568 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3569 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3572 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3573 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3574 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3575 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3576 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3578 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3579 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3583 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3584 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3591 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3593 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3594 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3595 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3596 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3597 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3598 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3602 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3608 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3609 Move the current group to some other topic
3610 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3611 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3615 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3616 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3620 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3621 Copy the current group to some other topic
3622 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3623 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3627 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3628 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3629 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3633 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3634 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3635 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3639 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3640 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3641 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3642 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3643 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3644 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3645 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3648 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3649 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3653 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3654 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3655 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3659 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3660 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3661 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3665 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3666 Toggle hiding empty topics
3667 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3671 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3672 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3673 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3676 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3677 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3678 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3679 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3682 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3683 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3684 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3685 expiry process (if any)
3686 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3690 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3691 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3694 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3695 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3696 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3700 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3701 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3702 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3705 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3706 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3707 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3710 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3711 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3712 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3716 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3717 @cindex group parameters
3718 @cindex topic parameters
3720 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3721 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3726 @node Topic Variables
3727 @subsection Topic Variables
3728 @cindex topic variables
3730 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3731 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3733 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3734 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3735 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3748 Number of groups in the topic.
3750 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3752 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3755 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3756 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3757 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3760 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3761 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3763 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3764 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3765 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3769 @subsection Topic Sorting
3770 @cindex topic sorting
3772 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3778 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3779 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3780 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3781 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3784 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3785 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3786 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3787 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3790 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3791 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3792 Sort the current topic by group level
3793 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3796 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3797 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3798 Sort the current topic by group score
3799 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3802 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3803 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3804 Sort the current topic by group rank
3805 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3808 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3809 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3810 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3811 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3814 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3815 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3816 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3817 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3821 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3822 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3823 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3824 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3828 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3829 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3833 @node Topic Topology
3834 @subsection Topic Topology
3835 @cindex topic topology
3838 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3844 2: alt.religion.emacs
3847 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3849 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3850 13: comp.sources.unix
3853 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3854 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3855 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3860 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3861 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3865 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3866 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3867 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3868 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3869 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3870 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3872 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3873 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3874 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3877 @node Topic Parameters
3878 @subsection Topic Parameters
3879 @cindex topic parameters
3881 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3882 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3883 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3885 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3890 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3891 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3892 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3895 @item subscribe-level
3896 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3897 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3898 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3902 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3903 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3904 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3905 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3911 2: alt.religion.emacs
3915 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3917 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3918 13: comp.sources.unix
3922 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3923 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3924 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3925 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3926 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3927 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3929 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3930 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3931 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3932 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3933 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3935 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3936 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3937 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3938 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3939 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3940 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3941 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3942 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3945 @node Misc Group Stuff
3946 @section Misc Group Stuff
3949 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3950 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3951 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3952 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3953 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3960 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3961 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3962 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3966 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3967 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3968 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3969 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3970 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3971 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3972 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3976 @findex gnus-group-mail
3977 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3978 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3979 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3980 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3984 @findex gnus-group-news
3985 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3986 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3987 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3989 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3990 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3991 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3992 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
3993 for this to work though.
3997 Variables for the group buffer:
4001 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4002 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4003 is called after the group buffer has been
4006 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4007 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4008 is called after the group buffer is
4009 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4012 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4013 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4014 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4015 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4017 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4018 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4019 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4020 whether they are empty or not.
4022 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4023 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4024 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4025 non-ASCII group names.
4029 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4030 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4033 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4034 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4035 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4036 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4037 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4038 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is nil.
4042 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4043 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4048 @node Scanning New Messages
4049 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4050 @cindex new messages
4051 @cindex scanning new news
4057 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4058 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4059 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4060 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4061 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4062 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4067 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4068 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4069 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4070 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4071 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4072 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4073 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4075 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4076 @cindex activating groups
4078 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4079 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4084 @findex gnus-group-restart
4085 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4086 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4087 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4091 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4092 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4094 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4095 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4099 @node Group Information
4100 @subsection Group Information
4101 @cindex group information
4102 @cindex information on groups
4109 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4110 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4113 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4114 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4115 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4116 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4117 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4118 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4119 for fetching the file.
4121 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4122 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4126 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4127 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4129 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4130 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4133 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4134 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4135 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4139 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4140 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4141 @cindex control message
4142 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4143 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4144 group if given a prefix argument.
4146 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-nil, Gnus
4147 will open the control messages in a browser using @code{browse-url}.
4148 Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp} and displayed in an
4151 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4152 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4153 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4157 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4159 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4160 @cindex describing groups
4161 @cindex group description
4162 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4163 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4164 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4168 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4169 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4170 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4177 @findex gnus-version
4178 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4182 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4183 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4186 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4189 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4190 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4194 @node Group Timestamp
4195 @subsection Group Timestamp
4197 @cindex group timestamps
4199 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4200 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4201 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4204 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4207 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4209 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4210 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4213 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4214 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4217 This will result in lines looking like:
4220 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4221 0: custom 19961002T012713
4224 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4225 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4229 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4230 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4233 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4234 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4238 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4239 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4240 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4241 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4243 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4249 @subsection File Commands
4250 @cindex file commands
4256 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4257 @vindex gnus-init-file
4258 @cindex reading init file
4259 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4260 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4264 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4265 @cindex saving .newsrc
4266 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4267 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4268 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4271 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4272 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4273 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4278 @node Sieve Commands
4279 @subsection Sieve Commands
4280 @cindex group sieve commands
4282 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4283 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4284 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4285 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4286 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4288 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4289 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4290 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4291 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4292 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4293 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4294 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4295 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4296 regenerate the Sieve script.
4298 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4299 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4300 is generated. If it is non-nil (the default) articles is placed in
4301 all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article is only
4302 placed in the group with the first matching rule. For example, the
4303 group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4304 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4305 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is nil. (When
4306 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-nil, it looks the same except that
4307 the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4310 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4311 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4316 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4322 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4323 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4324 @cindex generating sieve script
4325 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4326 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4330 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4331 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4332 @cindex updating sieve script
4333 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4334 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4335 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4340 @node Summary Buffer
4341 @chapter Summary Buffer
4342 @cindex summary buffer
4344 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4345 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4347 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4348 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4350 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4353 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4354 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4355 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4356 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4357 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4358 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4359 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4360 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4361 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4362 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4363 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4364 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4365 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4366 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4367 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4368 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4369 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4370 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4371 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4372 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4373 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4374 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4375 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4376 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4377 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4378 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4379 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4380 or reselecting the current group.
4381 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4382 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4383 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4384 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4388 @node Summary Buffer Format
4389 @section Summary Buffer Format
4390 @cindex summary buffer format
4394 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4395 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4396 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4402 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4403 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4404 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4405 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4408 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4409 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4410 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4411 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4412 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4413 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4414 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4415 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4416 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4417 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4418 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4421 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4422 'mail-extract-address-components)
4425 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4426 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4427 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4428 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4431 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4432 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4434 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4435 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4436 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4437 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4438 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4440 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4441 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4442 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4443 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4444 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4445 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4447 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4449 The following format specification characters and extended format
4450 specification(s) are understood:
4456 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4457 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4459 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4460 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4461 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4463 Full @code{From} header.
4465 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4467 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4470 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4471 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4472 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4473 may be more thorough.
4475 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4478 Number of lines in the article.
4480 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4481 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4483 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4484 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4486 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4488 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4491 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4492 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4494 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4495 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4497 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4498 for adopted articles.
4500 One space for each thread level.
4502 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4504 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4507 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4508 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4509 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4512 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4514 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4515 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4516 default level. If the difference between
4517 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4518 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4526 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4528 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4534 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4535 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4537 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4538 article has any children.
4544 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4545 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4547 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4548 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4549 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4550 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4551 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4552 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4555 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4556 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4557 There can only be one such area.
4559 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4560 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4561 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4562 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4563 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4564 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4566 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4567 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4569 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4572 @node To From Newsgroups
4573 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4577 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4578 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4579 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4580 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4581 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4585 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4586 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4587 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4591 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4592 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4595 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4596 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4599 @findex gnus-extra-header
4600 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4601 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4602 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4605 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4609 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4610 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4611 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4612 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4613 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4614 headers are used instead.
4618 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4619 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4620 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4621 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4622 this variable, by entering the server buffer using `^', and then `g' on
4623 the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause regeneration.
4625 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4626 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4627 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4628 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4630 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4634 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4636 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4637 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4638 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4639 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4643 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4646 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4647 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4650 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4651 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4652 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4658 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4659 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4662 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4663 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4665 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4666 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4667 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4668 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4670 Here are the elements you can play with:
4676 Unprefixed group name.
4678 Current article number.
4680 Current article score.
4684 Number of unread articles in this group.
4686 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4689 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4690 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4691 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4692 and no unselected ones.
4694 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4695 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4697 Subject of the current article.
4699 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4701 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4703 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4705 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4707 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4709 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4713 @node Summary Highlighting
4714 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4718 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4719 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4720 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4721 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4722 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4724 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4725 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4726 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4727 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4729 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4730 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4731 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4732 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4734 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4735 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4736 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4737 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4738 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4739 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4742 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4743 ((> score default) . bold))
4745 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4746 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4750 @node Summary Maneuvering
4751 @section Summary Maneuvering
4752 @cindex summary movement
4754 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4755 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4757 None of these commands select articles.
4762 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4763 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4764 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4765 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4766 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4770 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4771 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4772 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4773 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4774 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4777 @kindex G g (Summary)
4778 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4779 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4780 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4783 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4784 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4785 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4786 to the group buffer.
4788 Variables related to summary movement:
4792 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4793 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4794 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4795 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4796 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4797 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4798 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4799 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4800 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4801 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4802 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4803 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4804 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4805 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4807 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4808 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4809 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4810 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4811 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4812 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4813 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4815 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4817 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4818 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4819 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4820 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4821 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4823 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4824 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4825 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4826 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4827 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4828 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4829 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4830 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4833 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4834 the given number of lines from the top.
4839 @node Choosing Articles
4840 @section Choosing Articles
4841 @cindex selecting articles
4844 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4845 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4849 @node Choosing Commands
4850 @subsection Choosing Commands
4852 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4853 and they all select and display an article.
4855 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4856 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4860 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4861 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4862 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4863 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4868 @kindex G n (Summary)
4869 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4870 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4871 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4876 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4877 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4878 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4883 @kindex G N (Summary)
4884 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4885 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4890 @kindex G P (Summary)
4891 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4892 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4895 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4896 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4897 Go to the next article with the same subject
4898 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4901 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4902 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4903 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4904 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4908 @kindex G f (Summary)
4910 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4911 Go to the first unread article
4912 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4916 @kindex G b (Summary)
4918 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4919 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4920 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4921 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4926 @kindex G l (Summary)
4927 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4928 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4931 @kindex G o (Summary)
4932 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4934 @cindex article history
4935 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4936 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4937 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4938 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4939 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4940 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4945 @kindex G j (Summary)
4946 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4947 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4948 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4953 @node Choosing Variables
4954 @subsection Choosing Variables
4956 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4959 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4960 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4961 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4962 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4963 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4964 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4966 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4967 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4968 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4969 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you wish
4970 that the Agent saves all articles you read, putting
4971 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook should do it.
4973 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4974 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4975 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4976 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4977 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4978 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4979 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4980 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4981 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4982 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4983 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4984 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4985 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4986 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4991 @node Paging the Article
4992 @section Scrolling the Article
4993 @cindex article scrolling
4998 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4999 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5000 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5001 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5002 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5005 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5006 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5007 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5010 @kindex RET (Summary)
5011 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5012 Scroll the current article one line forward
5013 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5016 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5017 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5018 Scroll the current article one line backward
5019 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5023 @kindex A g (Summary)
5025 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5026 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5027 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5028 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5029 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5030 the way it came from the server.
5032 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5033 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5034 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5037 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5042 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5047 @kindex A < (Summary)
5048 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5049 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5050 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5055 @kindex A > (Summary)
5056 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5057 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5061 @kindex A s (Summary)
5063 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5064 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5065 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5069 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5070 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5075 @node Reply Followup and Post
5076 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5079 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5080 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5081 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5082 * Canceling and Superseding::
5086 @node Summary Mail Commands
5087 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5089 @cindex composing mail
5091 Commands for composing a mail message:
5097 @kindex S r (Summary)
5099 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5100 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5101 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5102 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5103 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5108 @kindex S R (Summary)
5109 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5110 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5111 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5112 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5113 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5116 @kindex S w (Summary)
5117 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5118 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5119 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5120 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5121 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5124 @kindex S W (Summary)
5125 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5126 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5127 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5128 the process/prefix convention.
5131 @kindex S v (Summary)
5132 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5133 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5134 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5135 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5136 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5137 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5140 @kindex S V (Summary)
5141 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5142 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5143 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5144 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5147 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5148 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5149 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5150 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5153 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5154 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5155 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5156 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5157 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5161 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5162 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5163 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5164 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5165 Forward the current article to some other person
5166 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5167 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5168 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5169 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5170 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5171 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5172 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5173 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5174 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime}
5180 @kindex S m (Summary)
5181 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5182 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5183 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5184 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5185 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5190 @kindex S i (Summary)
5191 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5192 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5193 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5194 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5196 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5197 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5198 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5199 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5200 for this to work though.
5203 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5204 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5205 @cindex bouncing mail
5206 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5207 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5208 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5209 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5210 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5211 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5212 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5213 very well fail, though.
5216 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5217 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5218 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5219 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5220 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5221 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5222 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5223 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5224 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5225 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5227 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5228 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5229 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5230 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5231 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5233 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5234 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5237 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5238 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5239 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5240 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5241 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5244 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5245 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5246 @cindex crossposting
5247 @cindex excessive crossposting
5248 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5249 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5251 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5252 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5253 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5254 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5255 command understands the process/prefix convention
5256 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5260 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5261 Manual}, for more information.
5264 @node Summary Post Commands
5265 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5267 @cindex composing news
5269 Commands for posting a news article:
5275 @kindex S p (Summary)
5276 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5277 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5278 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5279 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5280 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5285 @kindex S f (Summary)
5286 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5287 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5288 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5292 @kindex S F (Summary)
5294 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5295 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5296 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5297 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5298 process/prefix convention.
5301 @kindex S n (Summary)
5302 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5303 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5304 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5307 @kindex S N (Summary)
5308 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5309 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5310 message through mail and include the original message
5311 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5312 the process/prefix convention.
5315 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5316 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5317 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5318 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5319 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5320 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5321 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5322 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5323 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5324 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5325 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5326 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5327 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section.
5330 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5331 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5333 @cindex making digests
5334 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5335 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
5336 process/prefix convention.
5339 @kindex S u (Summary)
5340 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5341 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5342 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5343 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5346 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5347 Manual}, for more information.
5350 @node Summary Message Commands
5351 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5355 @kindex S y (Summary)
5356 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5357 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5358 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5359 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5360 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5365 @node Canceling and Superseding
5366 @subsection Canceling Articles
5367 @cindex canceling articles
5368 @cindex superseding articles
5370 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5371 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5373 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5375 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5377 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5378 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5379 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5380 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5381 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5382 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5384 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5385 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5388 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5389 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5390 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5392 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5393 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5394 your original article.
5396 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5398 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5399 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5400 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5403 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5404 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5405 have posted almost the same article twice.
5407 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5408 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5409 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5410 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5411 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5412 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5413 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5414 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5415 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5416 canceled/superseded.
5418 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5420 @node Delayed Articles
5421 @section Delayed Articles
5422 @cindex delayed sending
5423 @cindex send delayed
5425 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5426 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5427 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5428 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5431 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5434 @findex gnus-delay-article
5435 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5436 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5437 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5438 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5442 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5443 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5444 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5445 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5448 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5449 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5450 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5453 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5454 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5455 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5456 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5457 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5458 that means a time tomorrow.
5461 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5462 couple of variables:
5465 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5466 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5467 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5468 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5470 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5471 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5472 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5473 formats described above.
5475 @item gnus-delay-group
5476 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5477 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5478 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5479 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5481 @item gnus-delay-header
5482 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5483 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5484 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5485 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5488 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5489 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5490 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5491 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5492 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5494 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5495 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5496 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5497 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5498 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5499 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5502 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5503 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5504 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5505 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5506 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-nil,
5507 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5508 argument is ignored.
5510 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5511 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5512 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5516 @node Marking Articles
5517 @section Marking Articles
5518 @cindex article marking
5519 @cindex article ticking
5522 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5524 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5525 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5526 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5528 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5531 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5532 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5533 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5537 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5541 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5542 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5543 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5547 @node Unread Articles
5548 @subsection Unread Articles
5550 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5555 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5556 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5558 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5559 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5560 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5561 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5562 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5563 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5564 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5567 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5568 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5570 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5571 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5572 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5573 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5577 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5578 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5580 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5585 @subsection Read Articles
5586 @cindex expirable mark
5588 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5593 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5594 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5595 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5598 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5599 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5602 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5603 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5604 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5607 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5608 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5611 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5612 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5615 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5616 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5619 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5620 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5623 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5624 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5627 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5628 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5631 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5632 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5636 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5637 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5638 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5642 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5643 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5645 One more special mark, though:
5649 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5650 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5652 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5653 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5654 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5655 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5661 @subsection Other Marks
5662 @cindex process mark
5665 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5671 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5672 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5673 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5674 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5675 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5678 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5679 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5680 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5681 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5684 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5685 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5686 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5689 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5690 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5691 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5694 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5695 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5696 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5697 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5700 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5701 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5702 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5703 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5704 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5705 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5708 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5709 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5710 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5711 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5714 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5715 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might not
5716 have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you are
5717 offline (unplugged). These articles get the @samp{@@} mark in the
5718 first column. (The variable @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls
5719 which character to use.)
5722 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5723 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5724 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5725 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5726 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5727 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5731 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5732 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5733 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5734 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5735 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5738 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5739 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5740 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5741 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5742 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5743 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5747 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5748 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5749 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5751 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5752 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5753 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5757 @subsection Setting Marks
5758 @cindex setting marks
5760 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5765 @kindex M c (Summary)
5766 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5767 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5768 @cindex mark as unread
5769 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5770 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5776 @kindex M t (Summary)
5777 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5778 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5779 @xref{Article Caching}.
5784 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5785 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5786 Mark the current article as dormant
5787 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5791 @kindex M d (Summary)
5793 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5794 Mark the current article as read
5795 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5799 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5800 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5801 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5806 @kindex M k (Summary)
5807 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5808 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5809 and then select the next unread article
5810 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5814 @kindex M K (Summary)
5815 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5816 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5817 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5818 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5821 @kindex M C (Summary)
5822 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5823 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5824 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5827 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5828 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5829 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5830 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5833 @kindex M H (Summary)
5834 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5835 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5836 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5839 @kindex M h (Summary)
5840 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5841 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5842 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5845 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5846 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5847 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5848 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5851 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5852 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5853 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5854 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5858 @kindex M e (Summary)
5860 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5861 Mark the current article as expirable
5862 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5865 @kindex M b (Summary)
5866 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5867 Set a bookmark in the current article
5868 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5871 @kindex M B (Summary)
5872 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5873 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5874 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5877 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5878 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5879 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5880 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5883 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5884 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5885 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5886 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5889 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5890 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5891 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5892 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5893 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5896 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5897 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5898 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5899 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5900 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5901 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5902 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5903 The default is @code{t}.
5906 @node Generic Marking Commands
5907 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5909 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5910 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5911 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5912 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5913 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5916 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5917 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5920 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5921 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5922 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5923 to list in this manual.
5925 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5926 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5927 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5928 article, you could say something like:
5931 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5932 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5933 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5939 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5940 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5944 @node Setting Process Marks
5945 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5946 @cindex setting process marks
5948 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
5949 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
5950 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
5951 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
5952 commands into the cache. For more information,
5953 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
5960 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5961 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5962 Mark the current article with the process mark
5963 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5964 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5968 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5969 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5970 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5971 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5974 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5975 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5976 Remove the process mark from all articles
5977 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5980 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5981 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5982 Invert the list of process marked articles
5983 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5986 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5987 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5988 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5989 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5992 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5993 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5994 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5995 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5998 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5999 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6000 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6004 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6005 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6008 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6009 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6010 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6011 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6014 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6015 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6016 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6017 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6020 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6021 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6022 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6023 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6026 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6027 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6028 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6031 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6032 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6033 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6034 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6037 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6038 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6039 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6042 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6043 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6044 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6045 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6048 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6049 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6050 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6051 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6054 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6055 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6056 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6057 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6060 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6061 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6062 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6063 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6067 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6068 set process marks based on article body contents.
6075 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6076 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6077 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6080 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6081 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6082 additional articles.
6088 @kindex / / (Summary)
6089 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6090 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6091 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6095 @kindex / a (Summary)
6096 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6097 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6098 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6102 @kindex / x (Summary)
6103 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6104 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6105 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6106 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6111 @kindex / u (Summary)
6113 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6114 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6115 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6116 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6117 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6120 @kindex / m (Summary)
6121 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6122 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6123 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6126 @kindex / t (Summary)
6127 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6128 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6129 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6130 articles younger than that number of days.
6133 @kindex / n (Summary)
6134 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6135 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6136 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6137 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6140 @kindex / w (Summary)
6141 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6142 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6143 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6147 @kindex / . (Summary)
6148 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6149 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6150 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6153 @kindex / v (Summary)
6154 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6155 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6156 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6159 @kindex / p (Summary)
6160 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6161 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6162 group parameter predicate
6163 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6164 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6168 @kindex M S (Summary)
6169 @kindex / E (Summary)
6170 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6171 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6172 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6175 @kindex / D (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6177 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6178 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6181 @kindex / * (Summary)
6182 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6183 Include all cached articles in the limit
6184 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6187 @kindex / d (Summary)
6188 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6189 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6190 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6193 @kindex / M (Summary)
6194 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6195 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6198 @kindex / T (Summary)
6199 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6200 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6203 @kindex / c (Summary)
6204 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6205 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6206 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6209 @kindex / C (Summary)
6210 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6211 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6212 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6213 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6216 @kindex / N (Summary)
6217 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6218 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6219 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6222 @kindex / o (Summary)
6223 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6224 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6225 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6233 @cindex article threading
6235 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6236 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6237 hierarchical fashion.
6239 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6240 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6241 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6242 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6243 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6244 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6245 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6247 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6251 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6254 A tree-like article structure.
6257 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6260 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6261 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6262 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6263 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6264 called loose threads.
6266 @item thread gathering
6267 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6269 @item sparse threads
6270 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6271 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6277 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6278 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6282 @node Customizing Threading
6283 @subsection Customizing Threading
6284 @cindex customizing threading
6287 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6288 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6289 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6290 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6295 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6298 @cindex loose threads
6301 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6302 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6303 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6304 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6305 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6306 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6308 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6309 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6310 There are four possible values:
6314 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6315 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6316 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6317 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6318 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6323 @cindex adopting articles
6328 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6329 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6330 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6331 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6334 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6335 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6336 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6337 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6338 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6339 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6340 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6341 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6342 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6343 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to t.
6346 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6347 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6348 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6352 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6353 display them after one another.
6356 Don't gather loose threads.
6359 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6360 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6361 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6362 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6363 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6364 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6365 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6366 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6367 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6368 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6369 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6371 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6372 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6373 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6376 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6377 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6378 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6379 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6380 simplification is used.
6382 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6383 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6384 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6385 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6387 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6389 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6395 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6396 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6397 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6398 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6403 (mapconcat 'identity
6404 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6406 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6409 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6412 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6413 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6414 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6415 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6416 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6417 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6419 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6422 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6423 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6424 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6426 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6427 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6430 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6431 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6432 Remove excessive whitespace.
6434 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6435 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6436 Remove all whitespace.
6439 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6442 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6443 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6444 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6445 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6446 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6447 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6448 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6449 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6451 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6452 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6453 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6454 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6455 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6456 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6457 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6458 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6459 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6463 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6464 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6465 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6466 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6468 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6469 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6470 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6473 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6477 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6478 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6484 @node Filling In Threads
6485 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6488 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6489 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6490 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6491 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6492 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6493 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6494 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6495 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6496 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6497 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6498 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6499 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6502 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6503 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6504 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6506 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6507 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6508 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6509 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6510 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6511 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6512 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6513 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6514 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6515 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6516 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6517 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6518 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6519 @code{nil} by default.
6521 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6522 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6523 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6524 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6525 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6526 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6527 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6529 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6530 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6531 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6536 @node More Threading
6537 @subsubsection More Threading
6540 @item gnus-show-threads
6541 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6542 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6543 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6544 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6545 slower and more awkward.
6547 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6548 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6549 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6552 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6553 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6554 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6559 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6560 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6561 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6564 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6565 unread, but you get my drift.)
6568 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6569 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6570 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6571 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6572 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6573 threads are expunged.
6575 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6576 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6577 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6580 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6581 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6582 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6583 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6584 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6585 result in a new thread.
6587 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6588 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6589 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6592 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6593 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6594 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6595 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6596 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6597 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6598 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6599 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6600 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6601 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6602 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6607 @node Low-Level Threading
6608 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6612 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6613 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6614 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6616 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6617 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6618 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6619 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6620 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6621 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6622 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6623 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6624 meaningful. Here's one example:
6627 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6629 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6630 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6632 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6634 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6641 @node Thread Commands
6642 @subsection Thread Commands
6643 @cindex thread commands
6649 @kindex T k (Summary)
6650 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6651 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6652 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6653 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6654 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6659 @kindex T l (Summary)
6660 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6661 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6662 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6663 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6666 @kindex T i (Summary)
6667 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6668 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6669 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6672 @kindex T # (Summary)
6673 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6674 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6675 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6678 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6679 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6680 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6681 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6684 @kindex T T (Summary)
6685 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6686 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6689 @kindex T s (Summary)
6690 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6691 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6692 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6695 @kindex T h (Summary)
6696 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6697 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6700 @kindex T S (Summary)
6701 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6702 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6705 @kindex T H (Summary)
6706 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6707 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6710 @kindex T t (Summary)
6711 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6712 Re-thread the current article's thread
6713 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6714 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6717 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6718 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6719 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6720 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6724 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6725 understand the numeric prefix.
6730 @kindex T n (Summary)
6732 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6734 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6735 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6736 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6739 @kindex T p (Summary)
6741 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6743 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6744 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6745 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6748 @kindex T d (Summary)
6749 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6750 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6753 @kindex T u (Summary)
6754 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6755 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6758 @kindex T o (Summary)
6759 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6760 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6763 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6764 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6765 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6766 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6767 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6768 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6769 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6770 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6771 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6772 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6773 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6774 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6778 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6779 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6781 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6782 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6783 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6784 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6785 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6786 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6787 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6788 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6789 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6790 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6791 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6792 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6793 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6795 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6796 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6797 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6798 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6799 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6800 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6801 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6802 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6804 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6805 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6806 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6808 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6809 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6810 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6811 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6812 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6813 ascending article order.
6815 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6816 by number, you could do something like:
6819 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6820 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6821 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6822 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6825 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6826 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6827 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6828 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6829 which the articles arrived.
6831 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6835 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6837 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6838 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6841 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6842 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6843 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6844 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6847 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6848 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6849 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6850 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6851 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6852 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6853 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6854 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6855 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6856 variable. It is very similar to the
6857 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6858 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6859 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6860 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6861 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6862 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6863 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6865 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6869 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6870 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6871 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6876 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6877 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6878 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6879 @cindex article pre-fetch
6882 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6883 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6884 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6885 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6886 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6888 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6889 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6891 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6892 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6893 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6894 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6895 connection is blocked.
6897 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6898 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6899 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6900 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6902 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6903 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6904 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6905 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6908 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6911 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6912 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6913 happen automatically.
6915 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6916 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6917 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6918 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6919 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6920 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6921 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6923 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6924 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6925 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6926 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6927 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6928 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6929 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6930 data structure as the only parameter.
6932 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6935 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6936 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6937 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6938 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6941 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6944 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6945 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6946 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6948 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6949 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6950 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6951 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6955 Remove articles when they are read.
6958 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6961 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6963 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6964 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6965 @c from the next group.
6968 @node Article Caching
6969 @section Article Caching
6970 @cindex article caching
6973 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6974 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6975 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6976 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6977 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6979 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6981 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6982 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6983 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6984 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6985 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6986 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6987 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6988 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6990 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6991 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6992 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6993 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6994 as dormant, and don't worry.
6996 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6998 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6999 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7000 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7001 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7002 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7003 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7004 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7005 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7006 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7007 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7009 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7010 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7011 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7012 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7013 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7014 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7015 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7016 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7017 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7018 not then be downloaded by this command.
7020 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7021 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7022 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7023 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7024 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7025 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7027 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7028 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7029 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7030 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7031 variables, the group is not cached.
7033 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7034 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7035 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7036 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7037 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7038 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7039 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7040 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7041 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7044 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7045 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7046 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7047 where, isn't that cool?
7049 @node Persistent Articles
7050 @section Persistent Articles
7051 @cindex persistent articles
7053 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7054 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7055 useful in my opinion.
7057 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7058 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7059 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7060 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7061 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7062 the expiry going on at the news server.
7064 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7065 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7066 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7072 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7073 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7076 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7077 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7078 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7079 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7083 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7085 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7086 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7087 interested in persistent articles:
7090 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7094 @node Article Backlog
7095 @section Article Backlog
7097 @cindex article backlog
7099 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7100 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7101 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7102 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7103 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7104 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7105 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7106 increase memory usage some.
7108 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7109 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7110 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7111 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7112 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7113 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7114 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7116 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
7119 @node Saving Articles
7120 @section Saving Articles
7121 @cindex saving articles
7123 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7124 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7125 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7126 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7127 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7129 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7130 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7131 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7133 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7134 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7135 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7137 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7138 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7139 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7140 deleted before saving.
7146 @kindex O o (Summary)
7148 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7149 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7150 Save the current article using the default article saver
7151 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7154 @kindex O m (Summary)
7155 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7156 Save the current article in mail format
7157 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7160 @kindex O r (Summary)
7161 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7162 Save the current article in rmail format
7163 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7166 @kindex O f (Summary)
7167 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7168 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7169 Save the current article in plain file format
7170 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7173 @kindex O F (Summary)
7174 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7175 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7176 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7179 @kindex O b (Summary)
7180 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7181 Save the current article body in plain file format
7182 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7185 @kindex O h (Summary)
7186 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7187 Save the current article in mh folder format
7188 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7191 @kindex O v (Summary)
7192 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7193 Save the current article in a VM folder
7194 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7198 @kindex O p (Summary)
7200 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7201 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7202 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7203 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7204 complete headers in the piped output.
7207 @kindex O P (Summary)
7208 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7209 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7210 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7211 external program Muttprint (see
7212 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7213 options to use is controlled by the variable
7214 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7218 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7219 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7220 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7221 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7222 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7223 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7224 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7225 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7226 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7227 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7228 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7229 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7233 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7234 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7235 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7236 functions below, or you can create your own.
7240 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7241 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7242 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7243 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7244 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7245 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7246 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7248 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7249 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7250 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7251 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7252 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7253 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7255 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7256 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7257 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7258 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7259 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7260 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7261 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7263 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7264 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7265 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7266 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7267 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7268 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7270 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7271 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7272 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7273 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7274 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7276 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7277 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7278 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7279 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7280 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7283 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7284 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7285 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7286 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7287 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7289 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7290 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7291 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7292 reader to use this setting.
7295 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7296 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7297 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7298 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7301 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7302 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7303 available functions that generate names:
7307 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7308 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7309 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7311 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7312 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7313 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7315 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7316 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7317 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7319 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7320 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7321 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7323 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7324 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7325 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7328 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7329 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7330 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7331 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7332 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7336 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7337 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7338 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7339 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7342 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7343 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7344 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7345 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7346 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7347 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7348 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7349 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7350 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7352 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7353 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7354 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7355 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7357 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7358 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7359 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7362 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7363 lots of mail groups called things like
7364 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7365 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7366 following will do just that:
7369 (defun my-save-name (group)
7370 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7371 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7373 (setq gnus-split-methods
7374 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7379 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7380 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7381 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7382 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7383 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7384 all the files in the top level directory
7385 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7386 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7387 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7388 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7390 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7391 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7392 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7393 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7394 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7397 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7401 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7402 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7403 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7406 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7407 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7408 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7409 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7412 @node Decoding Articles
7413 @section Decoding Articles
7414 @cindex decoding articles
7416 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7417 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7420 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7421 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7422 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7423 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7424 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7425 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7429 @cindex article series
7430 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7431 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7432 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7433 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7434 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7436 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7437 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7438 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7440 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7441 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7442 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7444 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7445 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7446 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7449 @node Uuencoded Articles
7450 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7452 @cindex uuencoded articles
7457 @kindex X u (Summary)
7458 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7459 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7460 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7463 @kindex X U (Summary)
7464 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7465 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7466 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7469 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7470 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7471 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7474 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7475 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7476 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7477 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7481 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7482 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7483 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7484 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7485 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7487 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7488 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7489 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7490 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7493 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7494 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7495 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7496 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7497 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7498 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7502 @node Shell Archives
7503 @subsection Shell Archives
7505 @cindex shell archives
7506 @cindex shared articles
7508 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7509 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7510 some commands to deal with these:
7515 @kindex X s (Summary)
7516 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7517 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7520 @kindex X S (Summary)
7521 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7522 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7525 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7526 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7527 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7530 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7531 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7532 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7533 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7537 @node PostScript Files
7538 @subsection PostScript Files
7544 @kindex X p (Summary)
7545 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7546 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7549 @kindex X P (Summary)
7550 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7551 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7552 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7555 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7556 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7557 View the current PostScript series
7558 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7561 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7562 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7563 View and save the current PostScript series
7564 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7569 @subsection Other Files
7573 @kindex X o (Summary)
7574 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7575 Save the current series
7576 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7579 @kindex X b (Summary)
7580 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7581 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7582 doesn't really work yet.
7586 @node Decoding Variables
7587 @subsection Decoding Variables
7589 Adjective, not verb.
7592 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7593 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7594 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7598 @node Rule Variables
7599 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7600 @cindex rule variables
7602 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7603 variables are of the form
7606 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7613 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7614 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7616 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7617 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7620 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7621 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7624 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7625 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7626 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7627 user and default view rules.
7629 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7630 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7631 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7636 @node Other Decode Variables
7637 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7640 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7642 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7643 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7644 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7645 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7646 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7650 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7651 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7654 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7655 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7656 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7659 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7660 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7661 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7662 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7663 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7666 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7667 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7668 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7670 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7671 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7672 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7673 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7674 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7677 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7678 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7679 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7681 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7682 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7683 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7684 looking for files to display.
7686 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7687 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7688 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7691 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7692 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7693 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7696 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7697 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7698 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7701 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7702 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7703 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7706 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7707 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7708 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7709 decoded articles as unread.
7711 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7712 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7713 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7714 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7716 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7717 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7718 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7720 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7721 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7723 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7724 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7725 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7726 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7728 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7729 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7730 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7731 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7732 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7733 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7734 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7735 simply dropped them.
7740 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7741 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7745 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7746 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7747 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7748 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7749 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7750 for you when you post the article.
7752 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7753 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7754 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7755 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7757 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7758 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7759 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7760 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7761 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7762 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7763 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7765 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7766 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7767 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7768 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7769 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7770 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7771 Default is @code{t}.
7777 @subsection Viewing Files
7778 @cindex viewing files
7779 @cindex pseudo-articles
7781 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7782 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7783 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7784 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7785 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7786 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7787 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7789 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7790 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7791 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7792 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7794 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7795 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7796 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7798 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7799 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7800 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7801 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7802 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7804 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7805 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7806 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7807 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7808 a list of parameters to that command.
7810 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7811 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7812 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7814 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7815 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7816 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7819 @node Article Treatment
7820 @section Article Treatment
7822 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7823 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7824 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7825 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7826 these articles easier.
7829 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7830 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7831 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7832 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7833 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7834 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7835 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7836 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7837 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7838 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7842 @node Article Highlighting
7843 @subsection Article Highlighting
7844 @cindex highlighting
7846 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7847 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7852 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7853 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7854 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7855 Do much highlighting of the current article
7856 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7857 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7860 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7861 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7862 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7863 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7864 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7865 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7866 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7867 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7868 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7869 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7870 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7871 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7874 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7875 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7876 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7878 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7881 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7883 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7884 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7885 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7887 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7888 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7889 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7891 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7892 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7893 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7894 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7895 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7896 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7898 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7899 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7900 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7902 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7903 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7904 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7906 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7907 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7908 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7909 that it's a citation.
7911 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7912 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7913 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7915 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7916 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7917 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7919 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7920 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7921 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7922 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7928 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7929 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7930 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7931 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7932 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7933 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7934 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7935 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7940 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7943 @node Article Fontisizing
7944 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7946 @cindex article emphasis
7948 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7949 @kindex W e (Summary)
7950 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7951 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7952 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7953 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7955 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7956 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7957 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7958 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7959 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7960 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7961 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7962 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7966 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7967 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7968 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7977 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7978 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7979 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7980 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7981 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7982 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7983 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7984 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7985 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7986 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7987 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7988 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7989 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7991 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7992 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7993 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7997 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8000 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8002 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8003 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8004 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8005 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8007 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8010 @node Article Hiding
8011 @subsection Article Hiding
8012 @cindex article hiding
8014 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8015 too much cruft in most articles.
8020 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8021 @findex gnus-article-hide
8022 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8023 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8024 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8027 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8028 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8029 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8033 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8034 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8035 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8036 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8039 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8040 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8041 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8045 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8046 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8047 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8048 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8049 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8050 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8051 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8052 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8056 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8057 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8058 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8059 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8064 @kindex W W p (Summary)
8065 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
8066 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8067 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
8068 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
8069 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
8070 articles that have signatures in them do:
8072 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
8074 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
8076 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
8077 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
8079 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8082 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
8087 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8088 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8089 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8090 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8093 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8094 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8095 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8096 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8099 @cindex stripping advertisements
8100 @cindex advertisements
8101 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8102 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8103 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8104 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8105 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8106 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8107 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8108 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8109 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8110 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8113 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8114 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8115 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8119 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8120 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8121 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8122 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8123 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8124 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8125 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8126 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8127 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8128 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8129 following element to remove them:
8132 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8138 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8139 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8140 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8141 customizing the hiding:
8145 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8146 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8147 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8148 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8149 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8150 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8151 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8156 Starting point of the hidden text.
8158 Ending point of the hidden text.
8160 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8162 Number of lines of hidden text.
8165 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8166 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8167 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8168 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8169 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8174 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8175 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8177 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8178 following two variables:
8181 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8182 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8183 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8184 50), hide the cited text.
8186 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8187 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8188 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8193 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8194 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8195 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8196 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8197 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8198 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8202 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8203 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8204 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8206 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8207 citation customization.
8209 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8213 @node Article Washing
8214 @subsection Article Washing
8216 @cindex article washing
8218 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8219 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8221 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8222 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8225 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8226 articles by default.
8231 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8232 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8236 @kindex W l (Summary)
8237 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8238 Remove page breaks from the current article
8239 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8243 @kindex W r (Summary)
8244 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8245 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8246 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8247 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8248 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8249 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8251 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8252 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8253 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8254 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8257 @kindex W m (Summary)
8258 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8259 @c @icon{gnus-summary-morse-message}
8260 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8264 @kindex W t (Summary)
8266 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8267 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8268 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8271 @kindex W v (Summary)
8272 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8273 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8274 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8277 @kindex W o (Summary)
8278 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8279 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8282 @kindex W d (Summary)
8283 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8284 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8286 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8288 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8289 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8290 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8291 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8294 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8295 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8296 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8297 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8300 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8301 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8302 @cindex Outlook Express
8303 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8304 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8305 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8308 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8309 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8310 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8311 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8312 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8313 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8314 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8315 (@code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8318 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8319 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8320 Repair a broken attribution line.
8321 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8324 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8325 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8326 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8327 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8330 @kindex W w (Summary)
8331 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8332 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8334 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8338 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8339 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8340 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8343 @kindex W C (Summary)
8344 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8345 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8346 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8349 @kindex W c (Summary)
8350 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8351 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8352 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8353 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8354 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8357 @kindex W q (Summary)
8358 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8359 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8360 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
8361 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
8362 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
8363 readable to me. Note that this is usually done automatically by
8364 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
8365 header that says that this encoding has been done.
8366 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8369 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8370 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8371 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8372 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8373 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8374 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8375 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8377 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8380 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8381 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8382 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8383 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8384 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8387 @kindex W u (Summary)
8388 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8389 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8390 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8391 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8392 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8395 @kindex W h (Summary)
8396 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8397 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8398 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8399 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8401 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8403 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8404 The default is to use the function specified by
8405 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{(emacs-mime)Display
8406 Customization}) to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by
8407 the @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions
8408 you can use include:
8415 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8419 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8422 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8425 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8430 @kindex W b (Summary)
8431 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8432 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8433 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8436 @kindex W B (Summary)
8437 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8438 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8439 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8442 @kindex W p (Summary)
8443 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8444 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8445 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8446 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8447 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8448 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8449 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8452 @kindex W s (Summary)
8453 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8454 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8455 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8458 @kindex W a (Summary)
8459 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8460 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8461 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8464 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8465 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8466 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8467 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8470 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8471 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8472 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8473 lines with a single empty line.
8474 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8477 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8478 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8479 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8480 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8483 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8484 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8485 Do all the three commands above
8486 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8489 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8490 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8491 Remove all blank lines
8492 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8495 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8496 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8497 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8498 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8501 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8502 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8503 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8504 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8508 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8511 @node Article Header
8512 @subsection Article Header
8514 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8519 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8520 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8521 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8524 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8525 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8526 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8527 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8530 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8531 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8532 Fold all the message headers
8533 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8537 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8538 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8539 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8544 @node Article Buttons
8545 @subsection Article Buttons
8548 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8549 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8550 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8551 button on these references.
8553 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8554 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8555 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8556 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8557 one that handles article heads:
8561 @item gnus-button-alist
8562 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8563 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8566 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8572 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8573 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8574 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8575 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8576 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8579 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8580 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8581 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8584 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8585 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8586 avoid false matches.
8589 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8592 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8593 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8597 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8600 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8603 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8604 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8605 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8606 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8607 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8610 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8613 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8615 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8616 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8617 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8618 default values of the variables above.
8620 @item gnus-article-button-face
8621 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8622 Face used on buttons.
8624 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8625 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8626 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8630 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8634 @subsection Article Date
8636 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8637 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8638 when the article was sent.
8643 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8644 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8645 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8646 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8649 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8650 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8652 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8653 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8656 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8657 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8658 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8661 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8662 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8663 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8664 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8667 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8668 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8669 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8670 @findex format-time-string
8671 Display the date using a user-defined format
8672 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8673 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8674 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8675 for a list of possible format specs.
8678 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8679 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8680 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8681 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8682 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8683 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8686 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8689 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8690 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8693 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8694 into wonderful absurdities.
8696 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8699 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8702 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8703 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8707 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8708 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8709 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8710 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8711 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8712 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8713 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8717 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8718 preferred format automatically.
8721 @node Article Display
8722 @subsection Article Display
8727 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8728 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8730 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8731 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8733 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8734 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8736 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8737 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8739 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8744 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8745 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8746 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8747 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8750 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8751 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8752 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8753 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8756 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8757 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8758 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8761 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8762 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8763 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8766 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8767 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8768 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8769 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8772 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8773 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8774 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8775 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8778 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8779 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8780 Remove all images from the article buffer
8781 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8787 @node Article Signature
8788 @subsection Article Signature
8790 @cindex article signature
8792 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8793 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8794 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8795 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8796 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8797 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8798 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8799 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8800 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8803 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8804 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8805 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8806 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8807 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8808 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8809 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8810 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8813 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8816 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8817 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8818 signature when displaying articles.
8822 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8825 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8828 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8829 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8831 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8832 in question is not a signature.
8835 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8836 listed above. Here's an example:
8839 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8840 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8843 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8844 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8845 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8846 signature after all.
8849 @node Article Miscellania
8850 @subsection Article Miscellania
8854 @kindex A t (Summary)
8855 @findex gnus-article-babel
8856 Translate the article from one language to another
8857 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8863 @section MIME Commands
8864 @cindex MIME decoding
8866 @cindex viewing attachments
8868 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8869 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8875 @kindex K v (Summary)
8876 View the @sc{mime} part.
8879 @kindex K o (Summary)
8880 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8883 @kindex K c (Summary)
8884 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8887 @kindex K e (Summary)
8888 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8891 @kindex K i (Summary)
8892 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8895 @kindex K | (Summary)
8896 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8899 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8904 @kindex K b (Summary)
8905 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8906 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8910 @kindex K m (Summary)
8911 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8912 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8913 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8914 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8915 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8918 @kindex X m (Summary)
8919 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8920 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8921 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8922 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8925 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8926 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8927 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8928 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8931 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8932 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8933 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8934 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8937 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8938 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8939 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8940 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8942 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8943 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8944 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8945 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8946 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8947 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8950 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8951 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
8952 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8953 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8960 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8961 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8962 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8963 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8966 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8969 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8973 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
8974 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
8975 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
8976 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
8977 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
8978 default is @code{nil}.
8980 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
8981 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
8982 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
8983 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
8984 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
8985 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
8986 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
8988 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8989 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8990 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8991 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8992 displayed or this variable is overridden by
8993 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
8994 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
8995 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is nil.
8997 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8998 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8999 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9000 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9001 displayed. This variable overrides
9002 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9003 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9006 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9007 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9008 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9010 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9011 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9012 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
9013 value is @code{nil}.
9015 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9016 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9017 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9018 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9019 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9020 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9021 save all jpegs into some directory).
9023 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9026 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9027 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9029 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9030 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9031 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9032 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9033 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9036 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9037 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9038 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9040 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9041 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9042 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9043 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9045 Ready-made functions include@*
9046 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9047 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9048 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9049 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9050 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9051 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9052 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9053 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9054 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9055 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9056 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9057 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9059 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9060 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9062 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9063 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9064 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9067 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9068 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9069 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9070 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9074 to your @file{.gnus.el} file.
9083 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9084 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9085 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9086 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9087 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9088 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9089 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9091 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9092 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9093 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9094 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9096 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9097 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9098 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9099 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9100 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9101 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9102 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9103 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9105 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9106 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9107 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9108 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9109 quoted-printable header encoding.
9111 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9112 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9113 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9117 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9120 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9121 means encode all charsets),
9123 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9124 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9125 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9132 @cindex coding system aliases
9133 @cindex preferred charset
9135 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9137 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9138 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9141 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9142 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9145 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9146 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9148 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9151 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9154 This will almost do the right thing.
9156 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9160 (codepage-setup 1251)
9161 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9165 @node Article Commands
9166 @section Article Commands
9173 @kindex A P (Summary)
9174 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9175 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9176 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9177 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9178 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9179 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9184 @node Summary Sorting
9185 @section Summary Sorting
9186 @cindex summary sorting
9188 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9189 can't really see why you'd want that.
9194 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9195 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9196 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9199 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9200 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9201 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9204 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9205 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9206 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9209 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9210 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9211 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9214 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9215 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9216 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9219 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9220 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9221 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9224 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9225 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9226 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9229 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9230 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9231 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9234 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9235 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9236 Sort using the default sorting method
9237 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9240 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9241 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9242 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9243 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9244 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9248 @node Finding the Parent
9249 @section Finding the Parent
9250 @cindex parent articles
9251 @cindex referring articles
9256 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9257 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9258 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9259 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9260 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9261 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9262 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9263 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9264 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9266 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9267 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9268 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
9269 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9270 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9274 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9275 @kindex A R (Summary)
9276 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9277 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9280 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9281 @kindex A T (Summary)
9282 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9283 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9284 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9285 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9286 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9287 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9288 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9290 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9291 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9292 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9293 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9294 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9295 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9298 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9299 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9301 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9302 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9303 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9304 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9305 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9306 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9307 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9310 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9311 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9312 by giving this command a prefix.
9314 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9315 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9316 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9317 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9318 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9319 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9322 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9323 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9324 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9327 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9328 then ask Google if that fails:
9331 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9333 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9336 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9337 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9338 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9339 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9340 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9341 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9342 support this at all.
9345 @node Alternative Approaches
9346 @section Alternative Approaches
9348 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9349 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9352 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9353 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9358 @subsection Pick and Read
9359 @cindex pick and read
9361 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9362 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9363 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9364 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9366 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9367 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9368 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9369 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9370 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9371 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9373 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9378 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9379 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9380 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9381 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9382 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9383 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9384 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9385 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9388 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9389 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9390 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9391 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9395 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9396 Unpick the thread or article
9397 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9398 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9399 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9400 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9401 the thread or article at that line.
9405 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9406 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9407 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9408 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9409 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9410 will still be visible when you are reading.
9414 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9415 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9416 which is mapped to the same function
9417 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9419 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9422 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9425 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9426 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9428 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9429 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9430 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9432 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9433 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9434 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9435 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9436 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9437 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9438 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9442 @subsection Binary Groups
9443 @cindex binary groups
9445 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9446 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9447 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9448 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9449 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9450 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9451 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9454 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9455 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9456 command, when you have turned on this mode
9457 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9459 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9460 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9464 @section Tree Display
9467 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9468 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
9469 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9470 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9473 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9476 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9477 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9478 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9480 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9481 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9482 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9483 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9484 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9486 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9487 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9488 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9489 default is @code{modeline}.
9491 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9492 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9493 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9494 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9495 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9496 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9497 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9503 The name of the poster.
9505 The @code{From} header.
9507 The number of the article.
9509 The opening bracket.
9511 The closing bracket.
9516 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9518 Variables related to the display are:
9521 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9522 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9523 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9524 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9525 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9526 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9528 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9529 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9530 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9531 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9535 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9536 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9537 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
9538 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
9539 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9540 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9541 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9542 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9543 other windows displayed next to it.
9545 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9549 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9550 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9553 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9554 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9555 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9556 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9557 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9558 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9559 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9563 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9566 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9576 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9580 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9581 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9583 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9585 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9590 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9591 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9592 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9595 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9596 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9597 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9598 (gnus-add-configuration
9602 (summary 0.75 point)
9607 @xref{Window Layout}.
9610 @node Mail Group Commands
9611 @section Mail Group Commands
9612 @cindex mail group commands
9614 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9615 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9617 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9618 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9623 @kindex B e (Summary)
9624 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9625 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9626 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9627 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9628 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9631 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9632 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9633 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9634 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9635 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9636 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9639 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9640 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9641 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9642 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9643 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9644 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9647 @kindex B m (Summary)
9649 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9650 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9651 Move the article from one mail group to another
9652 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9653 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9656 @kindex B c (Summary)
9658 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9659 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9660 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9661 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9662 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9665 @kindex B B (Summary)
9666 @cindex crosspost mail
9667 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9668 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9669 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9670 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9671 be properly updated.
9674 @kindex B i (Summary)
9675 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9676 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9677 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9678 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9681 @kindex B I (Summary)
9682 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9683 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9684 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9685 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9688 @kindex B r (Summary)
9689 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9690 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9691 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9692 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9693 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9694 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9695 (which is the default).
9699 @kindex B w (Summary)
9701 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9702 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9703 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9704 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9705 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9706 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9707 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9710 @kindex B q (Summary)
9711 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9712 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9713 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9714 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9717 @kindex B t (Summary)
9718 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9719 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9720 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9723 @kindex B p (Summary)
9724 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9725 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9726 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9727 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9728 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9729 article from your news server (or rather, from
9730 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9731 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9732 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9733 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9734 just not have arrived yet.
9737 @kindex K E (Summary)
9738 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9739 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9740 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9741 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9742 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9746 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9747 @cindex moving articles
9748 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
9749 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9750 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9751 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9752 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9753 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9754 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9757 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9758 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9759 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9760 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9764 @node Various Summary Stuff
9765 @section Various Summary Stuff
9768 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9769 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9770 * Summary Generation Commands::
9771 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9775 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9776 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9777 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9779 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9780 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9781 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9782 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9783 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9784 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9787 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9788 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9789 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9790 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9791 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9793 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9794 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9795 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9798 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9799 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9800 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9801 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9802 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9803 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9804 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
9805 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9806 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9807 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9809 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9810 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9811 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9812 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9813 list of articles to be selected.
9815 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9816 the list in one particular group:
9819 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9820 (if (string= group "some.group")
9821 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9825 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9826 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9827 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9828 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9829 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9830 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9831 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9832 buffers. For example:
9835 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9836 '(message-use-followup-to
9837 (gnus-visible-headers .
9838 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9844 @node Summary Group Information
9845 @subsection Summary Group Information
9850 @kindex H f (Summary)
9851 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9852 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9853 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9854 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9855 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9856 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9857 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9858 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9859 be used for fetching the file.
9862 @kindex H d (Summary)
9863 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9864 Give a brief description of the current group
9865 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9866 rereading the description from the server.
9869 @kindex H h (Summary)
9870 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9871 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9872 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9875 @kindex H i (Summary)
9876 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9877 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9881 @node Searching for Articles
9882 @subsection Searching for Articles
9887 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9888 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9889 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9890 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9893 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9894 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9895 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9896 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9900 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9901 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9902 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9903 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9904 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9905 search backward instead.
9907 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9908 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9911 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9912 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9913 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9914 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9917 @node Summary Generation Commands
9918 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9923 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9924 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9925 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9928 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9929 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9930 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9931 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9934 @kindex Y d (Summary)
9935 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
9936 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9937 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
9942 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9943 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9949 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9950 @kindex A D (Summary)
9951 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9952 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9953 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9954 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9955 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9956 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9957 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9958 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9962 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
9963 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9964 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9965 several documents into one biiig group
9966 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
9967 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
9968 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
9969 command understands the process/prefix convention
9970 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9973 @kindex C-t (Summary)
9974 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
9975 Toggle truncation of summary lines
9976 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
9977 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
9978 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
9982 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
9983 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
9984 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
9987 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
9988 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
9989 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9990 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
9993 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
9994 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
9995 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9996 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10001 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10002 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10003 @cindex summary exit
10004 @cindex exiting groups
10006 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10007 group and return you to the group buffer.
10013 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10014 @kindex q (Summary)
10015 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10016 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10017 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10018 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10019 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10020 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10021 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10022 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10023 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10024 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10025 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10029 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10030 @kindex Q (Summary)
10031 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10032 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10033 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10037 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10038 @kindex c (Summary)
10039 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10040 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10041 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10042 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10045 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10046 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10047 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10048 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10051 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10052 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10053 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10054 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10057 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10058 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10059 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10060 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10061 all articles, both read and unread.
10065 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10066 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10067 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10068 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10069 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10070 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10071 articles, both read and unread.
10074 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10075 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10076 Exit the group and go to the next group
10077 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10080 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10081 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10082 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10083 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10086 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10087 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10088 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10089 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10090 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10091 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10094 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10095 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10096 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10097 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10099 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10100 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10101 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10102 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10103 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10104 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10105 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10106 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10107 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10108 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10109 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10110 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10112 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10114 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10115 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10116 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10117 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10118 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10119 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10120 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10121 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10122 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10125 @node Crosspost Handling
10126 @section Crosspost Handling
10130 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10131 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10132 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10133 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10134 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10135 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10138 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10139 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10140 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10141 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10142 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10144 @cindex cross-posting
10147 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10148 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10149 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10150 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10151 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10152 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10153 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10154 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10155 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10156 the cross reference mechanism.
10158 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10159 @cindex overview.fmt
10160 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10161 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10162 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10163 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10164 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10165 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10168 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10169 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10170 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10175 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10178 @node Duplicate Suppression
10179 @section Duplicate Suppression
10181 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10182 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10183 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10184 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10189 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10190 is evil and not very common.
10193 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10194 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10197 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10198 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10201 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10204 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10205 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10207 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10208 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10209 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10210 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10211 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10212 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10213 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10216 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10217 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10218 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10219 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10220 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10221 saw the article in.
10224 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10225 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10226 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10228 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10229 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10230 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10231 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10232 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
10233 session are suppressed.
10235 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10236 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10237 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10238 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10240 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10241 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10242 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10243 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10246 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
10247 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10248 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10249 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10250 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
10251 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10252 to you to figure out, I think.
10257 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10258 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10259 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10263 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10264 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10265 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10266 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10269 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10270 or newer is recommended.
10274 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10275 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10278 @item mm-verify-option
10279 @vindex mm-verify-option
10280 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10281 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10282 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10284 @item mm-decrypt-option
10285 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10286 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10287 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10288 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10291 @vindex mml1991-use
10292 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10293 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10294 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10297 @vindex mml2015-use
10298 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10299 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10300 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10305 @section Mailing List
10307 @kindex A M (summary)
10308 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10309 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10310 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10311 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10312 summary buffer, or say:
10315 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10318 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10323 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10324 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10325 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10328 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10329 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10330 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10333 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10334 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10335 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10339 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10340 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10341 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10344 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10345 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10346 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10349 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10350 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10351 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10355 @node Article Buffer
10356 @chapter Article Buffer
10357 @cindex article buffer
10359 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10360 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10361 tell Gnus otherwise.
10364 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10365 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10366 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10367 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10368 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10372 @node Hiding Headers
10373 @section Hiding Headers
10374 @cindex hiding headers
10375 @cindex deleting headers
10377 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10378 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10380 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10381 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10382 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10383 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10384 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10385 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10386 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10387 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10388 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10390 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10394 @item gnus-visible-headers
10395 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10396 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10397 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10398 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10400 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10401 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10404 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10407 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10410 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10411 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10412 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10413 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10414 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10415 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10417 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
10418 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
10421 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10424 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10427 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10428 variable will have no effect.
10432 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10433 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10434 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10435 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10436 the headers are to be displayed.
10438 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10439 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10442 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10445 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10446 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10448 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10449 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10450 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10451 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10452 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10453 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10454 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10457 These conditions are:
10460 Remove all empty headers.
10462 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10463 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10465 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10466 @code{From} header.
10468 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10471 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10472 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10474 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10477 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10479 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10482 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10485 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10486 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10489 This is also the default value for this variable.
10493 @section Using MIME
10496 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10497 while people stand around yawning.
10499 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10500 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10502 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10503 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10504 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10506 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
10507 @findex gnus-display-mime
10508 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
10509 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
10510 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
10511 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
10513 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
10517 @findex gnus-article-press-button
10518 @item RET (Article)
10519 @kindex RET (Article)
10520 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
10521 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
10522 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If builtin viewers can not display
10523 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
10524 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
10525 object is displayed inline.
10527 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
10528 @item M-RET (Article)
10529 @kindex M-RET (Article)
10531 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10532 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
10534 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
10536 @kindex t (Article)
10537 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
10538 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
10540 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
10542 @kindex C (Article)
10543 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10544 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
10546 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
10548 @kindex o (Article)
10549 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
10550 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
10552 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
10553 @item C-o (Article)
10554 @kindex C-o (Article)
10555 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
10556 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
10557 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
10558 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
10559 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
10560 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
10562 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
10564 @kindex c (Article)
10565 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
10566 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
10567 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
10568 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
10569 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
10571 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
10573 @kindex p (Article)
10574 Print the @sc{mime} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
10575 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
10576 @file{.mailcap} file.
10578 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
10580 @kindex i (Article)
10581 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
10582 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
10583 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
10584 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
10585 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
10588 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
10590 @kindex E (Article)
10591 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
10592 viewer is available, use an external viewer
10593 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
10595 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
10597 @kindex e (Article)
10598 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
10599 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
10601 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
10603 @kindex | (Article)
10604 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
10606 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
10608 @kindex . (Article)
10609 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
10610 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
10614 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
10615 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
10618 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
10619 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
10620 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
10621 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
10622 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
10623 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
10624 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
10625 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
10626 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
10628 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10630 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10633 @node Customizing Articles
10634 @section Customizing Articles
10635 @cindex article customization
10637 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10638 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10639 called automatically when you select the articles.
10641 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10642 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10643 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10644 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10646 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10647 for sensible values.
10651 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10654 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10657 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10660 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10663 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10667 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10668 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10669 regexps in the list.
10672 A list where the first element is not a string:
10674 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10675 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10676 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10680 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10685 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10686 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10687 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10688 considered to contain just a single part.
10690 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10691 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10692 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10693 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10694 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10695 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10696 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10698 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10699 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10700 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10701 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10704 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10705 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10707 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10709 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10710 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10711 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10712 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10713 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10714 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10715 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10716 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
10717 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10718 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10719 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10721 @xref{Article Washing}.
10723 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10724 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10725 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10726 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10727 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10728 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10729 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10731 @xref{Article Date}.
10733 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10734 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10735 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10739 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10741 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10743 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10744 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10745 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10749 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10753 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10754 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10755 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10756 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10757 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10758 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10759 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10760 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10762 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10764 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10765 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10766 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10768 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10770 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10771 @item gnus-treat-translate
10772 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10774 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10775 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10776 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10777 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10779 @xref{Article Header}.
10784 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10785 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10786 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10787 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10788 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10792 @node Article Keymap
10793 @section Article Keymap
10795 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10796 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10797 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10798 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10801 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10806 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10807 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10808 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10811 @kindex DEL (Article)
10812 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10813 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10816 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10817 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10818 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10819 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10820 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10823 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10824 @findex gnus-article-mail
10825 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10826 given a prefix, include the mail.
10829 @kindex s (Article)
10830 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10831 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10832 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10835 @kindex ? (Article)
10836 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10837 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10838 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10841 @kindex TAB (Article)
10842 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10843 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10844 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10847 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10848 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10849 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10852 @kindex R (Article)
10853 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10854 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10855 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10856 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10860 @kindex F (Article)
10861 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10862 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10863 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10864 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10872 @section Misc Article
10876 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10877 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10878 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10879 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10882 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10883 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10885 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10886 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10888 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10889 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10890 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10891 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10892 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10893 the contents of the article buffer.
10895 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10896 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10897 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10899 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10900 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10901 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10902 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10904 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10905 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10906 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10907 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10908 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10914 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10915 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10916 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10921 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10924 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10927 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10928 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10929 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10932 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10935 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10938 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10943 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10947 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10949 @item gnus-break-pages
10950 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10951 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10952 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10953 paging will not be done.
10955 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10956 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10957 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10962 @node Composing Messages
10963 @chapter Composing Messages
10964 @cindex composing messages
10967 @cindex sending mail
10972 @cindex using s/mime
10973 @cindex using smime
10975 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10976 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10977 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10978 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10979 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10980 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10983 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10984 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
10985 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10986 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10987 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10988 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10989 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10990 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10993 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10994 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11000 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11003 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11004 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11005 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11006 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11007 @code{nil} include all headers.
11009 @item gnus-add-to-list
11010 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11011 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11012 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11014 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11015 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11016 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11017 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11018 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11019 confirmation is should be asked for.
11021 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11022 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11024 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11025 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11026 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11027 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11028 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11033 @node Posting Server
11034 @section Posting Server
11036 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11037 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11039 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11041 It can be quite complicated.
11043 @vindex gnus-post-method
11044 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11045 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11046 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11047 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11048 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11049 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11050 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11051 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11052 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11055 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11058 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11059 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11060 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11061 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11063 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11064 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11066 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11067 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11070 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11071 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11073 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11074 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11075 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11076 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11077 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11078 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11079 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11080 package correctly. An example:
11083 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11084 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11087 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11088 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11089 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11091 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11092 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11093 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11095 @node Mail and Post
11096 @section Mail and Post
11098 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11102 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11103 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11104 @cindex mailing lists
11106 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11107 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11108 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11109 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11110 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11111 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11112 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11113 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11114 still a pain, though.
11118 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11119 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11120 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11123 @findex ispell-message
11125 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11128 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11129 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11132 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11136 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11137 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11139 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11142 Modify to suit your needs.
11145 @node Archived Messages
11146 @section Archived Messages
11147 @cindex archived messages
11148 @cindex sent messages
11150 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11151 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11152 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11153 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11156 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11157 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11160 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11161 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
11162 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11165 (nnfolder "archive"
11166 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11167 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11168 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11169 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11172 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11173 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11174 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11175 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11178 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11179 '(nnfolder "archive"
11180 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11181 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11182 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11185 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11187 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11188 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11189 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11191 This variable can be used to do the following:
11196 Messages will be saved in that group.
11198 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11199 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11200 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11201 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11202 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11203 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11204 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11205 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11209 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11211 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11212 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11215 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11220 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11222 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11225 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11227 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11230 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11232 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11233 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11234 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11235 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11238 More complex stuff:
11240 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11241 '((if (message-news-p)
11246 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11247 messages in one file per month:
11250 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11251 '((if (message-news-p)
11253 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11256 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11257 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11259 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11260 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11261 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11262 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11263 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11264 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11265 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11266 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11267 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11268 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11270 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11271 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11272 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11273 this will disable archiving.
11276 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11277 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11278 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11279 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11280 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11283 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11284 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11285 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11288 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11289 but the latter is the preferred method.
11291 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11292 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11293 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11295 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11296 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11297 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11298 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11299 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11300 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11301 changed in the future.
11306 @node Posting Styles
11307 @section Posting Styles
11308 @cindex posting styles
11311 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11313 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11314 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11315 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11318 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11319 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11320 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11321 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11322 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11327 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11328 (organization "What me?"))
11330 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11331 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11332 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11335 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11336 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11337 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11338 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11339 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11340 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11341 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11342 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11344 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11345 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11346 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11347 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11348 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. (There original article is the
11349 one you are replying or following up to. If you are not composing a
11350 reply or a followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11351 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with no
11352 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11353 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11354 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
11357 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11358 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11359 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11360 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11361 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11362 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11363 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11364 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11365 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11366 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11369 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11370 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11371 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11372 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11373 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11374 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11375 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11376 references chars lines xref extra.
11378 @vindex message-reply-headers
11380 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11381 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11382 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11384 @findex message-mail-p
11385 @findex message-news-p
11387 So here's a new example:
11390 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11392 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11394 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11395 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11397 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11398 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11399 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11400 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11401 (signature my-news-signature))
11402 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11403 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11404 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11405 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11406 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11407 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11408 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11409 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11410 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11411 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11413 (From (save-excursion
11414 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11415 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11417 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11420 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11421 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11422 if you fill many roles.
11429 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11430 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11431 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11432 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11433 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11435 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11436 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11437 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11438 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11439 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11443 @vindex nndraft-directory
11444 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11445 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11446 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11447 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11448 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11449 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11451 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11452 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11455 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11456 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11457 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11458 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11459 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11460 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11461 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11462 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11463 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11464 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11465 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11466 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11467 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11468 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11470 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11471 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11472 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11474 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11475 @kindex D e (Draft)
11476 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11477 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11478 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11480 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11483 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11484 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11485 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11486 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11487 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11488 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11489 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11492 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11493 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11494 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11497 @node Rejected Articles
11498 @section Rejected Articles
11499 @cindex rejected articles
11501 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11502 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11503 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11504 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11506 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
11507 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11508 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11509 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
11510 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11512 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11513 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11514 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11516 @node Signing and encrypting
11517 @section Signing and encrypting
11519 @cindex using s/mime
11520 @cindex using smime
11522 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11523 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11524 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11525 (@pxref{Security}).
11527 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11528 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11529 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11530 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11531 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11532 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11533 automatically encrypted messages.
11535 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11536 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11537 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11542 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11543 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11545 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11548 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11549 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11551 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11554 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11555 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11557 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11560 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11561 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11563 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11566 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11567 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11569 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11572 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11573 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11575 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11578 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11579 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11580 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11584 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11586 @node Select Methods
11587 @chapter Select Methods
11588 @cindex foreign groups
11589 @cindex select methods
11591 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11592 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11593 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11594 personal mail group.
11596 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11597 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11598 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11599 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11600 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11601 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11603 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11604 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11606 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11609 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11610 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11611 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11612 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11613 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11615 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11618 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11619 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11620 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11621 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11622 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11623 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11624 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11625 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11629 @node Server Buffer
11630 @section Server Buffer
11632 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11633 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11634 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11635 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11636 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11637 back end represents a virtual server.
11639 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11640 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11641 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11642 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11644 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11645 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11646 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11647 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11648 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11649 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11650 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11652 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11653 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11656 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11657 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11658 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11659 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11660 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11661 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11662 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11665 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11666 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11669 @node Server Buffer Format
11670 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11671 @cindex server buffer format
11673 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11674 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11675 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11676 variable, with some simple extensions:
11681 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11684 The name of this server.
11687 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11690 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11693 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11694 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11695 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11696 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11706 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11709 @node Server Commands
11710 @subsection Server Commands
11711 @cindex server commands
11717 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11718 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11722 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11723 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11726 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11727 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11728 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11732 @findex gnus-server-exit
11733 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11737 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11738 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11742 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11743 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11747 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11748 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11752 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11753 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11757 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11758 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11759 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11764 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11765 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11766 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11767 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11772 @node Example Methods
11773 @subsection Example Methods
11775 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11778 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11781 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11787 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11788 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11791 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11792 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11794 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11795 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11799 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11802 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11803 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11805 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11806 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11807 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11811 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11814 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11817 Here's the method for a public spool:
11821 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11822 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11828 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11829 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11830 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11831 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11832 should probably look something like this:
11836 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11837 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11838 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11839 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11842 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11843 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11844 configuration to the example above:
11847 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11850 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11852 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11853 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11854 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11858 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11859 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11860 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11861 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11864 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11865 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11866 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11867 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11870 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11871 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11873 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11874 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11876 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11877 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11878 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11880 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11882 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11883 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11884 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11885 will contain the following:
11895 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11896 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11897 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11900 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11901 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11902 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11905 @node Server Variables
11906 @subsection Server Variables
11908 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11909 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11910 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11911 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11912 won't change the "derived" variables.
11914 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11915 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11916 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11917 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11918 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11919 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11920 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11921 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11922 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11926 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11927 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11928 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11932 @node Servers and Methods
11933 @subsection Servers and Methods
11935 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11936 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11937 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11938 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11942 @node Unavailable Servers
11943 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11945 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11946 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11947 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11948 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11949 actually the case or not.
11951 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11952 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11953 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11954 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11955 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11956 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11957 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11958 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11960 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11961 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11963 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11964 with the following commands:
11970 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11971 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11972 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11976 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11977 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11978 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11982 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11983 Mark the current server as unreachable
11984 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
11987 @kindex M-o (Server)
11988 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
11989 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
11990 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
11993 @kindex M-c (Server)
11994 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
11995 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
11996 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12000 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12001 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12002 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12006 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12007 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12013 @section Getting News
12014 @cindex reading news
12015 @cindex news back ends
12017 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12018 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12019 or it can read from a local spool.
12022 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12023 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12031 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12032 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12033 server as the, uhm, address.
12035 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12036 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12037 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12038 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12040 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12041 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12042 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12044 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12049 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12050 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12051 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12053 @cindex authentification
12054 @cindex nntp authentification
12055 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12056 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12057 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12058 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12059 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12060 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12061 present in this hook.
12063 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12064 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12065 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12066 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12067 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12068 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12069 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12070 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12071 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12072 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12073 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12074 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12078 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12081 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12083 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12084 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12085 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12086 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12087 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12088 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12089 @samp{force} is explained below.
12093 Here's an example file:
12096 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12097 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12100 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12101 have to be first, for instance.
12103 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12104 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12105 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12106 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12107 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12108 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12109 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12111 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12112 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12118 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12119 previously mentioned.
12121 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12123 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12124 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12125 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12126 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12127 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12130 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12131 '(("innd" (ding))))
12134 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12136 The default value is
12139 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12140 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12141 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12144 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12145 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12147 @item nntp-maximum-request
12148 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12149 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12150 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12151 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12152 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12153 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12154 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12156 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12157 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12158 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12159 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12160 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12161 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12162 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12163 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12164 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12165 no timeouts are done.
12167 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12168 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12169 @c @cindex PPP connections
12170 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12171 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12172 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12173 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12174 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12175 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12176 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12177 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12178 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12179 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12181 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12182 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12183 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12184 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12185 @c described above.
12187 @item nntp-server-hook
12188 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12189 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12192 @item nntp-buggy-select
12193 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12194 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12196 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12197 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12198 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12199 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12202 @item nntp-xover-commands
12203 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12206 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12207 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12211 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12212 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12213 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12214 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12215 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12216 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12217 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12218 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12219 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12220 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12221 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12223 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12224 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12225 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12227 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12228 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12229 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12230 server closes connection.
12232 @item nntp-record-commands
12233 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12234 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12235 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12236 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12237 that doesn't seem to work.
12239 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12240 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12241 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12242 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12243 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12244 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12245 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12246 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12248 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12249 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12250 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12251 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12252 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12253 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12254 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12257 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12260 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12261 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12265 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12266 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12267 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12271 @node Direct Functions
12272 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12273 @cindex direct connection functions
12275 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12276 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12277 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12278 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12281 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12282 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12283 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12286 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12287 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12288 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12289 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12290 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12291 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12292 define a server as follows:
12295 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12297 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12298 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12300 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12301 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12302 (nntp-port-number 563)
12303 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12306 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12307 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12308 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12309 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12310 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12311 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12312 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12313 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12317 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12318 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12319 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12322 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12323 session, which is not a good idea.
12327 @node Indirect Functions
12328 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12329 @cindex indirect connection functions
12331 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12332 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12333 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12334 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12335 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12336 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12339 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12340 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12341 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12342 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12343 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12345 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12348 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12349 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12350 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12351 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12353 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12354 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12355 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12356 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12357 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12358 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12359 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12360 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12363 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12364 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12365 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12366 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12368 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12371 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12372 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12373 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12376 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12377 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12378 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12379 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12381 @item nntp-via-user-password
12382 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12383 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12385 @item nntp-via-envuser
12386 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12387 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12388 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12389 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12391 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12392 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12393 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12394 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12401 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12406 @item nntp-via-user-name
12407 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12408 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12410 @item nntp-via-address
12411 @vindex nntp-via-address
12412 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12417 @node Common Variables
12418 @subsubsection Common Variables
12420 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12421 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12426 @item nntp-pre-command
12427 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12428 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12429 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12430 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12431 wrapper for instance.
12434 @vindex nntp-address
12435 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12437 @item nntp-port-number
12438 @vindex nntp-port-number
12439 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12440 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12441 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12442 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12444 @item nntp-end-of-line
12445 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12446 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12447 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12448 using a non native connection function.
12450 @item nntp-telnet-command
12451 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12452 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12453 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12454 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12456 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12457 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12458 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12465 @subsection News Spool
12469 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12470 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12471 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12474 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12475 anything else) as the address.
12477 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12478 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12479 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12480 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12484 @item nnspool-inews-program
12485 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12486 Program used to post an article.
12488 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12489 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12490 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12492 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12493 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12494 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12495 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12497 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12498 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12499 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12500 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12502 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12503 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12504 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12506 @item nnspool-active-file
12507 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12508 The name of the active file.
12510 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12511 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12512 The name of the group descriptions file.
12514 @item nnspool-history-file
12515 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12516 The name of the news history file.
12518 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12519 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12520 The name of the active date file.
12522 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12523 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12524 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12527 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12528 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12530 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12531 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12532 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12538 @section Getting Mail
12539 @cindex reading mail
12542 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12546 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12547 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12548 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12549 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12550 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12551 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12552 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12553 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12554 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12555 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12556 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12557 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12558 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12562 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12563 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12565 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12566 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12567 of a culture shock.
12569 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12570 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12572 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12573 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12574 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12575 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12577 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12579 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12580 deleted? How awful!
12582 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12583 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12584 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12585 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12588 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12589 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12590 they want to treat a message.
12592 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12593 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12594 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12595 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12596 archived somewhere else.
12598 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12599 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12600 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12601 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12602 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12604 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12605 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12606 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12608 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12609 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12612 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12613 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12614 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12615 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12616 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12618 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12619 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12620 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12621 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12622 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12623 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12627 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12628 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12630 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12631 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12632 and things will happen automatically.
12634 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12635 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12638 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12641 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12642 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12643 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12644 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12645 like any other group.
12647 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12650 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12651 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12652 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12656 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12657 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12658 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12661 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12662 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12663 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12666 @node Splitting Mail
12667 @subsection Splitting Mail
12668 @cindex splitting mail
12669 @cindex mail splitting
12671 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12672 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12673 to be split into groups.
12676 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12677 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12678 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12679 ("mail.other" "")))
12682 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12683 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12684 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12685 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12686 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12687 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12688 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12691 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12694 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12695 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12696 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12697 mail belongs in that group.
12699 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12700 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12701 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12702 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12703 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12704 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12706 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12707 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12708 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12709 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12710 thinks should carry this mail message.
12712 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12713 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12714 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12715 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12717 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12718 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12719 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12720 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12721 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12723 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12726 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12727 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12728 links. If that's the case for you, set
12729 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12730 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12732 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12733 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12734 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12735 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12736 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12737 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12740 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12741 Header lines longer than the value of
12742 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12745 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12746 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12747 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12748 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12749 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12750 can be turned off completely by binding
12751 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12752 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12754 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12755 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12756 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12757 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12758 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12759 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12760 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12763 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12764 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12765 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12766 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12767 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12768 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12769 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12770 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12771 month's rent money.
12775 @subsection Mail Sources
12777 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12778 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12782 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12783 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12784 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12788 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12789 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12791 @cindex mail server
12794 @cindex mail source
12796 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12797 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12802 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12805 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12806 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12807 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12810 The following mail source types are available:
12814 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12820 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12821 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12822 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12825 An example file mail source:
12828 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12831 Or using the default file name:
12837 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12838 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12839 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12842 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12846 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12849 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12853 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12856 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12858 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12861 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12865 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12866 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12867 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12868 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12869 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12870 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12871 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12872 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12873 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12874 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12876 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12877 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12878 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12879 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12885 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12889 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12893 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12894 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12895 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12896 predicate are considered.
12900 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12904 An example directory mail source:
12907 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12912 Get mail from a POP server.
12918 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12919 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12922 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12923 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12924 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12925 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12926 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12929 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12933 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12937 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12938 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12941 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
12944 The valid format specifier characters are:
12948 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
12949 included in this string.
12952 The name of the server.
12955 The port number of the server.
12958 The user name to use.
12961 The password to use.
12964 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12965 corresponding keywords.
12968 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12969 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12972 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12973 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12976 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
12977 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
12980 @item :authentication
12981 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
12982 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
12987 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
12988 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
12990 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
12991 default user name, and default fetcher:
12997 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13000 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13001 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13004 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13007 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13011 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13012 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13013 contains exactly one mail.
13019 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13020 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13023 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13024 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13026 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13027 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13028 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13031 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13032 from locking problems).
13036 Two example maildir mail sources:
13039 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13040 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13044 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13049 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13050 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13051 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13052 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13055 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
13056 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13062 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13063 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13066 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13067 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
13070 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13074 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13078 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13079 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13080 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
13081 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13083 @item :authentication
13084 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13085 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13086 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13087 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13090 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13091 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
13092 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13098 The valid format specifier characters are:
13102 The name of the server.
13105 User name from `imap-default-user'.
13108 The port number of the server.
13111 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13112 corresponding keywords.
13115 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13116 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13119 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13120 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13121 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13122 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13123 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13124 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13127 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13128 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13129 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13130 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13133 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13134 after finishing the fetch.
13138 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13141 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13143 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13147 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13148 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13149 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13151 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13152 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13154 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13160 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13161 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13164 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13168 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13172 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13173 folder after finishing the fetch.
13177 An example webmail source:
13180 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13182 :password "secret")
13187 @item Common Keywords
13188 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13194 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13195 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13199 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13204 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13205 useful when you use local mail and news.
13210 @subsubsection Function Interface
13212 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13213 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13214 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13215 consider the following mail-source setting:
13218 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13219 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13222 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13223 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13224 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13225 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13226 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13228 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13231 @node Mail Source Customization
13232 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13234 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13235 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13239 @item mail-source-crash-box
13240 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13241 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13242 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13244 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13245 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13246 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13248 @item mail-source-directory
13249 @vindex mail-source-directory
13250 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13251 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13252 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13255 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13256 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13257 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13258 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13259 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13260 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13262 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13263 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13264 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13266 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13267 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13268 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13269 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13274 @node Fetching Mail
13275 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13277 @vindex mail-sources
13278 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13279 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13280 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13281 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13283 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13284 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13287 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13288 mail server, you'd say something like:
13293 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13294 :password "secret")))
13297 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13301 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13302 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13305 :password "secret")))
13309 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13310 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13311 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13312 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13313 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13314 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13318 @node Mail Back End Variables
13319 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13321 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13325 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13326 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13327 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13328 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13330 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13331 @item nnmail-split-hook
13332 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
13333 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13334 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13335 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13336 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13337 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13338 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13339 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13340 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13343 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13344 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13345 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13346 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13347 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13348 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13349 starting to handle the new mail) and
13350 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13351 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13352 default file modes the new mail files get:
13355 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13356 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13358 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13359 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13362 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13363 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13364 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13365 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13366 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13367 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13368 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13370 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13371 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13372 @findex delete-file
13373 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13375 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13376 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13377 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13378 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13379 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13381 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13382 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13383 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13384 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13385 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13387 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13388 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13389 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13394 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13395 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13396 @cindex mail splitting
13397 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13399 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13400 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13401 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13402 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13403 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13404 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13406 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13409 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13410 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13411 ;; from real errors.
13412 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13414 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13415 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13416 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13417 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13418 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13419 ;; Other mailing lists...
13420 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13421 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13422 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13423 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13424 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13425 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13426 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13427 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13429 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13430 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13434 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13435 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13436 the five possible split syntaxes:
13441 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13442 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13446 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13447 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13448 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13449 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13450 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13451 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13452 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13453 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13456 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13457 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13458 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13459 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13462 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13463 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13466 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13467 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13470 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13471 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13472 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13473 function should return a @var{split}.
13476 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13477 body of the messages:
13480 (defun split-on-body ()
13482 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13483 (goto-char (point-min))
13484 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13488 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13489 when the @code{:} function is run.
13492 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13493 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13494 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13498 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13502 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13503 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13504 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13505 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13506 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13508 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13509 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13510 are expanded as specified by the variable
13511 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13512 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13515 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13516 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13517 when all this splitting is performed.
13519 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13520 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13521 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13524 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13527 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13528 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13530 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13531 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13532 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13533 groupings 1 through 9.
13535 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13536 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13537 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13538 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13539 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13540 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13541 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13542 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13543 it once per thread.
13545 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13546 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13547 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13550 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13551 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13553 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13554 ;; other splits go here
13558 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13559 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13560 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13561 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13562 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13563 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13564 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13565 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13566 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13567 unless the group name matches the regexp
13568 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13569 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13570 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13571 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13572 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13573 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13574 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13575 messages goes into the new group.
13577 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13578 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13579 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13580 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13581 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13585 @node Group Mail Splitting
13586 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13587 @cindex mail splitting
13588 @cindex group mail splitting
13590 @findex gnus-group-split
13591 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13592 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13593 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13594 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13595 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13596 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13597 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13598 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13600 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13601 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13602 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13603 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13605 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13606 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13607 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13608 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13609 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13610 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13611 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13613 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13614 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13615 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13616 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13617 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13618 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13619 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13621 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13622 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13623 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13624 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13625 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13626 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13627 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13628 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13629 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13630 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13631 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13632 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13633 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13635 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13640 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13641 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13643 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13644 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13645 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13646 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13648 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13651 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13652 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13653 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13656 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13657 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13658 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13662 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13663 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13664 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13668 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13671 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13672 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13673 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13674 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13675 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13676 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13677 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13678 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13679 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13681 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13682 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13683 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13684 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13685 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13686 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13687 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13688 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13689 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13691 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13692 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13693 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13694 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13695 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13696 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus.el}:
13699 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13702 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13703 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13704 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13705 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13706 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13709 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13710 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13711 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13712 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13714 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13715 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13716 @cindex incorporating old mail
13717 @cindex import old mail
13719 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13720 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13721 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13724 Doing so can be quite easy.
13726 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13727 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13728 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13729 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13730 your @code{nnml} groups.
13736 Go to the group buffer.
13739 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13740 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13743 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
13746 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13747 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13750 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13751 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13754 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13755 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13756 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13757 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13758 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13760 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13761 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13762 using the new mail back end.
13765 @node Expiring Mail
13766 @subsection Expiring Mail
13767 @cindex article expiry
13769 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13770 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13771 different approach to mail reading.
13773 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13774 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13775 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13776 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13777 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13778 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13781 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13782 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
13783 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
13784 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13785 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13786 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13787 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13788 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13789 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13791 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
13792 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
13793 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
13794 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
13795 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
13796 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
13797 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
13800 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
13801 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
13802 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
13803 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
13804 into its own group.)
13806 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
13807 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
13808 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
13809 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
13810 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
13811 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
13812 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
13813 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
13816 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13817 Groups that match the regular expression
13818 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
13819 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
13820 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
13822 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13823 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13824 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13825 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13826 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13828 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13830 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13831 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13832 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13835 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13836 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13837 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13838 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13839 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13841 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13842 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13845 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13846 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13849 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13850 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13852 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13853 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13854 don't really mix very well.
13856 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13857 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13858 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13859 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13862 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13863 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13864 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13865 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13868 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13870 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13872 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13874 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13876 ((string= group "important")
13882 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13883 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13885 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13886 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13887 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13890 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13891 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13893 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13894 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13895 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13896 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13897 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13898 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13899 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13900 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13901 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13902 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13903 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13904 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13905 name or @code{delete}.
13907 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13909 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13912 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13913 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13914 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13915 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13916 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13919 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13920 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13921 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13922 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13923 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13926 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13927 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13928 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13929 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13930 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13931 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13933 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13934 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13935 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13936 easier for procmail users.
13938 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13939 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13940 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13941 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13942 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13943 caution. Even more dangerous is the
13944 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
13945 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
13946 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
13947 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
13948 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
13949 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
13950 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
13953 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
13955 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
13956 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
13957 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
13958 auto-expire turned on.
13962 @subsection Washing Mail
13963 @cindex mail washing
13964 @cindex list server brain damage
13965 @cindex incoming mail treatment
13967 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
13968 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
13969 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
13970 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
13971 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
13972 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
13974 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
13975 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
13976 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
13979 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
13980 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
13981 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
13982 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
13985 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13986 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13987 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
13988 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
13989 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
13992 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13993 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13994 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
13995 Emacs running on MS machines.
13999 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14000 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14001 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14002 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14005 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14006 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14007 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14008 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14010 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14011 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14012 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14013 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14014 into a feature by documenting it.)
14016 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14017 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14018 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14019 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14020 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14021 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14022 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14025 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14026 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14029 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14030 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14033 This can also be done non-destructively with
14034 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14036 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14037 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14038 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14040 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14041 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14043 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14044 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14045 @code{References} headers.
14049 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14050 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14051 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14055 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14056 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14057 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14064 @subsection Duplicates
14066 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14067 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14068 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14069 @cindex duplicate mails
14070 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14071 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14072 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14073 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14074 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14075 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14076 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14077 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14078 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14079 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14080 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14081 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14082 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14084 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14085 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14086 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14087 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14089 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14092 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14093 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14097 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14098 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14099 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14100 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14101 (any mail "mail.misc")
14108 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14109 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14114 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14115 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14116 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14117 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14118 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14121 @node Not Reading Mail
14122 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14124 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14125 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14126 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14128 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14129 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14130 mail, which should help.
14132 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14133 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14134 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14135 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14136 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14137 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14138 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14139 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14140 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14141 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14142 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14144 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14145 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14149 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14150 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14152 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14153 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14154 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14156 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14157 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14158 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14159 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
14160 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
14161 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
14162 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
14165 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14166 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14167 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14168 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14169 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14170 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14174 @node Unix Mail Box
14175 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14177 @cindex unix mail box
14179 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14180 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14181 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14182 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14183 which group it belongs in.
14185 Virtual server settings:
14188 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14189 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14190 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14193 @item nnmbox-active-file
14194 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14195 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14196 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14198 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14199 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14200 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14201 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14206 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14210 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14211 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14212 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14213 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14214 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14216 Virtual server settings:
14219 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14220 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14221 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14223 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14224 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14225 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14226 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14228 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14229 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14230 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14236 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14238 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14240 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14241 format. It should be used with some caution.
14243 @vindex nnml-directory
14244 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14245 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14246 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14247 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14249 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14252 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14253 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14254 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14255 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14256 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14257 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14258 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14259 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14261 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14262 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14263 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14264 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14266 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14268 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14269 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14270 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14271 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14272 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14273 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14274 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14275 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14278 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14279 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14280 them next time it starts.
14282 Virtual server settings:
14285 @item nnml-directory
14286 @vindex nnml-directory
14287 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
14288 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
14291 @item nnml-active-file
14292 @vindex nnml-active-file
14293 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14294 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14296 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14297 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14298 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14299 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14301 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14302 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14303 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14306 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14307 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14308 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14309 default is @code{nil}.
14311 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14312 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14313 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14315 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14316 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14317 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14319 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14320 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14321 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14322 default is @code{nil}.
14324 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14325 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14326 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14328 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14329 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14330 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14335 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14336 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14337 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14338 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14339 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14340 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14341 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14346 @subsubsection MH Spool
14348 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14350 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14351 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14352 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14353 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14355 Virtual server settings:
14358 @item nnmh-directory
14359 @vindex nnmh-directory
14360 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14361 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14364 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14365 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14366 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14370 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14371 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14372 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14373 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14374 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14375 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14376 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14381 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14383 @cindex mbox folders
14384 @cindex mail folders
14386 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14387 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14388 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14391 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14393 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14394 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14395 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14396 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14397 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14398 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14399 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14400 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14401 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14402 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14404 Virtual server settings:
14407 @item nnfolder-directory
14408 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14409 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14410 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14413 @item nnfolder-active-file
14414 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14415 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14417 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14418 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14419 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14420 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14422 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14423 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14424 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14427 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14428 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14429 @cindex backup files
14430 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14431 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14432 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14433 your @file{.emacs} file:
14436 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14437 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14439 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14442 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14443 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14444 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14445 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14446 extract some information from it before removing it.
14448 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14449 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14450 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14451 default is @code{nil}.
14453 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14454 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14455 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14457 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14458 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14459 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14460 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14462 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14463 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14464 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14465 default is @code{nil}.
14467 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14468 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14469 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14471 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14472 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14473 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14474 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14479 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14480 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14481 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14482 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14483 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14484 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14487 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14488 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14490 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14491 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14492 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14493 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14494 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14496 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14497 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14498 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14499 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14500 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14501 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14502 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14503 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14506 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14507 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14508 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14509 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14514 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14515 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14516 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14517 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14518 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14519 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14520 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14521 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14522 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14523 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14524 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14525 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14526 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14531 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14532 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14533 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14534 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14535 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14536 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14537 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14538 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14539 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14540 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14541 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14542 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14543 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14544 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14546 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14547 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14552 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14553 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14554 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14555 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14556 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14557 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14558 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14559 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14560 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14561 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14562 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14563 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14564 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14565 provided by the active file and overviews.
14567 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14568 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
14569 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14570 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14571 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14574 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14575 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14580 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14581 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14582 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14583 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14584 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14585 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14586 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14590 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14591 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14592 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14593 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14594 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14595 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14596 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14597 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14598 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14600 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14601 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14602 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14603 friendly mail back end all over.
14607 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14608 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14609 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14610 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14611 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14612 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14613 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14614 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14617 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14618 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14619 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14620 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14621 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14622 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14623 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14624 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14625 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14626 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14627 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14629 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14630 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14631 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14632 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14633 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14634 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14635 This will probably be changed in the future.
14637 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14638 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14639 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14640 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14641 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14644 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14645 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14647 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14648 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14649 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14650 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14651 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14652 would) to make it use less memory.
14654 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14655 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14656 depending in part on your file system.
14658 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14659 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14664 @node Browsing the Web
14665 @section Browsing the Web
14667 @cindex browsing the web
14671 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14672 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14673 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14674 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14675 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14676 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14677 even know what a news group is.
14679 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14680 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14681 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14682 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14683 you mad in the end.
14685 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14688 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14689 interfaces to these sources.
14693 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14694 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14695 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14696 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14697 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14698 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14701 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14703 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14704 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14705 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14706 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14707 though, you should be ok.
14709 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14710 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14711 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14712 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14713 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14715 @node Archiving Mail
14716 @subsection Archiving Mail
14717 @cindex archiving mail
14718 @cindex backup of mail
14720 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14721 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14722 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14723 marks is fairly simple.
14725 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14726 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14729 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14730 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14731 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14732 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14733 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14734 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14735 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14736 before you restore the data.
14738 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14739 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14740 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14741 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14742 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14743 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14744 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14745 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14746 is unnecessary in that case.
14749 @subsection Web Searches
14754 @cindex Usenet searches
14755 @cindex searching the Usenet
14757 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14758 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14759 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14760 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14761 searches without having to use a browser.
14763 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14764 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14765 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14766 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14767 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14769 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14770 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14771 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14772 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14773 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14774 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14775 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14776 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14777 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14778 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14781 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14782 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14783 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14784 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14785 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14786 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14788 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14789 to use @code{nnweb}.
14791 Virtual server variables:
14796 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14797 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14798 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14801 @vindex nnweb-search
14802 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14804 @item nnweb-max-hits
14805 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14806 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14809 @item nnweb-type-definition
14810 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14811 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14812 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14817 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14821 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14824 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14827 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14831 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14838 @subsection Slashdot
14842 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14843 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14844 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14846 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14847 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14850 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14851 '((nnslashdot "")))
14854 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14855 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14856 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14857 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14858 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14861 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14862 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14864 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14865 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14866 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14867 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14868 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14869 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14872 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14875 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14876 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14877 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14878 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14879 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14880 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14881 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
14883 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14884 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14885 The login name to use when posting.
14887 @item nnslashdot-password
14888 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14889 The password to use when posting.
14891 @item nnslashdot-directory
14892 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14893 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14894 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14896 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14897 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14898 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14899 news articles and comments. The default is
14900 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14902 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14903 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14904 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14906 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14908 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14909 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14910 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14912 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14914 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14915 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14916 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14918 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14919 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14920 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14921 updated. The default is 0.
14928 @subsection Ultimate
14930 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14932 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14933 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14934 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14935 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14937 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14938 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14939 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14940 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14941 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14942 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14943 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
14945 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
14948 @item nnultimate-directory
14949 @vindex nnultimate-directory
14950 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
14951 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
14956 @subsection Web Archive
14958 @cindex Web Archive
14960 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
14961 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
14962 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
14963 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14966 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
14967 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
14968 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
14969 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
14970 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
14971 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
14972 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
14974 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
14977 @item nnwarchive-directory
14978 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
14979 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
14980 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
14982 @item nnwarchive-login
14983 @vindex nnwarchive-login
14984 The account name on the web server.
14986 @item nnwarchive-passwd
14987 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
14988 The password for your account on the web server.
14996 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
14997 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
14998 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15001 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15002 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15005 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15008 @item nnrss-directory
15009 @vindex nnrss-directory
15010 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15011 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
15015 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15016 the summary buffer.
15019 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15020 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15022 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15024 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15025 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15028 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15031 (require 'browse-url)
15033 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15035 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15038 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15039 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15042 (browse-url (cdr url))
15043 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15044 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15046 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15047 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15048 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15049 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15052 @node Customizing w3
15053 @subsection Customizing w3
15059 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15060 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15061 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15063 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15064 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15065 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15068 (eval-after-load "w3"
15070 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15071 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15072 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15073 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15075 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15078 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15079 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15088 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
15089 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15090 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15091 specify the network address of the server.
15093 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15094 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15095 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15096 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15097 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15099 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15100 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15101 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15102 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15104 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15105 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15106 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15107 usage explained in this section.
15109 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15110 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
15111 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15114 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15115 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15116 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15118 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15119 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15120 ; a UW server running on localhost
15122 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15123 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15124 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15125 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15126 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15127 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15128 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15129 (nnimap-stream network))
15130 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15132 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15133 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15134 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15137 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15142 @item nnimap-address
15143 @vindex nnimap-address
15145 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15146 server name if not specified.
15148 @item nnimap-server-port
15149 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15150 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
15152 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15155 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15156 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15159 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15160 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15161 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15162 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15163 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15164 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15165 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15167 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15168 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15169 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15172 Example server specification:
15175 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15176 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15177 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15180 @item nnimap-stream
15181 @vindex nnimap-stream
15182 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15183 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15184 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15185 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15187 Example server specification:
15190 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15191 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15194 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15198 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15199 @samp{imtest} program.
15201 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15203 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15204 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15207 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15208 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15209 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15211 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15213 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15216 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15217 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15218 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15219 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15220 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15221 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15222 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15223 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15224 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15227 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15228 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15229 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15230 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15231 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15232 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15233 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15234 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15235 distribution, for instance).
15237 @vindex imap-shell-program
15238 @vindex imap-shell-host
15239 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15240 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15242 @item nnimap-authenticator
15243 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15245 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15246 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15248 Example server specification:
15251 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15252 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15255 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15259 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15260 external program @code{imtest}.
15262 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15265 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15266 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15268 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15270 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15272 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15275 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15277 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15278 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15279 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15280 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15281 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15282 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15285 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15286 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15287 running in circles yet?
15289 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15290 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15293 The possible options are:
15298 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15301 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15302 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15303 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15304 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15306 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15311 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15312 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15314 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15315 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15316 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15317 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15318 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15321 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15322 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15325 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15326 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15327 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15328 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15331 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15332 as ticked for other users.
15334 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15336 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15338 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15339 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15340 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15341 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15343 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15344 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15345 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15346 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15348 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15349 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15351 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15352 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15353 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15359 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15360 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15361 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15362 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15363 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15368 @node Splitting in IMAP
15369 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15370 @cindex splitting imap mail
15372 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15373 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15374 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15375 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15376 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15380 Here are the variables of interest:
15384 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15385 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15387 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15389 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15390 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15392 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15394 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15395 @cindex splitting, inbox
15397 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15399 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15400 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15404 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15405 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15408 No nnmail equivalent.
15410 @item nnimap-split-rule
15411 @cindex Splitting, rules
15412 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15414 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15417 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15418 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15419 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15420 Neither did I, we need examples.
15423 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15425 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15426 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15427 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15430 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15431 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15432 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15434 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15435 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15439 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15442 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15443 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15445 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15446 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15447 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15448 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15450 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15451 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15452 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15453 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15454 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15455 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15457 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15458 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15459 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15461 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15462 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15463 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15465 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15467 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15468 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15469 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15472 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15473 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15474 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15475 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15476 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15477 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15480 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15481 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15482 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15483 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15484 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15485 group/function elements.
15487 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15489 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15491 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15493 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15494 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15496 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15497 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15498 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15501 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15502 @cindex splitting, fancy
15503 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15504 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15506 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15507 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15508 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15510 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15511 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15512 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15513 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15518 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15519 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15522 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15524 @item nnimap-split-download-body
15525 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
15526 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
15528 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
15529 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
15530 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
15531 analyses the body to split the article.
15535 @node Expiring in IMAP
15536 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
15537 @cindex expiring imap mail
15539 Even though @sc{nnimap} is not a proper @sc{nnmail} derived back end,
15540 it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15541 Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do not clone
15542 the @sc{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating @var{nnimap-expiry-wait})
15543 but reuse the @sc{nnmail} variables. What follows below are the
15544 variables used by the @sc{nnimap} expiry process.
15546 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
15547 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
15548 @sc{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
15549 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
15550 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
15551 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
15552 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
15553 messages. Most do, fortunately.
15557 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
15558 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15560 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
15561 number, the symbol @var{immediate} or @var{never}.
15563 @item nnmail-expiry-target
15565 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
15566 @sc{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
15567 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
15568 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
15572 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15573 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15574 @cindex editing imap acls
15575 @cindex Access Control Lists
15576 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15578 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15580 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15581 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15582 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15585 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15586 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15587 editing window with detailed instructions.
15589 Some possible uses:
15593 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15594 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15595 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15597 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15598 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15599 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15603 @node Expunging mailboxes
15604 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15608 @cindex Manual expunging
15610 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15612 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15613 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15614 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15616 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15619 @node A note on namespaces
15620 @subsection A note on namespaces
15621 @cindex IMAP namespace
15624 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15625 following text in the RFC:
15628 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15630 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15631 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15632 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15633 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15635 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15636 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15637 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15638 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15639 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15640 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15643 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15644 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15645 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15647 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15648 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15649 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15650 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15651 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15652 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15653 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15654 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15656 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15657 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15658 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15660 @node Other Sources
15661 @section Other Sources
15663 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15664 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15668 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15669 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15670 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15671 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15672 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15676 @node Directory Groups
15677 @subsection Directory Groups
15679 @cindex directory groups
15681 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15682 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15685 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15686 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15687 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15688 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15690 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15691 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15692 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15693 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15694 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15696 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15698 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15699 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15700 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15701 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15704 @node Anything Groups
15705 @subsection Anything Groups
15708 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15709 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15710 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15713 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15714 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15715 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15716 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15717 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15718 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15719 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15720 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15721 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15722 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15725 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15726 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15727 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15728 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15730 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15731 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15732 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15733 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15735 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15736 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15737 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15738 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15739 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15740 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15741 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15742 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15747 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15748 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15749 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15750 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15752 @item nneething-exclude-files
15753 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15754 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15755 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15757 @item nneething-include-files
15758 @vindex nneething-include-files
15759 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15760 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15762 @item nneething-map-file
15763 @vindex nneething-map-file
15764 Name of the map files.
15768 @node Document Groups
15769 @subsection Document Groups
15771 @cindex documentation group
15774 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15775 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15782 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15787 The standard Unix mbox file.
15789 @cindex MMDF mail box
15791 The MMDF mail box format.
15794 Several news articles appended into a file.
15797 @cindex rnews batch files
15798 The rnews batch transport format.
15799 @cindex forwarded messages
15802 Forwarded articles.
15805 Netscape mail boxes.
15808 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15810 @item standard-digest
15811 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15814 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15816 @item lanl-gov-announce
15817 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15819 @item rfc822-forward
15820 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15823 The Outlook mail box.
15826 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15829 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15832 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15835 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15841 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15844 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15850 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15851 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15852 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15855 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15856 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15857 group. And that's it.
15859 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15860 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15861 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15862 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15863 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15864 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15865 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15866 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15867 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15868 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15870 Virtual server variables:
15873 @item nndoc-article-type
15874 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15875 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15876 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15877 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15878 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15879 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15881 @item nndoc-post-type
15882 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15883 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15884 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15889 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15893 @node Document Server Internals
15894 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15896 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15897 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15898 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15899 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15901 First, here's an example document type definition:
15905 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15906 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15909 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15910 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15911 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15912 types can be defined with very few settings:
15915 @item first-article
15916 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15917 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15920 @item article-begin
15921 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15922 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15924 @item head-begin-function
15925 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15928 @item nndoc-head-begin
15929 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15932 @item nndoc-head-end
15933 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15934 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15936 @item body-begin-function
15937 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15941 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
15944 @item body-end-function
15945 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
15949 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
15952 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
15953 regexp will be totally ignored.
15957 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
15958 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
15959 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
15960 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
15961 something that's palatable for Gnus:
15964 @item prepare-body-function
15965 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
15966 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
15967 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
15969 @item article-transform-function
15970 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
15971 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
15972 body of the article.
15974 @item generate-head-function
15975 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
15976 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
15977 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
15978 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
15982 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
15987 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15988 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15989 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
15990 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
15991 (head-end . "^ ?$")
15992 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
15993 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
15994 (subtype digest guess))
15997 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
15998 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
15999 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16000 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16001 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16003 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16004 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
16005 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
16006 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
16007 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
16008 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16009 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
16010 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16011 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
16012 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16020 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16021 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16022 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16024 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16025 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16026 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16029 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16030 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16031 that interested in doing things properly.
16033 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16034 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16037 First some terminology:
16042 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16043 get news and/or mail from.
16046 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16047 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16050 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16054 @item message packets
16055 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16056 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16057 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16059 @item response packets
16060 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16061 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16062 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16072 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16073 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16074 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16075 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16078 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16081 You put the packet in your home directory.
16084 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16085 the native or secondary server.
16088 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16089 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16092 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16096 You transfer this packet to the server.
16099 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16102 You then repeat until you die.
16106 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16107 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16110 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16111 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16112 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16116 @node SOUP Commands
16117 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16119 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16123 @kindex G s b (Group)
16124 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16125 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16126 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16127 process/prefix convention.
16130 @kindex G s w (Group)
16131 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16132 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16135 @kindex G s s (Group)
16136 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16137 Send all replies from the replies packet
16138 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16141 @kindex G s p (Group)
16142 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16143 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16146 @kindex G s r (Group)
16147 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16148 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16151 @kindex O s (Summary)
16152 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16153 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16154 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16155 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16160 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16165 @item gnus-soup-directory
16166 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16167 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16168 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16170 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16171 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16172 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16173 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16175 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16176 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16177 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16178 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16180 @item gnus-soup-packer
16181 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16182 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16183 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16185 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16186 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16187 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16188 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16190 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16191 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16192 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16194 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16195 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16196 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16197 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16203 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16206 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16207 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16208 you can read them at leisure.
16210 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16214 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16215 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16216 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16217 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16219 @item nnsoup-directory
16220 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16221 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16222 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16224 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16225 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16226 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16227 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
16229 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16230 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16231 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16232 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16233 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16235 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16236 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16237 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16238 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16240 @item nnsoup-active-file
16241 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16242 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16243 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16244 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16245 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16247 @item nnsoup-packer
16248 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16249 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16250 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16252 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16253 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16254 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16255 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16257 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16258 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16259 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16262 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16263 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16264 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16267 @item nnsoup-always-save
16268 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16269 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16275 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16277 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16278 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16279 more for that to happen.
16281 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16282 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16283 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16286 In specific, this is what it does:
16289 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16290 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16293 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16294 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16295 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16298 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16299 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16300 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16303 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16304 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16305 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16307 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16313 @item nngateway-address
16314 @vindex nngateway-address
16315 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16317 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16318 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16319 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16320 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16321 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16322 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16323 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16326 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16327 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16328 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16331 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16334 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16337 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16340 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16342 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16345 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16346 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16347 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16349 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16351 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16352 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16353 @code{nngateway-address}.
16358 (setq gnus-post-method
16360 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16361 (nngateway-header-transformation
16362 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16370 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16373 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16378 @node Combined Groups
16379 @section Combined Groups
16381 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16385 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16386 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16390 @node Virtual Groups
16391 @subsection Virtual Groups
16393 @cindex virtual groups
16394 @cindex merging groups
16396 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16399 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16400 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16401 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16403 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16404 regexp to match component groups.
16406 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16407 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16408 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16409 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16410 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16411 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16412 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16413 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16415 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16416 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16419 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16422 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16423 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16425 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16426 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16427 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16428 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16431 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16434 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16435 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16436 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16438 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16439 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16440 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16441 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16442 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16444 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16445 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16446 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16448 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16449 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16450 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16451 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16452 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16453 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16454 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16455 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16456 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16457 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16458 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16460 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16461 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16462 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16463 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16464 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16465 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16466 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16468 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16469 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16471 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16472 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16476 @node Kibozed Groups
16477 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16481 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16482 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16483 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16484 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16486 @kindex G k (Group)
16487 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16490 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16491 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16492 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16493 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16495 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16496 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16497 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16499 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16500 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16501 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16502 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16503 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16504 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16505 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16506 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16508 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16509 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16510 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16511 Stranger things have happened.
16513 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16514 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16516 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16517 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16518 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16519 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16520 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16521 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16523 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16524 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16527 @node Gnus Unplugged
16528 @section Gnus Unplugged
16533 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16535 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16536 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16537 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16538 read news. Believe it or not.
16540 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16541 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16542 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16543 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16544 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16546 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16547 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16548 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16549 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16550 reading news on a machine.
16552 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16553 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16555 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16558 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16559 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16560 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16561 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16562 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16563 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16564 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16565 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16566 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16567 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16568 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16573 @subsection Agent Basics
16575 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16577 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16578 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16579 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16580 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16582 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16583 connected to the net continuously.
16585 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16586 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16588 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16593 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16594 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16595 already fetched while in this mode.
16598 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16599 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16600 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16601 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16602 Source Specifiers}).
16605 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16606 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16607 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16608 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16609 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16612 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16613 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16614 then you read the news offline.
16617 And then you go to step 2.
16620 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16626 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16627 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16628 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16629 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16630 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16631 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16632 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16633 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16636 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16643 @node Agent Categories
16644 @subsection Agent Categories
16646 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16647 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16648 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16649 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16650 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16651 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16652 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16654 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16655 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16656 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16657 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16658 managing categories.
16661 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16662 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16663 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16667 @node Category Syntax
16668 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16670 A category consists of two things.
16674 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16675 are eligible for downloading; and
16678 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16679 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16680 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16683 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16684 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16685 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16686 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16688 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16689 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16690 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16692 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16693 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16694 operators sprinkled in between.
16696 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16698 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16699 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16705 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16706 short (for some value of ``short'').
16708 Here's a more complex predicate:
16717 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16718 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16721 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16722 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16723 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16725 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16726 you want to do, you can write your own.
16730 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16731 lines; default 100.
16734 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16735 lines; default 200.
16738 True iff the article has a download score less than
16739 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16742 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16743 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16746 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16747 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16748 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16757 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16758 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16759 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16762 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16763 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16764 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16765 something along the lines of the following:
16768 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16769 "Say whether an article is old."
16770 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16771 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16774 with the predicate then defined as:
16777 (not my-article-old-p)
16780 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16781 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16785 (require 'gnus-agent)
16786 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16787 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16788 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16791 and simply specify your predicate as:
16797 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16798 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16799 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16800 just don't give a damn.
16802 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16803 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16804 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16805 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16806 parameters like so:
16809 (agent-predicate . short)
16812 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16813 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16814 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16816 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16819 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16822 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16823 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16824 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16827 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16828 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16829 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16830 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16831 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16832 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16834 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16835 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16836 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16837 if it's to be specific to that group.
16839 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16846 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16847 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16853 Category specification
16857 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16863 Group Parameter specification
16866 (agent-score ("from"
16867 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16872 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16878 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16885 Category specification
16888 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16894 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16898 Group Parameter specification
16901 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16904 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16909 Use @code{normal} score files
16911 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16912 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16913 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16914 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16916 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16917 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16918 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16919 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16923 Category Specification
16930 Group Parameter specification
16933 (agent-score . file)
16938 @node Category Buffer
16939 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16941 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16942 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16943 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
16945 The following commands are available in this buffer:
16949 @kindex q (Category)
16950 @findex gnus-category-exit
16951 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
16954 @kindex k (Category)
16955 @findex gnus-category-kill
16956 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
16959 @kindex c (Category)
16960 @findex gnus-category-copy
16961 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
16964 @kindex a (Category)
16965 @findex gnus-category-add
16966 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
16969 @kindex p (Category)
16970 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
16971 Edit the predicate of the current category
16972 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
16975 @kindex g (Category)
16976 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
16977 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
16978 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
16981 @kindex s (Category)
16982 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
16983 Edit the download score rule of the current category
16984 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
16987 @kindex l (Category)
16988 @findex gnus-category-list
16989 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
16993 @node Category Variables
16994 @subsubsection Category Variables
16997 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
16998 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
16999 Hook run in category buffers.
17001 @item gnus-category-line-format
17002 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17003 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17004 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17008 The name of the category.
17011 The number of groups in the category.
17014 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17015 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17016 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17018 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17019 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17020 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17022 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17023 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17024 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17026 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17027 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17028 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17031 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17032 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17033 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17039 @node Agent Commands
17040 @subsection Agent Commands
17042 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17043 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17044 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17048 * Group Agent Commands::
17049 * Summary Agent Commands::
17050 * Server Agent Commands::
17056 @node Group Agent Commands
17057 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17061 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17062 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17063 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17064 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17067 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17068 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17069 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17072 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17073 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17074 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17075 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17078 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17079 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17080 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17081 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17084 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17085 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17086 Add the current group to an Agent category
17087 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17088 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17091 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17092 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17093 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17094 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17095 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17098 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17099 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17100 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17106 @node Summary Agent Commands
17107 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17111 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17112 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17113 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17116 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17117 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17118 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17119 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17122 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17123 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17124 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
17127 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17128 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17129 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
17132 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17133 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17134 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17135 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17140 @node Server Agent Commands
17141 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17145 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17146 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17147 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17148 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17151 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17152 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17153 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17154 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17159 @node Agent as Cache
17160 @subsection Agent as Cache
17162 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17163 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17164 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17165 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17166 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17167 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17168 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17169 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17170 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17172 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17173 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
17176 @subsection Agent Expiry
17178 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17179 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17180 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17181 @cindex Agent expiry
17182 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17185 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
17186 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
17187 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
17188 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
17189 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
17190 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
17192 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
17193 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
17194 expiry in different groups.
17197 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
17203 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
17204 method---it must always match all groups.
17206 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17207 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
17208 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
17209 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
17210 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
17212 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17213 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17214 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
17215 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
17217 @node Agent and IMAP
17218 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17220 The Agent work with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17221 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17222 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17223 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17225 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17226 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
17227 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17228 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17230 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17231 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17232 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17233 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17235 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17236 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17237 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17238 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17239 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17240 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17242 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17243 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17244 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17245 in the group buffer.
17247 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17248 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17253 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17256 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17260 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17261 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17262 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17263 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17264 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17265 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17266 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17267 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17270 @node Outgoing Messages
17271 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17273 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17274 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17275 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17277 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17278 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17279 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17280 messages in the draft group.
17284 @node Agent Variables
17285 @subsection Agent Variables
17288 @item gnus-agent-directory
17289 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17290 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17291 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17293 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17294 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17295 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17296 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17297 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17300 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17301 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17302 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17304 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17305 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17306 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17308 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17309 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17310 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17312 @item gnus-agent-cache
17313 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17314 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17315 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17316 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17318 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17319 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17320 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17321 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17322 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17323 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17324 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17327 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17328 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17329 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17330 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17331 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17332 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17333 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17334 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17335 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17340 @node Example Setup
17341 @subsection Example Setup
17343 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17344 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17345 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17348 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17349 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17350 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17352 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17353 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17354 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17356 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17357 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17359 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17360 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17361 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17364 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17365 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17368 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17369 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17370 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17371 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17372 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17375 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17376 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17377 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17378 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17379 back all the killed groups.)
17381 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17382 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17383 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17386 @node Batching Agents
17387 @subsection Batching Agents
17389 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17390 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17391 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17393 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
17394 following incantation:
17398 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
17402 @node Agent Caveats
17403 @subsection Agent Caveats
17405 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17406 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17410 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17412 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
17413 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
17414 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
17416 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17418 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
17422 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17423 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP and also uses the
17424 locally stored articles.
17431 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17432 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17433 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17436 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17437 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17438 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17439 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17440 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17442 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17443 before generating the summary buffer.
17445 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17446 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17447 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17449 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17450 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17451 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17452 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17455 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17456 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17457 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17458 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17459 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17460 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17461 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17462 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17463 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17464 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17465 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17466 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17467 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17468 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17469 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17470 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17471 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17475 @node Summary Score Commands
17476 @section Summary Score Commands
17477 @cindex score commands
17479 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17480 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17481 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17482 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17483 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17485 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17486 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17487 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17488 score file the current one.
17490 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17495 @kindex V s (Summary)
17496 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17497 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17500 @kindex V S (Summary)
17501 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17502 Display the score of the current article
17503 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17506 @kindex V t (Summary)
17507 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17508 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17509 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17512 @kindex V w (Summary)
17513 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17514 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17517 @kindex V R (Summary)
17518 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17519 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17520 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17521 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17522 effect you're having.
17525 @kindex V c (Summary)
17526 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17527 Make a different score file the current
17528 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17531 @kindex V e (Summary)
17532 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17533 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17534 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17538 @kindex V f (Summary)
17539 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17540 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17541 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17544 @kindex V F (Summary)
17545 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17546 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17547 after editing score files.
17550 @kindex V C (Summary)
17551 @findex gnus-score-customize
17552 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17553 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17557 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17562 @kindex V m (Summary)
17563 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17564 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17565 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17568 @kindex V x (Summary)
17569 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17570 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17571 expunge all articles below this score
17572 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17575 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17576 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17579 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17580 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17584 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17585 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17587 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17588 keys are available:
17592 Score on the author name.
17595 Score on the subject line.
17598 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17601 Score on the @code{References} line.
17607 Score on the number of lines.
17610 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17613 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17614 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17617 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17618 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17619 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17628 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17634 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17635 what headers you are scoring on.
17647 Substring matching.
17650 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17679 Greater than number.
17684 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17685 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17686 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17691 Temporary score entry.
17694 Permanent score entry.
17697 Immediately scoring.
17701 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17702 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17703 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17707 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17708 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17709 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17710 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17712 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17713 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17714 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17715 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17716 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17718 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17719 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17720 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17721 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17722 current score file.
17724 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17725 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17726 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17729 @node Group Score Commands
17730 @section Group Score Commands
17731 @cindex group score commands
17733 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17738 @kindex W f (Group)
17739 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17740 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17741 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17742 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17746 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17748 @findex gnus-batch-score
17749 @cindex batch scoring
17751 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17755 @node Score Variables
17756 @section Score Variables
17757 @cindex score variables
17761 @item gnus-use-scoring
17762 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17763 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17764 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17766 @item gnus-kill-killed
17767 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17768 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17769 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17770 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17771 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17772 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17773 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17775 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17776 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17777 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17778 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17779 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17781 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17782 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17783 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17784 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17786 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17787 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17788 @cindex score cache
17789 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17790 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17791 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
17792 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17793 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17794 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17797 @item gnus-save-score
17798 @vindex gnus-save-score
17799 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17800 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17801 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17803 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17804 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17805 across group visits.
17807 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17808 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17809 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17810 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17811 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17812 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17813 manually entered data.
17815 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17816 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17817 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17819 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17820 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17821 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
17822 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
17823 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
17824 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
17826 @item gnus-score-over-mark
17827 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
17828 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
17829 default. Default is @samp{+}.
17831 @item gnus-score-below-mark
17832 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
17833 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
17834 default. Default is @samp{-}.
17836 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17837 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17838 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
17839 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
17841 Predefined functions available are:
17844 @item gnus-score-find-single
17845 @findex gnus-score-find-single
17846 Only apply the group's own score file.
17848 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
17849 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
17850 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
17851 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
17852 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
17853 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
17854 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
17855 then a regexp match is done.
17857 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
17858 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
17860 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
17861 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
17862 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
17863 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
17865 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17866 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17867 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
17868 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
17869 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
17873 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
17874 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
17875 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
17876 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
17877 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
17878 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
17879 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
17882 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
17883 overall score file, you could use the value
17885 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
17886 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
17889 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
17890 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
17891 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
17892 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
17893 are expired. It's 7 by default.
17895 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17896 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17897 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
17898 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
17899 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
17900 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
17901 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
17902 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
17904 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17905 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17906 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
17908 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
17909 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
17910 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
17911 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
17912 threading---according to the current value of
17913 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
17914 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
17915 simplified in this manner.
17920 @node Score File Format
17921 @section Score File Format
17922 @cindex score file format
17924 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
17925 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
17926 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
17928 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
17932 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
17934 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
17936 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
17938 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
17943 (mark-and-expunge -10)
17947 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
17948 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
17949 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
17950 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
17954 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
17955 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
17957 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
17958 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
17959 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
17961 Six keys are supported by this alist:
17966 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
17967 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
17968 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
17969 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
17970 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
17971 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
17972 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
17973 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
17974 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
17975 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
17976 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
17977 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
17978 to articles that matches these score entries.
17980 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
17981 score entry has one to four elements.
17985 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
17986 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
17990 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
17991 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
17992 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
17993 is successful. If this element is not present, the
17994 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
17995 instead. This is 1000 by default.
17998 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
17999 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18000 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18001 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18002 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18005 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18006 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18007 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18008 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18011 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18012 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18013 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18014 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18015 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18016 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18017 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18018 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18019 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18020 instead, if you feel like.
18023 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18024 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18025 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18026 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18027 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18028 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18031 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18035 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18036 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18038 These predicates are true if
18041 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18044 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18045 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18052 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18053 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18054 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18055 it's not. I think.)
18057 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18058 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18059 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18060 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18063 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18064 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18065 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18066 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18067 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18068 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18069 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18073 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18074 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18075 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18076 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18077 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18078 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18079 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18080 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18083 @item Head, Body, All
18084 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18088 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18089 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18090 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18091 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18092 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18093 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18094 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18098 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18099 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18100 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18101 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18102 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18103 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18104 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18105 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18106 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18107 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18108 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18112 @cindex Score File Atoms
18114 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18115 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18118 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18119 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18121 @item mark-and-expunge
18122 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18123 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18126 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18127 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18128 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18129 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18130 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18133 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18134 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18137 @item exclude-files
18138 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18139 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18143 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18144 ignored when handling global score files.
18147 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18148 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18149 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18150 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18153 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18154 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18155 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18156 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18158 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18162 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18165 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18166 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18167 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18168 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18169 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18171 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18172 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18173 scoring rules exist.
18176 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18177 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18178 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18179 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18180 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18181 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18182 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18183 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18184 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18185 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18186 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18190 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18191 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18192 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18193 file for a number of groups.
18196 @cindex local variables
18197 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
18198 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
18199 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
18200 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
18201 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
18205 @node Score File Editing
18206 @section Score File Editing
18208 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18209 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18210 with a mode for that.
18212 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18213 additional commands:
18218 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
18219 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
18220 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
18221 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
18224 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
18225 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
18226 Insert the current date in numerical format
18227 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18228 you were wondering.
18231 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18232 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18233 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18234 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18235 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18240 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18242 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18243 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18245 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18246 e} to begin editing score files.
18249 @node Adaptive Scoring
18250 @section Adaptive Scoring
18251 @cindex adaptive scoring
18253 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18254 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18255 stupidity, to be precise.
18257 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18258 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18259 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18260 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18261 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18262 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18263 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18264 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18265 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18267 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18268 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18269 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18270 might look something like this:
18273 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18274 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18275 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18276 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18277 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18278 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18279 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18280 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18281 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18282 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18283 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18284 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18287 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18288 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18289 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18290 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18291 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18292 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18295 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18296 will be applied to each article.
18298 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18299 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18300 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18301 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18303 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18304 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18305 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18306 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18308 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18309 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18310 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18311 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18313 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18314 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18315 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18316 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18317 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18318 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18320 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
18321 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
18322 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
18323 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
18324 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
18325 aspirins afterwards.)
18327 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18328 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18329 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18331 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18332 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18333 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18335 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18336 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18337 let you use different rules in different groups.
18339 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18340 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18341 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18344 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18345 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18346 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18347 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18348 the length of the match is less than
18349 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18350 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18353 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18354 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18355 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18356 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18357 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18360 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18361 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18362 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18363 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18364 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18367 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18368 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18369 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18370 score with 30 points.
18372 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18373 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18374 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18375 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18376 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18378 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18379 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18380 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18381 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18382 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
18384 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18385 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18386 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18387 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18389 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18390 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18391 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18392 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18394 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18395 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18396 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18397 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18398 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18400 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18401 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18402 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18404 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18405 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18406 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18407 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18410 @node Home Score File
18411 @section Home Score File
18413 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18414 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18415 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18416 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18418 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18419 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18420 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18422 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18423 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18428 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18432 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18433 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18437 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18441 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18442 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18445 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18446 the home score file.
18449 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18452 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18457 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18460 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18461 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18464 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18465 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18467 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18469 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18470 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18473 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18474 Other functions include
18477 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18478 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18479 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18480 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18484 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18485 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18486 their own home score files:
18489 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18490 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18491 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18492 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18493 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18496 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18497 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18498 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18499 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18500 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18502 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18503 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18504 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18505 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18506 precedence over this variable.
18509 @node Followups To Yourself
18510 @section Followups To Yourself
18512 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18513 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18514 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18515 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18516 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18517 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18521 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18522 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18523 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18526 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18527 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18528 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18532 @vindex message-sent-hook
18533 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18534 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18536 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18540 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18541 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18545 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18546 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18549 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18550 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18555 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18559 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18560 is system-dependent.
18563 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18564 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18565 @cindex scoring on other headers
18567 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18568 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18569 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18570 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18571 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18573 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18574 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18575 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18576 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18577 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18579 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18582 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18583 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18586 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18587 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18588 time if you have much mail.
18590 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18591 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18597 @section Scoring Tips
18598 @cindex scoring tips
18604 @cindex scoring crossposts
18605 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18606 the @code{Xref} header.
18608 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18611 @item Multiple crossposts
18612 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18613 more than, say, 3 groups:
18616 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18620 @item Matching on the body
18621 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18622 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18623 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18624 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18625 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18626 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18627 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18630 @item Marking as read
18631 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18632 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18633 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18637 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18639 @item Negated character classes
18640 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18641 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18642 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18646 @node Reverse Scoring
18647 @section Reverse Scoring
18648 @cindex reverse scoring
18650 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18651 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18652 like this in your score file:
18656 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18661 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18662 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18665 @node Global Score Files
18666 @section Global Score Files
18667 @cindex global score files
18669 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18670 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18671 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18673 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18674 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18675 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18677 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18678 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18679 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18680 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18681 files are applicable to which group.
18683 To use the score file
18684 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18685 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18689 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18690 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18691 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18694 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18696 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18697 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18698 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18699 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18701 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18702 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18704 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18705 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18706 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18707 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18708 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18709 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18711 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18717 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18719 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18721 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18723 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18724 lowered out of existence.
18726 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18727 articles completely.
18730 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18731 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18732 old articles for a long time.
18735 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18736 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18737 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18738 holding our breath yet?
18742 @section Kill Files
18745 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18746 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18747 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18749 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18750 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18751 files into score files.
18753 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18754 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18755 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18756 that isn't a very good idea.
18758 Normal kill files look like this:
18761 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18762 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18766 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18767 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18769 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18770 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18773 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18778 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18779 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18780 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18783 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18784 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18785 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18788 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18793 @kindex M-k (Group)
18794 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18795 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18798 @kindex M-K (Group)
18799 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18800 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18803 Kill file variables:
18806 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18807 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18808 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18809 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18810 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18811 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18812 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18814 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18815 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18816 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18817 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18820 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18821 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18822 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18823 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18824 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18825 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18826 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18827 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18828 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
18830 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18831 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18832 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
18837 @node Converting Kill Files
18838 @section Converting Kill Files
18840 @cindex converting kill files
18842 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
18843 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
18844 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
18847 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
18848 You can fetch it from
18849 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
18851 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
18852 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
18853 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
18861 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
18862 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
18863 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
18864 news articles generated every day.
18866 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
18867 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
18868 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
18869 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
18870 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
18871 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
18872 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
18873 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
18876 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
18877 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
18880 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
18881 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
18882 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
18883 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
18887 @node Using GroupLens
18888 @subsection Using GroupLens
18890 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
18892 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
18893 better bit in town at the moment.
18895 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
18899 @item gnus-use-grouplens
18900 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
18901 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
18902 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
18904 @item grouplens-pseudonym
18905 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
18906 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
18907 with the Better Bit Bureau.
18909 @item grouplens-newsgroups
18910 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
18911 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
18915 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
18916 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
18917 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
18918 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
18919 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
18920 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
18923 @node Rating Articles
18924 @subsection Rating Articles
18926 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
18927 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
18928 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
18929 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
18932 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
18937 @kindex r (GroupLens)
18938 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
18939 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
18942 @kindex k (GroupLens)
18943 @findex grouplens-score-thread
18944 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
18945 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
18946 threads in rec.humor.
18950 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
18951 the score of the article you're reading.
18956 @kindex n (GroupLens)
18957 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
18958 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
18961 @kindex , (GroupLens)
18962 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
18963 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
18967 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
18968 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
18971 @node Displaying Predictions
18972 @subsection Displaying Predictions
18974 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
18975 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
18976 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
18977 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
18978 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
18980 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
18981 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
18982 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
18983 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
18984 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
18985 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
18986 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
18987 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
18988 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
18989 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
18990 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
18991 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
18992 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
18994 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
18995 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
18996 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
18997 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
18999 The following are valid values for that variable.
19002 @item prediction-spot
19003 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19006 @item confidence-interval
19007 A numeric confidence interval.
19009 @item prediction-bar
19010 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19012 @item confidence-bar
19013 Numerical confidence.
19015 @item confidence-spot
19016 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19018 @item prediction-num
19019 Plain-old numeric value.
19021 @item confidence-plus-minus
19022 Prediction +/- confidence.
19027 @node GroupLens Variables
19028 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19032 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19033 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19034 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19035 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19038 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19039 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19042 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19043 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19045 @item grouplens-score-offset
19046 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19047 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19050 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19051 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19052 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19057 @node Advanced Scoring
19058 @section Advanced Scoring
19060 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19061 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19062 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19063 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19064 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19066 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19070 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19071 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19072 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19076 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19077 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19079 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19080 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19081 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19082 non-@code{nil} value.
19084 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19085 operator, and various match operators.
19092 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19093 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19094 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19099 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19100 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19101 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19106 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19107 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19111 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19112 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19113 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19114 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19115 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19116 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19117 the ancestry you want to go.
19119 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19120 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19121 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19122 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19123 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19126 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19127 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19129 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19130 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19133 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19134 when he's talking about Gnus:
19138 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19139 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19145 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19149 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19156 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19157 really don't want to read what he's written:
19161 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19162 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19166 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19167 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19168 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19175 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19176 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19177 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19178 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19182 The possibilities are endless.
19185 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19186 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19188 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19189 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19190 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19191 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19192 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19193 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19194 @samp{subject}) first.
19196 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19197 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19208 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19209 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19215 ("subject" "Gnus")))
19222 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
19223 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19228 @section Score Decays
19229 @cindex score decays
19232 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19233 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19234 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19235 use them in any sensible way.
19237 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19238 @findex gnus-decay-score
19239 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19240 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19241 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19242 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19243 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19244 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19245 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19246 definition of that function:
19249 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19251 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19252 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19255 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19257 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19259 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19262 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19263 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19264 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19265 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19269 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19272 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19275 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19279 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19280 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19281 the new score, which should be an integer.
19283 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19284 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19289 @include message.texi
19290 @chapter Emacs MIME
19291 @include emacs-mime.texi
19293 @include sieve.texi
19303 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19304 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19305 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19306 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19307 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19308 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19309 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19310 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19311 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19312 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19313 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19314 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19315 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19316 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19317 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19318 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19319 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19320 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19321 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19325 @node Process/Prefix
19326 @section Process/Prefix
19327 @cindex process/prefix convention
19329 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19330 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19332 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19333 command to be performed on.
19337 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19338 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19339 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19340 with the current one.
19342 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19343 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19344 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19346 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19347 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19350 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19351 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19353 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19356 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19357 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19358 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19359 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19361 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19362 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19363 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19364 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19365 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19366 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19367 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19368 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19370 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19371 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19372 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19373 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19374 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
19378 @section Interactive
19379 @cindex interaction
19383 @item gnus-novice-user
19384 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19385 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19386 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19387 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19388 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19391 @item gnus-expert-user
19392 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19393 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19394 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19395 matter how strange.
19397 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19398 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19399 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19400 is @code{t} by default.
19402 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19403 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19404 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19409 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19410 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19411 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19413 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19414 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19415 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19416 rule of 900 to the current article.
19418 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19419 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19420 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19421 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19422 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19423 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19424 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19426 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19427 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19428 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19429 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19430 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19431 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19432 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19433 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19434 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19436 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19437 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19438 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19440 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19444 @node Formatting Variables
19445 @section Formatting Variables
19446 @cindex formatting variables
19448 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19449 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19450 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19451 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19452 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19455 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19456 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19457 lots of percentages everywhere.
19460 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19461 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19462 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19463 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19464 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19465 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19466 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19467 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19470 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19471 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19472 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19473 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19474 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19475 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19476 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19477 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19479 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19480 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19482 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19483 @findex gnus-update-format
19484 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19485 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19486 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19487 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19491 @node Formatting Basics
19492 @subsection Formatting Basics
19494 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19495 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19496 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19498 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19499 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19500 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19501 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19502 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19505 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19506 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19507 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19508 less than 4 characters wide.
19510 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19511 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19514 @node Mode Line Formatting
19515 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19517 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19518 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19519 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19520 with the following two differences:
19525 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19528 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19529 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19530 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19531 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19532 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19533 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19534 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19539 @node Advanced Formatting
19540 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19542 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19543 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19544 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19545 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19547 These are the valid modifiers:
19552 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19556 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19561 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19564 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19569 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19572 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19575 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19578 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19584 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19589 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19590 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19591 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19592 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19593 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19594 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19595 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19597 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19598 last operation, padding.
19600 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
19601 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
19602 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
19603 @xref{Compilation}.
19606 @node User-Defined Specs
19607 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19609 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19610 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19611 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19612 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19613 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19614 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19615 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19616 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19617 should protect against that.
19619 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19620 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19622 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19623 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19624 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19625 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19629 @node Formatting Fonts
19630 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19632 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19633 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19634 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19635 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19638 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19639 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19640 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19641 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19642 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19643 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19645 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
19646 special @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}.
19647 If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on.
19648 The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
19649 symbols naming functions that return a string. When the mouse passes
19650 over text with this property set, a balloon window will appear and
19651 display the string. Please refer to @ref{(emacs)Help Echo} (in GNU
19652 Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in XEmacs) for
19653 more information on this. (For technical reasons, the guillemets have
19654 been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this paragraph.)
19656 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19659 ;; Create three face types.
19660 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19661 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19663 ;; We want the article count to be in
19664 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19665 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19666 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19668 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19669 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19671 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19672 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19673 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19676 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19677 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19679 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19680 mode-line variables.
19682 @node Positioning Point
19683 @subsection Positioning Point
19685 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19686 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19687 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19689 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19691 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19692 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19693 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19695 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19696 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
19697 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19702 @subsection Tabulation
19704 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19705 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19706 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19707 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19709 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19710 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19712 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19713 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19714 This is the soft tabulator.
19716 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19717 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19718 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19721 @node Wide Characters
19722 @subsection Wide Characters
19724 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19725 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19726 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19728 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19729 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19730 these countries, that's not true.
19732 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19733 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19734 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19735 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
19739 @node Window Layout
19740 @section Window Layout
19741 @cindex window layout
19743 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19745 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19746 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19747 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19748 @code{t} by default.
19750 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19751 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19753 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19754 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19755 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19758 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19759 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19760 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19764 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19765 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19766 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19767 possible names is listed below.
19769 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19770 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19773 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19777 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19778 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19779 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19780 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19781 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19782 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19783 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19784 size spec per split.
19786 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19787 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19788 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19789 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19790 present) gets focus.
19792 Here's a more complicated example:
19795 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19796 (summary 0.25 point)
19797 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19801 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19802 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19803 occupy, not a percentage.
19805 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19806 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19807 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19808 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19809 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19812 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19815 (article (horizontal 1.0
19820 (summary 0.25 point)
19825 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
19826 @code{horizontal} thingie?
19828 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
19829 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
19830 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
19831 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
19832 the screen is to be given to this strip.
19834 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
19835 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
19836 lines from the splits.
19838 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
19842 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
19843 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
19844 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
19845 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
19846 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
19847 size = number | frame-params
19848 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
19851 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
19852 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
19853 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
19854 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
19856 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
19857 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
19858 @cindex window height
19859 @cindex window width
19860 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
19861 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
19862 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
19863 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
19864 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
19865 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
19867 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
19868 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
19869 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
19870 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
19872 @findex gnus-configure-frame
19873 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
19874 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
19875 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
19876 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
19877 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
19878 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
19879 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
19880 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
19881 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
19882 configuration list.
19885 (gnus-configure-frame
19889 (article 0.3 point))
19897 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
19898 @code{frame} split:
19901 (gnus-configure-frame
19904 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
19906 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
19907 (user-position . t)
19908 (left . -1) (top . 1))
19913 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
19914 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
19915 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
19916 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
19917 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
19918 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
19919 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
19920 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
19922 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
19923 be found in its default value.
19925 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
19926 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
19927 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
19931 (message (horizontal 1.0
19932 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
19934 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
19939 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
19940 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
19941 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
19946 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
19947 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
19948 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
19949 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
19950 (name . "Message"))
19951 (message 1.0 point))))
19954 @findex gnus-add-configuration
19955 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
19956 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
19957 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
19958 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
19961 (gnus-add-configuration
19962 '(article (vertical 1.0
19964 (summary .25 point)
19968 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
19969 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
19970 Gnus has been loaded.
19972 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
19973 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
19974 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
19975 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
19976 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
19978 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
19979 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
19980 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
19983 @subsection Example Window Configurations
19987 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
19988 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20003 (gnus-add-configuration
20006 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20008 (summary 0.16 point)
20011 (gnus-add-configuration
20014 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20015 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20021 @node Faces and Fonts
20022 @section Faces and Fonts
20027 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20028 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20029 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20034 @section Compilation
20035 @cindex compilation
20036 @cindex byte-compilation
20038 @findex gnus-compile
20040 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20041 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20042 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
20043 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20044 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20045 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20048 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20049 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20050 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20051 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
20052 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
20053 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
20054 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
20058 @section Mode Lines
20061 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20062 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20063 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20064 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20065 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20066 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20067 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20070 @cindex display-time
20072 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20073 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20074 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20075 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20076 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20077 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20078 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20079 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20082 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20084 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20085 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20087 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20088 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20089 (length display-time-string)))))
20092 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20093 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20094 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20095 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20096 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20099 @node Highlighting and Menus
20100 @section Highlighting and Menus
20102 @cindex highlighting
20105 @vindex gnus-visual
20106 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20107 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20108 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20111 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20112 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20115 @item group-highlight
20116 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20117 @item summary-highlight
20118 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20119 @item article-highlight
20120 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20122 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20124 Create menus in the group buffer.
20126 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20128 Create menus in the article buffer.
20130 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20132 Create menus in the server buffer.
20134 Create menus in the score buffers.
20136 Create menus in all buffers.
20139 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20140 buffers, you could say something like:
20143 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20146 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20149 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20152 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20153 in all Gnus buffers.
20155 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20158 @item gnus-mouse-face
20159 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20160 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20161 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20165 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20169 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20170 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20171 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20173 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20174 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20175 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20177 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20178 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20179 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20181 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20182 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20183 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20185 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20186 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20187 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20189 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20190 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20191 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20202 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20203 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20204 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20205 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20206 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
20210 @vindex gnus-carpal
20211 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
20212 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
20213 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
20218 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20219 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20220 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
20222 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
20223 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
20224 Face used on buttons.
20226 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
20227 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
20228 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
20230 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20231 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20232 Buttons in the group buffer.
20234 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20235 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20236 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20238 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20239 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20240 Buttons in the server buffer.
20242 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20243 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20244 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20247 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20248 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20249 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20257 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20258 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20259 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20260 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20261 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20263 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20264 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20265 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20267 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20268 been idle for thirty minutes:
20271 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20274 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20278 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20281 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20282 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20283 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20285 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20286 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20287 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20288 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20290 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20291 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20292 @var{idle} minutes.
20294 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20295 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20298 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20299 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20300 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20302 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20303 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20304 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20305 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20307 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20308 your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20310 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20312 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20315 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20316 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20317 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20318 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20319 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20320 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20321 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20322 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20323 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20324 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20325 @file{.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
20327 @findex gnus-demon-init
20328 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20329 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20330 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20331 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20332 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20334 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20335 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20336 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20345 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20346 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20348 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20349 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20350 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20351 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20354 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20355 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20356 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20357 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20359 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20360 this will make spam disappear.
20362 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20365 @item gnus-use-nocem
20366 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20367 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20370 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20371 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20372 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20373 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20374 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20376 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20377 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20378 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20379 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20380 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20381 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20383 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20384 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20386 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20387 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20388 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20389 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20390 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20391 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20392 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20393 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20394 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20395 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20397 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20398 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20401 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20404 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20405 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20408 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20411 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20414 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20415 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20417 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20418 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20419 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20420 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20422 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20423 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20426 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20428 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20436 This might be dangerous, though.
20438 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20439 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20440 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20441 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20443 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20444 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20445 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20446 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20447 might then see old spam.
20449 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20450 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20451 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20452 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20453 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20456 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20457 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20458 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20459 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20463 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20464 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20465 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20466 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20473 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20474 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20475 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20477 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20478 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20479 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20480 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20481 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20482 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20483 @code{undo} function.
20485 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20486 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20487 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20488 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20489 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20490 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20491 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20492 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20493 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20494 never be totally undoable.
20496 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20497 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20499 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20500 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20501 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20502 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20506 @node Predicate Specifiers
20507 @section Predicate Specifiers
20508 @cindex predicate specifiers
20510 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20511 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20512 to type all that much.
20514 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20519 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20520 gnus-article-unread-p)
20523 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20524 functions all take one parameter.
20526 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20527 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20528 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20529 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20534 @section Moderation
20537 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20538 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20539 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20542 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20546 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20549 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20551 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20556 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20557 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20558 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20561 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20562 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20565 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20566 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20570 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20573 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20574 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20578 @node Image Enhancements
20579 @section Image Enhancements
20581 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20582 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20585 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20586 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20587 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20588 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
20589 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20602 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20603 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20604 over your shoulder as you read news.
20607 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
20608 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
20609 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
20610 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
20611 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
20616 @subsubsection Picon Basics
20618 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20627 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20628 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20629 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20630 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20631 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20632 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20633 @code{GIF} formats.
20636 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20637 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
20638 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
20639 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
20640 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
20642 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20643 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
20644 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
20645 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
20646 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
20647 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20649 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20650 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20653 @node Picon Requirements
20654 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
20656 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must have @code{x} support
20657 compiled into XEmacs. To display color picons which are much nicer
20658 than the black & white one, you also need one of @code{xpm} or
20659 @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
20661 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20662 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
20663 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
20664 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
20665 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
20666 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20669 @subsubsection Easy Picons
20671 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
20672 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
20675 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
20676 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
20679 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
20680 containing the Picons databases.
20682 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
20685 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20686 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
20691 @subsubsection Hard Picons
20699 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
20700 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
20701 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
20702 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
20703 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
20708 @item gnus-picons-database
20709 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20710 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
20711 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20712 subdirectories. This is only useful if
20713 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
20714 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
20716 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20717 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20718 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
20719 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
20720 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
20721 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
20722 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20724 @item gnus-picons-display-where
20725 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20726 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
20727 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
20728 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
20729 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
20730 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
20731 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
20733 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20734 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20735 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
20740 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
20741 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
20743 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
20744 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
20747 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20749 @item gnus-article-display-picons
20750 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
20751 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
20752 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
20754 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20755 @findex gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20756 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
20757 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the function name, not @code{xface})
20763 @node Picon Useless Configuration
20764 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
20772 The following variables offer further control over how things are
20773 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
20774 don't need to worry about.
20778 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
20779 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
20780 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20781 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20783 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
20784 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
20785 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
20786 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
20788 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
20789 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
20790 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20791 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20792 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20794 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20795 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20796 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
20797 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
20798 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
20799 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
20800 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
20801 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20803 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20804 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20805 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
20806 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
20807 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20809 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20810 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20811 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
20812 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
20813 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
20814 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
20815 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
20817 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20818 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20819 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
20820 Defaults to @code{nil}.
20822 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
20823 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
20824 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
20825 Defaults to @code{t}.
20827 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20828 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20829 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20830 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
20832 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
20833 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
20834 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
20836 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20837 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20838 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
20839 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
20841 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
20842 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
20844 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20845 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20846 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
20847 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
20848 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
20849 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
20850 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
20851 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
20862 @subsection Smileys
20867 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20872 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20873 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20875 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20876 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20879 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20882 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
20883 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20884 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20885 text and maps that to file names.
20887 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
20888 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
20889 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
20890 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
20891 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
20892 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
20894 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
20895 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
20897 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
20898 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
20899 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
20901 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20902 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
20906 @item smiley-data-directory
20907 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20908 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20910 @item smiley-flesh-color
20911 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
20912 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
20914 @item smiley-features-color
20915 @vindex smiley-features-color
20916 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20918 @item smiley-tongue-color
20919 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
20920 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
20922 @item smiley-circle-color
20923 @vindex smiley-circle-color
20924 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20926 @item smiley-mouse-face
20927 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
20928 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20937 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20938 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20939 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20943 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20944 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20945 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20946 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20954 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20955 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20956 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20957 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20959 The variable that controls this is the
20960 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20961 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20962 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20963 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20964 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20966 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20967 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20968 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20969 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20972 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20973 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20974 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20975 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20976 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20977 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20978 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20979 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20981 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20984 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20985 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20987 @findex gnus-random-x-face
20988 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
20989 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
20990 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
20991 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
20992 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
20993 header data as a string.
20995 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
20996 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
20997 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
20998 randomly generated data.
21000 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21001 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21002 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21003 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21005 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21006 like the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
21009 (setq message-required-news-headers
21010 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21011 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21014 Using the last function would be something like this:
21017 (setq message-required-news-headers
21018 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21019 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21020 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21021 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21026 @subsection Toolbar
21036 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21037 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21038 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21039 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21040 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21042 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21043 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21044 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21046 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21047 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21048 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21050 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21051 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21052 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21058 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21061 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21062 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21063 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21064 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21065 unusual directory structure.
21067 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21068 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21069 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21070 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21072 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21073 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21074 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21075 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21076 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21077 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21079 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21080 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21081 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21095 @node Fuzzy Matching
21096 @section Fuzzy Matching
21097 @cindex fuzzy matching
21099 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21100 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21102 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21103 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21104 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21106 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21107 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21108 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21109 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21110 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21113 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21114 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21118 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21120 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21121 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21122 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21123 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21124 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21125 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21126 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21127 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21130 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21131 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21132 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21133 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21134 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21135 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21137 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21140 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21141 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21142 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21143 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21144 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21145 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21148 @node The problem of spam
21149 @subsection The problem of spam
21151 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21152 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21154 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21156 First, some background on spam.
21158 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21159 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21160 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21161 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21162 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21163 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21164 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21165 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21167 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21168 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21169 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21170 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21171 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21172 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21173 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21174 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21175 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21178 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21179 spam messages per day from @email{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21180 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21181 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21182 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21183 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21184 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21185 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21186 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21187 mail can be useful.
21189 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21190 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21191 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21192 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21193 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21194 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21195 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21196 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21197 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21199 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21200 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21201 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21202 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21203 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21204 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21205 because of the incident.
21207 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21208 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21209 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21210 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21211 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21212 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21213 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21214 to store the database of spam analyses.
21216 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21217 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21221 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21223 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21224 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21226 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21227 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21228 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21229 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21230 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21231 part of the mail address.)
21234 (setq message-default-news-headers
21235 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21238 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21239 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21244 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21245 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21246 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21252 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21253 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21254 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21255 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21257 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21258 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21259 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21260 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21261 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21262 your fancy split rule in this way:
21267 (to "larsi" "misc")
21271 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21272 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21273 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21274 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21275 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21277 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21278 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21279 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21280 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21281 cosmic balance somewhat.
21283 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21284 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21285 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21286 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21291 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21292 @cindex SpamAssassin
21293 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21296 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21297 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21298 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21299 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21300 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21301 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21302 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21304 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21305 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21306 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21307 Specifiers}) follows.
21311 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21314 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21317 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21318 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21319 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21322 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21326 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21329 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21330 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21334 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21335 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21336 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21337 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21340 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21342 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21344 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21345 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21347 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21349 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21350 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21354 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21355 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21356 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21359 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21360 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21362 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21363 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21364 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21368 @subsection Hashcash
21371 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21372 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21373 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21374 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21375 in smaller communities.
21377 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21378 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21379 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21380 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21381 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21382 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21383 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21384 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21385 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21386 one of them separately.
21389 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21390 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21391 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21392 header. For more details, and for the external application
21393 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21394 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21395 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21397 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21401 (require 'hashcash)
21402 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21405 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21406 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21407 development contrib directory.
21409 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21413 @item hashcash-default-payment
21414 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21415 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21416 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21417 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21419 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21420 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21421 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21422 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21423 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21424 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21425 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21426 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21430 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21434 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21435 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21436 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21437 a useful contribution, however.
21439 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21440 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21441 @cindex spam filtering
21444 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
21445 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
21446 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
21447 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
21450 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
21451 the following keyboard commands:
21461 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
21462 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
21464 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{H} mark.
21465 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
21466 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
21467 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
21473 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
21474 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
21476 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
21482 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
21483 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
21486 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
21487 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
21488 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
21489 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
21490 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
21491 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
21492 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
21493 will be detected later.
21495 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
21496 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
21497 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
21498 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
21499 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
21500 by customizing the corresponding variable
21501 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
21502 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
21503 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
21504 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
21505 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
21506 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
21507 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
21510 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
21511 they get the @samp{H} mark when you enter the group. You must review
21512 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{H} mark for
21513 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{H}
21514 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to "unread" the article, or @kbd{d} for
21515 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
21516 spam-marked (@samp{H}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
21517 will study them as spam samples.
21519 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
21520 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
21521 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
21522 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
21523 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
21524 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
21525 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
21526 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
21528 @defvar spam-ham-marks
21529 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21530 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
21531 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
21534 @defvar spam-spam-marks
21535 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21536 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
21539 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
21540 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
21541 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
21542 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
21543 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
21544 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{H},
21547 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
21548 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
21549 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
21550 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
21551 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
21552 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
21553 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
21554 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
21555 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
21556 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
21557 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
21559 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
21560 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
21562 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
21563 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
21564 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
21565 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
21566 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
21567 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
21568 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
21569 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
21570 the spam articles are only expired.
21572 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
21573 must add the following to your fancy split list
21574 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
21580 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
21581 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
21582 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
21584 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
21585 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
21586 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
21587 but you can customize it.
21589 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
21591 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
21592 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
21593 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
21594 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
21595 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
21596 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
21597 because it will slow IMAP down.
21599 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
21601 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
21602 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
21603 longer spam or ham.}
21605 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
21606 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
21609 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
21610 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
21613 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
21614 * BBDB Whitelists::
21617 * ifile spam filtering::
21618 * spam-stat spam filtering::
21619 * Extending the spam elisp package::
21622 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
21623 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
21624 @cindex spam filtering
21625 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
21626 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
21629 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
21630 Set this variable to t if you want to use blacklists when splitting
21631 incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist will be
21632 sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit filter,
21633 meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to be
21637 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
21638 Set this variable to t if you want to use whitelists when splitting
21639 incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the whitelist will
21640 be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an implicit filter,
21641 meaning it believes everyone to be a spammer unless told otherwise.
21645 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
21646 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21647 customizing the group parameters or the
21648 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21649 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21650 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
21653 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
21654 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21655 customizing the group parameters or the
21656 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21657 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21658 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21659 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21660 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21663 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
21664 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
21665 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
21666 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
21667 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
21669 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
21670 legitimate. All non-whitelisted addresses are considered spammers.
21671 This option is probably not useful for most Gnus users unless the
21672 whitelists is very comprehensive or permissive. Also see @ref{BBDB
21673 Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the Emacs regular expression
21676 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
21677 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
21678 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
21679 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
21680 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
21681 @file{blacklist} respectively.
21683 @node BBDB Whitelists
21684 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
21685 @cindex spam filtering
21686 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
21687 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
21690 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
21692 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
21693 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted addresses,
21694 without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded for
21695 @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Only addresses in the BBDB
21696 will be allowed through; all others will be classified as spam.
21700 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
21701 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21702 customizing the group parameters or the
21703 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21704 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21705 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21706 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21707 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21711 @subsubsection Blackholes
21712 @cindex spam filtering
21713 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
21716 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
21718 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
21719 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
21720 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
21721 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
21722 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
21723 contains outdated servers.
21725 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
21726 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
21727 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
21728 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
21729 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
21730 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
21734 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
21736 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
21740 @defvar spam-use-dig
21742 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
21743 The default setting of t is recommended.
21747 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
21748 ham processor for blackholes.
21751 @subsubsection Bogofilter
21752 @cindex spam filtering
21753 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
21756 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
21758 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21761 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{H} mark for spam
21762 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
21763 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
21764 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
21765 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
21766 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
21768 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
21769 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
21772 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
21773 processing will be turned off.
21775 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
21779 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
21781 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21782 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
21783 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
21784 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
21785 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
21786 installation documents for details.
21788 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
21792 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
21793 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21794 customizing the group parameters or the
21795 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21796 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
21797 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
21800 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
21801 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21802 customizing the group parameters or the
21803 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21804 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21805 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
21806 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21807 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21810 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
21812 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
21813 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
21814 database directory.
21818 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
21819 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21820 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
21821 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
21822 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
21823 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
21825 @node ifile spam filtering
21826 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
21827 @cindex spam filtering
21828 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
21831 @defvar spam-use-ifile
21833 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
21834 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
21838 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
21840 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
21841 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
21842 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
21846 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
21848 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
21849 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
21850 the default value of @samp{spam}.
21853 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
21855 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
21856 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
21860 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
21861 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21862 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
21863 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
21866 @node spam-stat spam filtering
21867 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
21868 @cindex spam filtering
21869 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
21873 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
21875 @defvar spam-use-stat
21877 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
21878 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
21882 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
21883 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21884 customizing the group parameters or the
21885 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21886 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
21887 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
21890 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
21891 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21892 customizing the group parameters or the
21893 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21894 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21895 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
21896 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21897 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21900 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
21901 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
21902 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
21903 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
21906 @node Extending the spam elisp package
21907 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
21908 @cindex spam filtering
21909 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
21910 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
21912 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
21913 incoming mail, provide the following:
21921 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
21922 "True if blackbox should be used.")
21927 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
21929 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
21934 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
21935 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
21936 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
21939 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
21946 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
21947 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
21950 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21951 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
21952 Only applicable to spam groups.")
21954 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21955 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
21956 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
21964 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
21965 (spam-generic-register-routine
21966 ;; the spam function
21968 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
21969 (when (stringp from)
21970 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
21971 ;; the ham function
21974 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
21975 (spam-generic-register-routine
21976 ;; the spam function
21978 ;; the ham function
21980 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
21981 (when (stringp from)
21982 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
21985 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
21986 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
21987 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
21988 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
21989 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
21990 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
21995 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
21996 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
21997 @cindex Paul Graham
21998 @cindex Graham, Paul
21999 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22000 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22001 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22003 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22004 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22005 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22006 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22007 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22008 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22009 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22010 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22011 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22014 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22015 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22016 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22017 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22018 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22019 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22020 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22021 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22023 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22024 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22025 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22026 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22027 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22030 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22031 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22032 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22035 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22036 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22038 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22039 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22040 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22041 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22042 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22044 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22045 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22046 per mail. Use the following:
22048 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22049 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22050 is treated as one spam mail.
22053 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22054 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22055 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22058 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22059 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22060 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22061 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22062 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22063 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22065 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22066 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22067 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22068 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22069 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22072 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22073 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22074 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22075 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22078 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22079 reset the dictionary.
22081 @defun spam-stat-reset
22082 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22085 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22086 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22087 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22088 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22089 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22090 only non-spam mails.
22092 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22093 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22094 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22097 @defun spam-stat-save
22098 Save the dictionary.
22101 @defvar spam-stat-file
22102 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22103 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22106 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22107 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22109 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22110 following to your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22113 (require 'spam-stat)
22117 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22120 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22121 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22122 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22123 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22125 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22126 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22127 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22128 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22131 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22132 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22136 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22137 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22140 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22141 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22142 expression are considered potential spam.
22145 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22146 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22147 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22151 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22152 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22153 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22154 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22155 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22158 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22159 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22160 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22164 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22165 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22166 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22167 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22168 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22172 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22173 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22174 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22175 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22180 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22181 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22183 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22185 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22186 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22187 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22190 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22191 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22192 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22195 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22196 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22197 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22198 already been processed as non-spam.
22201 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22202 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22203 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22204 been processed as spam.
22207 @defun spam-stat-save
22208 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22209 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22212 @defun spam-stat-load
22213 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22214 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22217 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22218 Return the spam score for a word.
22221 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22222 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22225 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22226 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22227 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22230 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22231 following in your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22234 (require 'spam-stat)
22238 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22241 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22242 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22243 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22244 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22245 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22246 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22247 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22248 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22249 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22250 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22251 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22252 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22253 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22254 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22257 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22260 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22261 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22262 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22263 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22264 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22265 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22268 @node Various Various
22269 @section Various Various
22275 @item gnus-home-directory
22276 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22277 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22279 @item gnus-directory
22280 @vindex gnus-directory
22281 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22282 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22283 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22285 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22286 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22287 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22288 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22290 @item gnus-default-directory
22291 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22292 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22293 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22294 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22295 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22296 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22297 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22300 @vindex gnus-verbose
22301 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22302 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22303 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22304 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22305 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22307 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22308 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22309 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22310 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22312 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22313 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22314 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22315 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22316 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22317 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22318 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22319 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22320 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22321 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22323 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22324 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22325 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22326 read when doing the operation described above.
22328 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22329 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22331 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22332 @cindex characters in file names
22333 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22334 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22335 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22338 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22342 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22343 Windows (phooey) systems.
22345 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22346 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22347 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22348 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22349 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
22351 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
22352 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
22353 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
22354 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
22355 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
22357 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
22358 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
22359 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
22361 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22362 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22364 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
22365 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
22366 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
22367 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
22370 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
22378 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
22379 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
22381 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
22383 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
22389 Not because of victories @*
22392 but for the common sunshine,@*
22394 the largess of the spring.
22398 but for the day's work done@*
22399 as well as I was able;@*
22400 not for a seat upon the dais@*
22401 but at the common table.@*
22406 @chapter Appendices
22409 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
22410 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
22411 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
22412 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
22413 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
22414 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
22415 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
22416 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
22417 * Frequently Asked Questions::
22424 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
22426 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
22427 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
22428 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
22429 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
22430 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
22431 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
22438 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
22439 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
22441 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
22442 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
22443 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
22444 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
22445 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
22447 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
22448 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
22449 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
22450 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
22451 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
22452 appropriate name, don't you think?)
22454 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
22455 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
22456 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
22457 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
22460 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
22461 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
22462 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
22463 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
22464 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
22465 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
22466 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
22467 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
22468 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
22472 @node Gnus Versions
22473 @subsection Gnus Versions
22475 @cindex September Gnus
22477 @cindex Quassia Gnus
22478 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
22482 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
22483 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
22484 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
22486 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
22487 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
22489 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
22490 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
22492 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
22493 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
22495 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
22496 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
22499 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
22501 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
22502 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
22503 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
22504 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
22505 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
22506 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
22509 @node Other Gnus Versions
22510 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
22513 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
22514 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
22515 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
22516 @sc{mime} capabilities.
22518 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
22519 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
22520 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
22521 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
22528 What's the point of Gnus?
22530 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
22531 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
22532 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
22533 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
22534 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
22535 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
22536 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
22537 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
22538 keep track of millions of people who post?
22540 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
22541 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
22542 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
22543 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
22544 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
22545 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
22546 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
22547 every one of you to explore and invent.
22549 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
22550 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
22553 @node Compatibility
22554 @subsection Compatibility
22556 @cindex compatibility
22557 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
22558 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
22559 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
22564 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
22568 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
22571 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
22574 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
22575 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
22576 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
22577 important variables have their values copied into their global
22578 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
22579 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
22581 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
22582 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
22583 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
22584 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
22585 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
22589 @cindex highlighting
22590 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
22591 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
22592 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
22593 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
22594 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
22595 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
22598 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
22599 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
22600 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
22601 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
22603 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
22604 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
22605 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
22606 to stop doing it the old way.
22608 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
22610 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22612 @cindex reporting bugs
22614 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
22615 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
22616 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
22618 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
22619 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
22620 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
22621 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
22626 @subsection Conformity
22628 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
22629 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
22637 There are no known breaches of this standard.
22641 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
22643 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
22644 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
22645 We do have some breaches to this one.
22651 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
22652 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
22653 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
22654 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
22655 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
22660 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
22661 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
22662 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
22663 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
22665 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
22667 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
22669 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
22670 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
22672 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
22675 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
22676 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
22677 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
22678 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
22679 decoding (verification and decryption).
22681 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
22682 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
22683 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
22684 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
22686 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
22687 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
22689 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
22690 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
22691 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
22692 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
22693 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
22694 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
22695 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
22699 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
22700 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
22705 @subsection Emacsen
22711 Gnus should work on :
22719 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
22723 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
22724 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
22727 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
22728 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
22729 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
22733 @node Gnus Development
22734 @subsection Gnus Development
22736 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
22737 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
22738 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
22739 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
22740 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
22741 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
22742 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
22743 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
22745 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
22746 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
22747 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
22748 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
22749 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
22752 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
22753 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
22754 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
22755 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
22756 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
22758 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
22759 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
22760 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
22761 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
22762 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
22763 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
22764 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
22765 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
22766 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
22767 can't be assumed to do so.
22772 @subsection Contributors
22773 @cindex contributors
22775 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
22776 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
22777 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
22778 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
22779 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
22780 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
22781 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
22782 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
22783 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
22784 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
22786 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
22792 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
22795 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
22796 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
22797 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
22798 functionality and stuff.
22801 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
22802 well as numerous other things).
22805 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
22808 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
22811 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
22814 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
22817 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
22818 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
22821 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
22824 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
22825 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22828 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
22831 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
22834 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
22837 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
22840 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
22841 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
22844 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
22847 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
22850 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
22853 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
22857 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
22860 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
22863 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
22866 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
22867 well as autoconf support.
22871 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
22872 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
22874 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
22883 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
22887 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
22897 Alexei V. Barantsev,
22912 Massimo Campostrini,
22917 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
22918 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
22922 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
22925 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
22931 Michael Welsh Duggan,
22936 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
22940 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
22948 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
22950 Michelangelo Grigni,
22954 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
22956 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
22958 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
22965 François Felix Ingrand,
22966 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
22967 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
22969 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
22980 Peter Skov Knudsen,
22981 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
22983 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
22984 Thor Kristoffersen,
22987 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23005 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23006 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23013 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23018 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23022 John McClary Prevost,
23028 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23033 Christian von Roques,
23036 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23043 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23045 Randal L. Schwartz,
23059 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23064 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23080 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
23085 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23086 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23087 (550kB and counting).
23089 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23092 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23093 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23097 @subsection New Features
23098 @cindex new features
23101 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23102 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23103 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23104 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23105 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23108 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23109 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23110 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23113 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23115 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23120 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23121 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23124 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23125 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23128 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23131 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23132 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23133 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23136 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23137 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23138 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23139 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23142 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23143 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23146 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23147 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23148 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23151 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23152 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23155 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23156 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23157 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23160 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23161 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23162 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23165 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus.el}) to avoid cluttering up
23166 the @file{.emacs} file.
23169 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23170 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23173 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23174 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23177 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23178 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23181 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23182 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23185 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23186 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23189 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23192 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23193 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23196 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23197 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23200 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23201 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23204 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23207 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23208 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23211 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23215 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23219 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23220 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23223 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23229 @node September Gnus
23230 @subsubsection September Gnus
23234 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23238 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23243 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23244 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23248 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23249 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23253 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23257 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23258 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23261 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23265 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23268 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23271 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23274 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23278 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23279 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23282 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23286 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23290 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23294 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23298 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23301 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23302 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23305 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23309 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23310 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23313 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23316 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23317 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23318 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23321 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23325 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23328 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23332 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23333 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23336 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23337 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23340 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23341 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
23344 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
23345 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
23346 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
23349 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
23350 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
23353 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
23356 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23359 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
23362 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
23365 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
23366 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
23369 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
23373 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
23376 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
23381 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
23384 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
23388 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23391 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
23395 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
23398 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
23401 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
23402 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23405 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
23406 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
23410 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
23411 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
23414 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
23418 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
23419 buffer to allow easier treatment.
23422 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
23425 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
23429 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
23433 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
23434 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
23437 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
23441 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
23442 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23445 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
23446 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23449 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
23453 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23456 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
23459 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
23465 @subsubsection Red Gnus
23467 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
23471 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
23478 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
23481 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
23482 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23485 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
23486 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
23490 Article washing status can be displayed in the
23491 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
23494 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
23497 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
23498 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
23501 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
23505 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
23506 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
23510 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
23511 Server Internals}).
23514 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
23518 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
23521 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
23522 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
23525 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
23526 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
23527 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
23530 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
23531 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23534 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
23535 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
23538 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
23542 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
23543 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23546 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
23547 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23550 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
23554 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
23557 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
23561 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
23562 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23565 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
23566 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23569 A new command for reading collections of documents
23570 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
23571 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
23574 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
23578 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
23579 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
23582 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
23583 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
23584 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
23587 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
23588 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
23592 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
23596 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
23600 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
23605 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
23609 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
23613 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
23614 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
23617 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
23623 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
23625 New features in Gnus 5.6:
23630 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
23631 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
23632 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
23635 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
23636 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
23637 group, which is created automatically.
23640 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
23644 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
23647 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
23648 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
23651 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
23655 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
23658 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
23659 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
23662 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
23665 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
23666 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
23669 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
23670 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
23673 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
23674 control over simplification.
23677 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
23680 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
23684 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
23687 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
23690 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
23691 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
23692 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
23695 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
23696 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
23699 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
23703 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
23704 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
23707 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
23708 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
23711 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
23715 A history of where mails have been split is available.
23718 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
23721 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
23722 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
23725 A new function for citing in Message has been
23726 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
23729 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
23732 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
23736 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
23737 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
23740 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
23741 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
23744 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
23747 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
23751 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
23752 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
23754 New features in Gnus 5.8:
23759 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
23760 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
23762 If you used procmail like in
23765 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
23766 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
23767 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
23768 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
23771 this now has changed to
23775 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
23779 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
23780 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
23783 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
23784 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
23787 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
23788 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
23791 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
23792 called to position point.
23795 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
23796 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
23799 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
23800 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
23803 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
23804 subtly different manner.
23807 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
23808 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
23809 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
23812 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
23820 @section The Manual
23824 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
23825 either @code{texi2dvi}
23827 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
23828 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
23830 to get what you hold in your hands now.
23832 The following conventions have been used:
23837 This is a @samp{string}
23840 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
23843 This is a @file{file}
23846 This is a @code{symbol}
23850 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
23854 (setq flargnoze "yes")
23857 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
23860 (setq flumphel 'yes)
23863 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
23864 ever get them confused.
23868 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
23869 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
23870 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
23871 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
23872 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
23873 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
23874 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
23880 @node On Writing Manuals
23881 @section On Writing Manuals
23883 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
23884 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
23885 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
23886 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
23887 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
23888 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
23891 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
23892 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
23893 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
23896 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
23897 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
23902 @section Terminology
23904 @cindex terminology
23909 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
23910 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
23911 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
23912 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
23913 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
23917 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
23918 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
23919 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
23920 not posting, and replying is not following up.
23924 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
23928 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
23933 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
23934 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
23935 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
23936 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
23937 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
23938 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
23939 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
23940 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
23941 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
23943 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
23944 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
23945 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
23946 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
23947 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
23950 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
23951 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
23952 access the articles.
23954 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
23955 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
23956 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
23961 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
23962 default, way of getting news.
23966 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
23967 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
23972 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
23973 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
23977 A message that has been posted as news.
23980 @cindex mail message
23981 A message that has been mailed.
23985 A mail message or news article
23989 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
23994 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
23999 A line from the head of an article.
24003 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24004 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24008 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24009 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24010 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24011 normal @sc{head} format.
24015 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24016 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24017 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24018 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24019 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24020 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24022 @item killed groups
24023 @cindex killed groups
24024 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24025 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24027 @item zombie groups
24028 @cindex zombie groups
24029 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24032 @cindex active file
24033 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24034 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24035 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24038 @cindex bogus groups
24039 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24040 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24041 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24044 @cindex activating groups
24045 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24046 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24047 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24051 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24053 @item select method
24054 @cindex select method
24055 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24058 @item virtual server
24059 @cindex virtual server
24060 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24061 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24062 whole is a virtual server.
24066 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24067 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24070 @item ephemeral groups
24071 @cindex ephemeral groups
24072 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24073 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24074 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24077 @cindex solid groups
24078 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24079 group buffer are solid groups.
24081 @item sparse articles
24082 @cindex sparse articles
24083 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24084 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24088 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24089 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24093 @cindex thread root
24094 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24095 articles in the thread.
24099 An article that has responses.
24103 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24107 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24108 specified by RFC 1153.
24114 @node Customization
24115 @section Customization
24116 @cindex general customization
24118 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24119 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24120 for some quite common situations.
24123 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24124 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24125 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24126 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24130 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24131 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24133 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24134 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24135 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24139 @item gnus-read-active-file
24140 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24141 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24142 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24143 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24144 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24146 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24147 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24148 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24149 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24153 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24154 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24156 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24157 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24158 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24162 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24163 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24164 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24165 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24166 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24168 @item gnus-visible-headers
24169 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24170 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24171 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24172 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24174 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24176 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24177 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24178 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24181 @item gnus-use-full-window
24182 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24183 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24184 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24185 want to read them anyway.
24187 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24188 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24192 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24193 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24194 lines, which might save some time.
24198 @node Little Disk Space
24199 @subsection Little Disk Space
24202 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24203 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24207 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24208 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24209 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24210 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24213 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24214 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24215 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24216 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24219 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24220 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24221 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24222 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24223 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24229 @subsection Slow Machine
24230 @cindex slow machine
24232 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24233 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24235 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24236 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24238 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24239 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24240 summary buffer faster.
24244 @node Troubleshooting
24245 @section Troubleshooting
24246 @cindex troubleshooting
24248 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24256 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24259 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24260 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24264 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24265 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
24266 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
24267 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24270 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24274 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24275 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24276 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24277 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24278 something like that.
24281 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24284 @cindex reporting bugs
24286 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24288 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24289 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24290 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24291 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24293 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24294 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24295 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24296 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24299 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24300 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24301 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24302 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24303 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24304 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24306 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24307 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24308 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24312 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24313 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24316 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24317 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24318 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24319 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24320 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24321 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24322 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24323 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24324 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24325 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24326 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24327 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24328 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24329 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24334 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24335 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24336 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press C-j when things are
24337 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24338 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24339 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24340 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
24341 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
24342 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
24343 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-packagre RET message}. Then perform
24344 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
24345 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
24346 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
24347 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
24348 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
24349 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
24350 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
24351 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
24353 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
24354 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
24356 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
24357 @cindex ding mailing list
24358 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
24359 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
24363 @node Gnus Reference Guide
24364 @section Gnus Reference Guide
24366 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
24367 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
24368 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
24369 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
24372 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
24373 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
24374 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
24375 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
24376 and general methods of operation.
24379 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
24380 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
24381 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
24382 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
24383 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
24384 * Group Info:: The group info format.
24385 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
24386 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
24387 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
24391 @node Gnus Utility Functions
24392 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
24393 @cindex Gnus utility functions
24394 @cindex utility functions
24396 @cindex internal variables
24398 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
24399 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
24400 Below is a list of the most common ones.
24404 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
24405 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
24406 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
24408 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
24409 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
24410 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
24412 @item gnus-group-real-name
24413 @findex gnus-group-real-name
24414 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
24417 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
24418 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
24419 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
24420 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
24422 @item gnus-get-info
24423 @findex gnus-get-info
24424 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
24426 @item gnus-group-unread
24427 @findex gnus-group-unread
24428 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
24432 @findex gnus-active
24433 The active entry for @var{group}.
24435 @item gnus-set-active
24436 @findex gnus-set-active
24437 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
24439 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24440 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24441 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
24444 @item gnus-continuum-version
24445 @findex gnus-continuum-version
24446 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
24447 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
24450 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
24451 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
24452 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
24454 @item gnus-news-group-p
24455 @findex gnus-news-group-p
24456 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
24458 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24459 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24460 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
24462 @item gnus-server-to-method
24463 @findex gnus-server-to-method
24464 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
24466 @item gnus-server-equal
24467 @findex gnus-server-equal
24468 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
24470 @item gnus-group-native-p
24471 @findex gnus-group-native-p
24472 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
24474 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
24475 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
24476 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
24478 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
24479 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
24480 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
24482 @item group-group-find-parameter
24483 @findex group-group-find-parameter
24484 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
24485 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
24487 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
24488 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
24489 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
24491 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
24492 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
24493 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
24495 @item gnus-check-backend-function
24496 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
24497 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
24498 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
24501 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
24505 @item gnus-read-method
24506 @findex gnus-read-method
24507 Prompts the user for a select method.
24512 @node Back End Interface
24513 @subsection Back End Interface
24515 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
24516 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
24517 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
24518 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
24519 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
24520 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
24522 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
24523 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
24524 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
24525 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
24526 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
24527 been opened, the function should fail.
24529 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
24530 name. Take this example:
24534 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
24535 (nntp-port-number 4324))
24538 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
24539 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
24541 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
24542 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
24543 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
24545 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
24546 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
24547 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
24549 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
24550 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
24551 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
24552 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
24553 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
24554 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
24557 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
24558 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
24559 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
24560 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
24563 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
24564 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
24565 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
24566 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
24567 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
24568 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
24569 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
24570 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
24571 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
24572 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
24574 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
24575 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
24576 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
24577 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
24578 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
24579 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
24580 of numbers as long as possible.
24582 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
24583 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
24584 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
24586 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
24589 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
24592 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
24593 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
24594 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
24595 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
24596 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
24597 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
24601 @node Required Back End Functions
24602 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
24606 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
24608 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
24609 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
24610 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
24611 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
24613 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
24614 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
24615 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
24616 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
24618 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
24619 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
24620 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
24621 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
24622 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
24623 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
24624 number, do maximum fetches.
24626 Here's an example HEAD:
24629 221 1056 Article retrieved.
24630 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
24631 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
24632 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
24633 Subject: Re: Something very droll
24634 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
24635 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
24637 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
24638 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
24639 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
24643 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
24644 these in the data buffer.
24646 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
24650 head = error / valid-head
24651 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
24652 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
24653 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
24654 header = <text> eol
24657 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
24658 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
24662 nov-buffer = *nov-line
24663 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
24664 field = <text except TAB>
24667 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
24671 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
24673 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
24674 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
24676 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
24677 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
24678 server. In fact, it should do so.
24680 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
24681 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
24684 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
24686 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
24687 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
24690 There should be no data returned.
24693 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
24695 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
24696 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
24697 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
24698 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
24700 There should be no data returned.
24703 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
24705 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
24706 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
24707 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
24708 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
24710 There should be no data returned.
24713 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
24715 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
24717 There should be no data returned.
24720 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
24722 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
24723 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
24724 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
24725 it would be nice if that were possible.
24727 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
24728 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
24729 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
24730 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
24731 into its article buffer.
24733 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
24734 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
24735 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
24736 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
24737 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
24738 on successful article retrieval.
24741 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
24743 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
24744 making @var{group} the current group.
24746 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
24749 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
24752 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
24755 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
24756 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
24757 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
24758 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
24759 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
24760 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
24761 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
24762 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
24763 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
24767 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
24768 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
24769 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
24773 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24775 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
24776 a no-op on most back ends.
24778 There should be no data returned.
24781 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
24783 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
24786 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
24789 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
24790 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
24793 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
24794 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
24795 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
24796 and the highest as 0.
24799 active-file = *active-line
24800 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
24802 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
24805 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
24806 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
24807 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
24810 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
24812 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
24813 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
24814 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
24815 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
24816 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
24817 clear if the posting could not be completed.
24819 There should be no result data from this function.
24824 @node Optional Back End Functions
24825 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
24829 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
24831 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
24832 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
24833 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
24835 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
24836 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
24837 former is in the same format as the data from
24838 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
24839 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
24842 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
24846 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
24848 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
24849 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
24850 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
24851 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
24852 should return a non-nil value.
24854 There should be no result data from this function.
24857 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
24859 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
24860 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
24861 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
24862 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
24863 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
24864 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
24865 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
24866 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
24868 There should be no result data from this function.
24871 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
24873 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
24874 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
24875 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
24876 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
24877 propagate the mark information to the server.
24879 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
24882 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
24885 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
24886 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
24887 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
24888 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
24889 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
24890 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
24891 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
24892 possible, not limit itself to these.
24894 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
24895 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
24896 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
24897 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
24899 An example action list:
24902 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
24903 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
24904 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
24907 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
24908 mark on (currently not used for anything).
24910 There should be no result data from this function.
24912 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
24914 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
24915 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
24916 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
24917 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
24918 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
24920 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
24921 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
24922 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
24925 There should be no result data from this function.
24928 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
24930 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
24931 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
24932 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
24933 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
24934 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
24935 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
24936 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
24938 There should be no result data from this function.
24941 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
24943 The result data from this function should be a description of
24947 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
24949 description = <text>
24952 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
24954 The result data from this function should be the description of all
24955 groups available on the server.
24958 description-buffer = *description-line
24962 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
24964 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
24965 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
24966 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
24967 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
24968 in the active buffer format.
24970 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
24971 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
24972 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
24973 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
24974 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
24975 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
24976 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
24979 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24981 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
24983 There should be no return data.
24986 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
24988 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
24989 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
24990 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
24991 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
24992 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
24995 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
24998 There should be no result data returned.
25001 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
25004 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25005 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25007 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25008 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25009 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25010 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25011 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25012 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25014 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25015 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25018 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25019 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25021 There should be no data returned.
25024 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25026 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25027 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25028 this function in short order.
25030 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25031 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25033 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25034 article for that group.
25036 There should be no data returned.
25039 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25041 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25042 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25044 There should be no data returned.
25047 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25049 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25050 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25051 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25053 There should be no data returned.
25056 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25058 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25059 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25061 There should be no data returned.
25066 @node Error Messaging
25067 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25069 @findex nnheader-report
25070 @findex nnheader-get-report
25071 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25072 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25073 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25074 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25075 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25076 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25079 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25081 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25084 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25085 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25086 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25087 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25089 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25090 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25091 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25094 @node Writing New Back Ends
25095 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25097 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25098 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25099 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25100 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25101 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25104 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25105 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25106 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25108 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25109 package called @code{nnoo}.
25111 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25112 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25118 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25119 parameters. For instance:
25122 (nnoo-declare nndir
25126 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25127 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25130 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25131 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25132 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25134 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25135 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25136 a function in those back ends.
25139 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25140 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25141 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25144 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25145 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25146 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25148 @item nnoo-define-basics
25149 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25153 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25157 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25158 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25159 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25161 @item nnoo-map-functions
25162 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25163 functions from the parent back ends.
25166 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25167 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25168 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25171 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25172 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25173 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25174 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25177 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25178 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25179 haven't already been defined.
25185 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25189 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25190 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25191 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25196 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25199 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25200 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25204 (require 'nnheader)
25208 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25210 (nnoo-declare nndir
25213 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25214 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25215 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25217 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25218 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25221 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25223 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25224 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25225 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25227 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25228 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25230 ;;; Interface functions.
25232 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25234 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25235 (setq nndir-directory
25236 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25238 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25239 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25240 (push `(nndir-current-group
25241 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25242 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25244 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25245 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25247 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25249 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25250 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25251 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25252 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25253 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25257 nnmh-status-message
25259 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25265 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25266 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25268 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25269 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25270 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25271 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25272 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25274 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25275 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25280 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25283 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25285 The abilities can be:
25289 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25291 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25293 This back end supports both mail and news.
25295 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25298 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25299 articles and groups.
25301 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25302 true for almost all back ends.
25303 @item prompt-address
25304 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25305 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25306 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25310 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25311 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25313 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25314 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25315 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25316 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25319 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25320 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25321 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25324 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25325 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25328 This function takes four parameters.
25332 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25335 @item exit-function
25336 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25338 @item temp-directory
25339 Where the temporary files should be stored.
25342 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
25343 performed for one group only.
25346 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
25347 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
25348 find the article number assigned to this article.
25350 The function also uses the following variables:
25351 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
25352 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
25353 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
25354 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
25358 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
25359 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
25363 @node Score File Syntax
25364 @subsection Score File Syntax
25366 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
25367 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
25368 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
25370 Here's a typical score file:
25374 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
25381 BNF definition of a score file:
25384 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
25385 element = rule / atom
25386 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
25387 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
25388 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
25389 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
25391 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
25392 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
25393 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
25394 date-header = "date"
25395 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25396 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25397 score = "nil" / <integer>
25398 date = "nil" / <natural number>
25399 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
25400 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
25401 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
25402 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
25403 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25404 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25405 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
25406 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25407 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
25408 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
25409 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
25410 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
25411 exclude-files / read-only / touched
25412 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
25413 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
25414 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
25415 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
25416 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
25417 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
25418 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
25419 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
25420 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
25421 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
25422 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
25423 eval = "eval" space <form>
25424 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
25427 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
25430 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
25431 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
25432 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
25433 one looong line, then that's ok.
25435 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
25436 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25440 @subsection Headers
25442 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
25443 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
25444 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
25445 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
25447 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
25448 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
25449 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
25450 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
25451 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
25452 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
25453 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
25455 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
25456 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
25457 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
25458 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
25459 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
25461 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
25462 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
25468 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
25469 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
25471 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
25472 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
25473 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
25474 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
25476 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
25480 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
25483 is transformed into
25486 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
25489 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
25490 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
25493 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
25496 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
25497 is slightly tricky:
25500 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
25506 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
25509 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
25515 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
25522 and is equal to the previous range.
25524 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
25525 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
25526 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
25530 range = simple-range / normal-range
25531 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
25532 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
25533 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
25534 number *[ " " contents ]
25537 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
25538 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
25539 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
25540 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
25541 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
25546 @subsection Group Info
25548 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
25549 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
25550 describes the group.
25552 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
25553 second is a more complex one:
25556 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
25558 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
25559 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
25561 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
25564 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
25565 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
25566 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
25567 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
25568 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
25569 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
25570 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
25571 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
25572 this section is about.
25574 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
25575 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
25576 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
25578 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
25581 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
25582 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
25583 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25584 group = quote <string> quote
25585 ralevel = rank / level
25586 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25587 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
25588 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25590 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
25591 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
25592 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
25593 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
25596 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
25597 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
25600 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
25601 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
25604 @item gnus-info-group
25605 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
25606 @findex gnus-info-group
25607 @findex gnus-info-set-group
25608 Get/set the group name.
25610 @item gnus-info-rank
25611 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
25612 @findex gnus-info-rank
25613 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
25614 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
25616 @item gnus-info-level
25617 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
25618 @findex gnus-info-level
25619 @findex gnus-info-set-level
25620 Get/set the group level.
25622 @item gnus-info-score
25623 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
25624 @findex gnus-info-score
25625 @findex gnus-info-set-score
25626 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
25628 @item gnus-info-read
25629 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
25630 @findex gnus-info-read
25631 @findex gnus-info-set-read
25632 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
25634 @item gnus-info-marks
25635 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
25636 @findex gnus-info-marks
25637 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
25638 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
25640 @item gnus-info-method
25641 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
25642 @findex gnus-info-method
25643 @findex gnus-info-set-method
25644 Get/set the group select method.
25646 @item gnus-info-params
25647 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
25648 @findex gnus-info-params
25649 @findex gnus-info-set-params
25650 Get/set the group parameters.
25653 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
25654 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
25656 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
25657 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
25658 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
25659 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
25662 @node Extended Interactive
25663 @subsection Extended Interactive
25664 @cindex interactive
25665 @findex gnus-interactive
25667 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
25668 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
25669 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
25672 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
25673 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
25678 The best thing to do would have been to implement
25679 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
25680 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
25681 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
25682 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
25683 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
25684 @code{interactive}.
25686 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
25691 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
25692 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
25696 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
25697 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
25698 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
25701 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
25705 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
25709 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
25715 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
25716 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
25720 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
25721 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
25722 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
25724 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
25725 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
25726 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
25727 Gnus, that's very useful.
25729 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
25730 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
25731 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
25732 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
25733 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
25734 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
25735 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
25736 following function:
25739 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
25743 (,function ,@@args))
25747 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
25748 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
25749 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
25752 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
25753 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
25754 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
25756 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
25757 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
25758 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
25761 @node Various File Formats
25762 @subsection Various File Formats
25765 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
25766 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
25770 @node Active File Format
25771 @subsubsection Active File Format
25773 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
25774 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
25777 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
25780 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
25781 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
25782 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
25783 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
25784 no.general 1000 900 y
25787 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
25790 active = *group-line
25791 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
25792 group = <non-white-space string>
25794 high-number = <non-negative integer>
25795 low-number = <positive integer>
25796 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
25799 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
25800 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
25803 @node Newsgroups File Format
25804 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
25806 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
25807 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
25808 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
25811 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
25812 Here's the definition:
25816 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
25817 group = <non-white-space string>
25819 description = <string>
25824 @node Emacs for Heathens
25825 @section Emacs for Heathens
25827 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
25828 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
25829 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
25830 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
25831 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
25832 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
25833 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
25837 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
25838 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
25843 @subsection Keystrokes
25847 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
25850 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
25853 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
25854 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
25855 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
25856 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
25857 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
25858 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
25860 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
25861 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
25862 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
25863 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
25864 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
25865 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
25866 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
25868 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
25869 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
25870 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
25871 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
25872 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
25873 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
25874 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
25876 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
25877 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
25878 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
25879 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
25880 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
25886 @subsection Emacs Lisp
25888 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
25889 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
25890 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
25891 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
25893 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
25894 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
25895 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
25896 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
25897 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
25898 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
25899 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
25902 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
25903 write the following:
25906 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
25909 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
25910 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
25911 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
25914 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
25915 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
25916 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
25917 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
25918 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
25920 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
25921 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
25922 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
25926 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
25930 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
25933 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
25934 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
25937 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
25940 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
25941 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
25944 @include gnus-faq.texi
25964 @c Local Variables:
25966 @c coding: iso-8859-1
25968 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
25969 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
25970 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
25971 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
25972 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref