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10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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280 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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289 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
290 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
293 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
294 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
295 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
296 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
297 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
298 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
299 License'' in the Emacs manual.
301 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
302 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
303 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
305 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
306 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
307 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
308 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
316 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
318 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
319 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
321 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
322 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
323 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
324 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
325 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
326 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
327 License'' in the Emacs manual.
329 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
330 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
331 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
333 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
334 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
335 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
336 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
344 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
347 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
348 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001
349 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
351 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
352 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
353 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
354 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
355 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
356 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
357 License'' in the Emacs manual.
359 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
360 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
361 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
363 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
364 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
365 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
366 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
375 @top The Gnus Newsreader
379 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
380 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
381 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
384 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v.
395 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
396 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
398 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
399 being accused of plagiarism:
401 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
402 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
403 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
404 can even read news with it!
406 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
407 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
408 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
409 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
410 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
416 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
417 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
418 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
419 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
420 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
421 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
422 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
423 * Various:: General purpose settings.
424 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
425 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
426 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
427 * Key Index:: Key Index.
430 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
434 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
435 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
436 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
437 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
438 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
439 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
440 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
441 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
442 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
443 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
444 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
448 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
449 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
450 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
454 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
455 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
456 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
457 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
458 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
459 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
460 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
461 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
462 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
463 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
464 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
465 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
466 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
467 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
468 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
469 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
470 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
474 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
475 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
476 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
480 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
481 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
482 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
483 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
484 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
488 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
489 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
490 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
491 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
492 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
496 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
497 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
498 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
499 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
500 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
502 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
503 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
504 * Threading:: How threads are made.
505 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
506 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
507 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
508 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
509 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
510 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
511 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
512 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
513 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
514 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
515 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
516 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
517 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
518 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
519 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
520 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
521 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
522 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
523 or reselecting the current group.
524 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
525 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
526 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
527 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
529 Summary Buffer Format
531 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
532 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
533 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
534 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
538 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
539 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
541 Reply, Followup and Post
543 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
544 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
545 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
546 * Canceling and Superseding::
550 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
551 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
552 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
554 * Generic Marking Commands::
555 * Setting Process Marks::
559 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
560 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
561 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
565 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
566 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
568 Customizing Threading
570 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
571 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
572 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
573 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
577 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
578 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
579 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
580 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
581 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
582 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
586 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
587 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
588 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
592 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
593 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
594 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
595 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
596 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
597 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
598 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
599 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
601 Alternative Approaches
603 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
604 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
606 Various Summary Stuff
608 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
609 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
610 * Summary Generation Commands::
611 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
615 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
616 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
617 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
618 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
619 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
623 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
624 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
625 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
626 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
627 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
628 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
629 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
630 * Using GPG:: How to use GPG and MML to sign and encrypt messages
634 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
635 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
636 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
637 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
638 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
639 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
640 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
641 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
645 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
646 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
647 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
648 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
649 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
650 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
651 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
655 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
656 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
660 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
661 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
662 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
666 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
667 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
668 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
669 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
670 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
671 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
672 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
673 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
674 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
675 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
676 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
677 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
678 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
679 * Archiving Mail:: How to backup your mail.
683 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
684 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
685 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
687 Choosing a Mail Back End
689 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
690 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
691 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
692 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
693 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
694 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
698 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
699 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
700 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
701 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
702 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
703 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
707 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
708 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
709 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
713 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
714 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
715 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
716 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
717 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
721 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
725 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
726 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
727 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
731 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
732 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
736 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
737 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
738 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
739 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
740 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
741 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
742 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
743 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
744 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
745 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
749 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
750 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
751 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
755 * Group Agent Commands::
756 * Summary Agent Commands::
757 * Server Agent Commands::
761 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
762 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
763 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
764 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
765 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
766 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
767 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
768 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
769 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
770 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
771 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
772 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
773 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
774 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
775 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
776 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
777 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
781 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
782 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
783 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
784 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
788 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
789 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
790 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
794 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
795 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
796 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
797 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
798 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
799 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
800 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
801 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
802 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
803 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
804 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
805 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
806 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
807 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
808 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
809 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
810 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
811 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
815 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
816 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
817 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
818 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
819 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
820 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
821 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
822 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
826 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
827 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
828 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
829 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
833 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
834 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
835 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
836 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
837 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
841 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
842 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
843 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
844 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
845 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
846 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
847 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
851 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
852 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
853 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
854 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
855 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
856 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
857 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
858 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
859 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
863 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
864 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
865 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
866 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
867 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
871 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
872 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
873 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
874 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
878 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
879 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
880 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
881 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
882 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
883 * Group Info:: The group info format.
884 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
885 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
886 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
890 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
891 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
892 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
893 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
894 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
895 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
899 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
900 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
904 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
905 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
911 @chapter Starting Gnus
916 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
917 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
920 @findex gnus-other-frame
921 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
922 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
923 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
925 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
926 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
927 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
929 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
930 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
933 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
934 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
935 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
936 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
937 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
938 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
939 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
940 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
941 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
942 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
943 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
947 @node Finding the News
948 @section Finding the News
951 @vindex gnus-select-method
953 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
954 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
955 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
956 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
959 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
960 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
963 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
966 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
969 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
972 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
973 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
974 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
976 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
978 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
979 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
980 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
981 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
982 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
983 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
985 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
986 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
987 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
988 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
990 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
991 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
992 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
993 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
994 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
995 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
996 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
997 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
998 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1001 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1003 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1004 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1005 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1006 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1007 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1008 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1010 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1012 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1013 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1014 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1015 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1016 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1017 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1020 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1021 you would typically set this variable to
1024 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1028 @node The First Time
1029 @section The First Time
1030 @cindex first time usage
1032 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1033 be subscribed by default.
1035 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1036 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1037 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1038 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1041 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1042 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1043 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1045 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1046 help you with most common problems.
1048 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1049 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1053 @node The Server is Down
1054 @section The Server is Down
1055 @cindex server errors
1057 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1058 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1059 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1061 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1062 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1063 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1064 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1065 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1066 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1067 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1069 @findex gnus-no-server
1070 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1072 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1073 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1074 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1075 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1076 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1077 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1078 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1082 @section Slave Gnusae
1085 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1086 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1087 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1088 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1090 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1091 @code{.newsrc} file.
1093 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1094 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1095 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1096 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1097 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1098 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1099 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1101 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1102 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1103 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1104 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1105 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1106 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1107 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1108 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1110 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1111 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1114 @node Fetching a Group
1115 @section Fetching a Group
1116 @cindex fetching a group
1118 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1119 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1120 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1121 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1122 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1123 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1129 @cindex subscription
1131 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1132 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1133 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1134 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1135 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1136 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1137 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1138 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1139 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1142 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1143 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1144 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1148 @node Checking New Groups
1149 @subsection Checking New Groups
1151 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1152 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1153 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1154 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1155 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1156 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1157 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1158 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1159 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1160 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1162 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1163 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1164 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1165 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1166 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1167 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1168 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1169 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1170 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1171 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1172 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1174 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1175 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1176 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1177 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1178 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1179 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1182 @node Subscription Methods
1183 @subsection Subscription Methods
1185 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1186 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1187 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1189 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1190 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1192 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1196 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1197 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1198 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1199 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1200 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1202 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1203 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1204 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1205 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1207 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1208 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1209 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1211 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1212 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1213 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1214 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1215 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1216 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1217 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1218 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1219 up. Or something like that.
1221 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1222 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1223 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1224 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1225 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1227 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1228 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1229 Kill all new groups.
1231 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1232 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1233 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1234 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1235 topic parameter that looks like
1241 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1244 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1249 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1250 A closely related variable is
1251 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1252 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1253 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1254 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1257 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1258 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1259 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1260 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1263 @node Filtering New Groups
1264 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1266 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1267 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1268 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1271 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1274 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1275 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1276 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1277 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1278 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1279 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1280 subscribing these groups.
1281 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1282 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1284 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1285 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1286 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1287 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1288 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1289 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1290 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1291 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1293 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1294 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1295 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1296 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1297 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1298 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1299 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1300 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1301 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
1302 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
1304 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1305 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1308 @node Changing Servers
1309 @section Changing Servers
1310 @cindex changing servers
1312 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1313 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1314 very flaky and you want to use another.
1316 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1317 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1321 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1322 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1323 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1324 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1327 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1328 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1329 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1330 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1332 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1333 @findex gnus-change-server
1334 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1335 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1336 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1337 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1338 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1340 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1341 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1342 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1343 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1344 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1346 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1347 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1348 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1349 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1350 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1351 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1353 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1354 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1355 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1359 @section Startup Files
1360 @cindex startup files
1365 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1366 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1368 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1369 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1370 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1371 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1372 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1373 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1374 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1376 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1377 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1378 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1379 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1380 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1381 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1383 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1384 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1385 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1386 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1387 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1388 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1389 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1390 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1391 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1392 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1394 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1395 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1396 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1397 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1398 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1399 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1400 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1401 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1402 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1403 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1404 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1405 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1407 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1408 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1409 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1410 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1412 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1413 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1414 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1415 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1416 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1417 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1418 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1419 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1420 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1421 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1424 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1425 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1427 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1428 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1431 @vindex gnus-init-file
1432 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1433 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1434 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1435 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1436 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1437 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1438 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1439 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1440 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1446 @cindex dribble file
1449 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1450 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1451 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1452 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1453 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1456 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1457 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1460 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1461 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1462 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1464 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1465 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1466 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1467 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1468 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1469 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1471 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1472 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1473 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1476 @node The Active File
1477 @section The Active File
1479 @cindex ignored groups
1481 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1482 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1483 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1485 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1486 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1487 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1488 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1489 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1490 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1491 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1494 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1495 @c if you set it to anything else.
1497 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1499 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1500 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1501 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1503 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1504 you actually subscribe to.
1506 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1507 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1508 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1509 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1511 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1512 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1513 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1514 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1515 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1516 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1518 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1519 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1520 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1523 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1524 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1525 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1526 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1527 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1528 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1530 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1531 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1533 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1534 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1536 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1537 secondary select methods.
1540 @node Startup Variables
1541 @section Startup Variables
1545 @item gnus-load-hook
1546 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1547 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1548 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1549 times you start Gnus.
1551 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1552 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1553 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1555 @item gnus-startup-hook
1556 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1557 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1559 @item gnus-started-hook
1560 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1561 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1564 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1565 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1566 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1567 generating the group buffer.
1569 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1570 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1571 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1572 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1573 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1574 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1575 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1576 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1578 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1579 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1580 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1581 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1582 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1583 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1585 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1586 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1587 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1589 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1590 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1591 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1593 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1594 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1595 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1596 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1602 @chapter Group Buffer
1603 @cindex group buffer
1605 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1607 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1608 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1609 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1610 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1611 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1612 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1613 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1614 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1615 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1616 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1617 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1618 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1619 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1620 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1621 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1622 @c human rights at 9...
1625 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1626 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1627 long as Gnus is active.
1631 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1632 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1633 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1634 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1635 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1636 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1637 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1638 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1644 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1645 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1646 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1647 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1648 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1649 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1650 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1651 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1652 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1653 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1654 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1655 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1656 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1657 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1658 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1659 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1660 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1664 @node Group Buffer Format
1665 @section Group Buffer Format
1668 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1669 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1670 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1674 @node Group Line Specification
1675 @subsection Group Line Specification
1676 @cindex group buffer format
1678 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1679 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1681 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1684 25: news.announce.newusers
1685 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1690 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1691 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1692 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1693 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1695 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1696 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1697 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1698 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1699 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1700 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1702 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1704 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1705 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1706 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1707 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1708 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1710 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1711 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1712 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1714 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1719 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1722 Whether the group is subscribed.
1725 Level of subscribedness.
1728 Number of unread articles.
1731 Number of dormant articles.
1734 Number of ticked articles.
1737 Number of read articles.
1740 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1741 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1743 Gnus uses this estimation because the NNTP protocol provides efficient
1744 access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting the true
1745 unread message count is not possible efficiently. For hysterical
1746 raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of unread
1747 messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1748 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the
1749 back end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1750 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1753 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1756 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1765 Newsgroup description.
1768 @samp{m} if moderated.
1771 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1780 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1784 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1787 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1788 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1789 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1790 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1791 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1794 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1796 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1800 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1803 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1807 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1808 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1809 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1810 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1811 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1812 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1817 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1818 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1819 group, or a bogus native group.
1822 @node Group Modeline Specification
1823 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1824 @cindex group modeline
1826 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1827 The mode line can be changed by setting
1828 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1829 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1833 The native news server.
1835 The native select method.
1839 @node Group Highlighting
1840 @subsection Group Highlighting
1841 @cindex highlighting
1842 @cindex group highlighting
1844 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1845 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1846 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1847 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1848 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1850 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1854 (cond (window-system
1855 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1856 (defface my-group-face-1
1857 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1858 (defface my-group-face-2
1859 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1860 (defface my-group-face-3
1861 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1862 (defface my-group-face-4
1863 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1864 (defface my-group-face-5
1865 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1867 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1868 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1869 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1870 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1871 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1872 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1875 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1877 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1884 The number of unread articles in the group.
1888 Whether the group is a mail group.
1890 The level of the group.
1892 The score of the group.
1894 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1896 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1897 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1899 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1900 topic being inserted.
1903 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1904 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1905 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1907 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1908 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1909 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1910 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1911 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1914 @node Group Maneuvering
1915 @section Group Maneuvering
1916 @cindex group movement
1918 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1919 expected, hopefully.
1925 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1926 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1927 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1933 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1934 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1935 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1939 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1940 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1944 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1945 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1949 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1950 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1951 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1955 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1956 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1957 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1960 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1966 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1967 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1968 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1973 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1974 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1975 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1979 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1980 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1981 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1984 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1985 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1986 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1987 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1991 @node Selecting a Group
1992 @section Selecting a Group
1993 @cindex group selection
1998 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1999 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2000 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2001 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2002 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2003 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2004 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2005 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2006 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2007 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2009 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2010 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2011 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2013 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2014 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2019 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2020 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2021 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2022 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2023 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2027 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2028 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2029 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2030 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2031 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2032 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2033 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2034 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2035 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2036 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2039 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2040 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2041 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2042 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2043 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2046 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2047 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2048 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2049 doing any processing of its contents
2050 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2051 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2052 manner will have no permanent effects.
2056 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2057 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2058 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2059 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2060 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2061 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2062 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2063 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2066 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2067 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2068 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
2069 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2074 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
2075 full summary buffer.
2078 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
2081 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
2086 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function will
2087 be called to place point on a subject line, and/or select some article.
2088 Useful functions include:
2091 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-subject
2092 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article, but
2093 don't select the article.
2095 @item gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2096 Select the first unread article.
2098 @item gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2099 Select the highest-scored unread article.
2103 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2104 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
2105 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2109 @node Subscription Commands
2110 @section Subscription Commands
2111 @cindex subscription
2119 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2120 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2121 Toggle subscription to the current group
2122 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2128 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2129 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2130 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2131 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2137 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2138 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2139 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2145 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2146 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2149 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2150 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2151 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2152 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2153 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2159 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2160 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2164 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2165 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2168 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2169 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2170 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2171 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2172 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2173 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2174 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2175 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2176 @file{.newsrc} file.
2180 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2190 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2191 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2192 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2193 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2194 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2195 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2200 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2201 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2202 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2206 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2207 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2208 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2210 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2211 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2212 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2213 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2214 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2215 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2222 @section Group Levels
2226 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2227 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2228 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2229 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2230 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2232 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2238 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2239 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2240 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2241 prompted for a level.
2244 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2245 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2246 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2247 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2248 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2249 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2250 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2251 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2252 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2253 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2254 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2255 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2256 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2257 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2258 reasons of efficiency.
2260 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2261 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2263 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2264 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2265 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2266 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2267 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2268 groups are hidden, in a way.
2270 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2271 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2272 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2273 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2274 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2275 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2277 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2278 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2279 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2280 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2281 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2282 list of killed groups.)
2284 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2285 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2286 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2288 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2289 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2290 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2291 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2292 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2293 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2294 relevant valid ranges.
2296 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2297 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2298 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2299 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2300 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2301 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2304 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2305 one with the best level.
2307 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2308 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2309 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2312 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2313 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2314 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2315 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2318 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2319 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2320 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2321 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2323 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2324 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2325 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2326 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2327 to 5. The default is 6.
2331 @section Group Score
2336 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2337 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2338 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2341 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2342 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2343 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2344 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2345 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2346 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2347 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2348 least significant part.))
2350 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2351 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2352 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2353 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2354 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2355 action after each summary exit, you can add
2356 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2357 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2358 slow things down somewhat.
2361 @node Marking Groups
2362 @section Marking Groups
2363 @cindex marking groups
2365 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2366 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2367 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2368 bidding on those groups.
2370 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2371 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2372 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2380 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2381 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2387 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2388 Remove the mark from the current group
2389 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2393 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2394 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2398 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2399 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2403 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2404 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2408 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2409 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2410 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2413 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2415 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2416 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2417 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2418 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2419 the command to be executed.
2422 @node Foreign Groups
2423 @section Foreign Groups
2424 @cindex foreign groups
2426 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2427 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2428 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2429 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2436 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2437 @cindex making groups
2438 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2439 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2440 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2444 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2445 @cindex renaming groups
2446 Rename the current group to something else
2447 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2448 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2454 @findex gnus-group-customize
2455 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2459 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2460 @cindex renaming groups
2461 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2462 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2466 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2467 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2468 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2472 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2473 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2474 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2478 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2480 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2481 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2486 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2487 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2491 @cindex (ding) archive
2492 @cindex archive group
2493 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2494 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2495 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2496 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2497 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2498 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2499 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2503 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2505 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2506 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2507 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2508 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2512 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2514 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2515 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2516 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2520 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2521 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2523 Make a group based on some file or other
2524 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2525 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2526 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2527 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2528 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2529 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2530 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2531 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2532 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2536 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2537 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2538 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2539 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2543 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2548 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2549 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2550 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2551 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2552 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
2553 @xref{Web Searches}.
2555 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
2556 to a particular group by using a match string like
2557 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
2560 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2561 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2562 This function will delete the current group
2563 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2564 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2565 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2566 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2567 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2571 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2572 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2573 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2577 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2578 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2579 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2582 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2585 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2586 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2587 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2588 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2589 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2590 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2594 @node Group Parameters
2595 @section Group Parameters
2596 @cindex group parameters
2598 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2599 Here's an example group parameter list:
2602 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2606 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2607 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2608 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2609 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2611 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2612 is an alist of regexps and values.
2614 The following group parameters can be used:
2619 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2622 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2625 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2626 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2627 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2628 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2629 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2631 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2632 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2633 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2634 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2635 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2636 list address instead.
2638 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2642 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2645 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2648 It is totally ignored
2649 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2650 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2652 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2653 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2654 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2655 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2656 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2658 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2659 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2660 sending the message.
2662 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2663 @cindex Mail List Groups
2664 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2665 entering summary buffer.
2667 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2671 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2672 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2673 of whether it has any unread articles.
2675 @item broken-reply-to
2676 @cindex broken-reply-to
2677 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2678 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2679 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2680 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2681 broken behavior. So there!
2685 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2686 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2690 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2691 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2692 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2697 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2698 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2699 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2700 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2701 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2702 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2703 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2707 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2708 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2709 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2711 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2714 @cindex total-expire
2715 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2716 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2717 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2718 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2721 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2725 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2726 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2727 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2728 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2729 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2730 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2733 @cindex score file group parameter
2734 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2735 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2736 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2739 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2740 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2741 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2742 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2745 @cindex admin-address
2746 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2747 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2748 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2749 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2753 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2754 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2758 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2761 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2762 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2765 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2769 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2771 Here are some examples:
2775 Display only read articles.
2778 Display everything except expirable articles.
2780 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2781 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2785 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2786 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2787 @code{read}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2788 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2789 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{seen} and @code{recent}.
2793 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2794 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2795 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2799 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2800 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2801 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2806 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2807 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2808 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2810 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2812 @item ignored-charsets
2813 @cindex ignored-charset
2814 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2815 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2816 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2818 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2821 @cindex posting-style
2822 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2823 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2824 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2825 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2826 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2828 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2829 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2830 like this in the group parameters:
2835 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2840 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2841 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2845 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2846 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2847 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2848 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2849 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2853 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2854 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2855 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2856 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2858 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2859 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2860 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2861 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2864 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2865 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2869 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2872 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2873 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2874 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2875 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2876 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2877 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2878 @code{eval}ed there.
2880 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2881 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2882 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2883 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2884 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2888 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2889 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2890 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2891 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2892 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2894 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2895 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2899 (setq gnus-parameters
2901 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2902 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2903 (gnus-summary-line-format
2904 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2908 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2912 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2916 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2919 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2920 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2923 @node Listing Groups
2924 @section Listing Groups
2925 @cindex group listing
2927 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2935 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2936 List all groups that have unread articles
2937 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2938 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2939 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2940 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2947 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2948 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2949 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2950 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2951 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2952 unsubscribed groups).
2956 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2957 List all unread groups on a specific level
2958 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2959 with no unread articles.
2963 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2964 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2965 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2966 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2971 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2972 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2976 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2977 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2978 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2982 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2983 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2987 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2988 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2989 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2990 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2991 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2992 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2993 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2994 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2998 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2999 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3000 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3004 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3005 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3006 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3010 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3011 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3015 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3016 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3020 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3021 List groups limited within the current selection
3022 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3026 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3027 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3031 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3032 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3036 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3037 @cindex visible group parameter
3038 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3039 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3040 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3041 get the same effect.
3043 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3044 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3045 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3046 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3047 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3050 @node Sorting Groups
3051 @section Sorting Groups
3052 @cindex sorting groups
3054 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3055 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3056 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3057 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3058 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3059 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3064 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3065 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3066 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3068 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3069 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3070 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3072 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3073 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3074 Sort by group level.
3076 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3077 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3078 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3080 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3081 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3082 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3083 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3085 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3086 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3087 Sort by number of unread articles.
3089 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3090 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3091 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3093 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3094 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3095 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3100 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3101 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3105 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3106 some sorting criteria: