From c95bf4813768635c2833900efdc9dea60436684b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kai Grossjohann Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 16:16:34 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] (Splitting Mail): Typo. (Comparing Mail Back Ends): Say "back end" instead of "backend". (Terminology): Try to explain "back end" better. --- texi/ChangeLog | 2 ++ texi/gnus.texi | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------ 2 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-) diff --git a/texi/ChangeLog b/texi/ChangeLog index f814141ba..a2b4f5a97 100644 --- a/texi/ChangeLog +++ b/texi/ChangeLog @@ -1,6 +1,8 @@ 2002-09-09 Kai Gro,b_(Bjohann * gnus.texi (Splitting Mail): Typo. + (Comparing Mail Back Ends): Say "back end" instead of "backend". + (Terminology): Try to explain "back end" better. 2002-09-09 Simon Josefsson diff --git a/texi/gnus.texi b/texi/gnus.texi index 3c1e8f662..ef192e265 100644 --- a/texi/gnus.texi +++ b/texi/gnus.texi @@ -14427,7 +14427,7 @@ it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with @code{nnmaildir}. For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group -parameters slightly different from those of other mail backends. +parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends. @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up. (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files @@ -14437,11 +14437,11 @@ parameter to somthing small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably would) to make it use less memory. Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than -with other backends. Everything in between is likely to be faster, +with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster, depending in part on your filesystem. @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo} -to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived backend. +to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end. @end table @@ -22703,9 +22703,31 @@ are reading. @item back end @cindex back end -Gnus gets fed articles from a number of back ends, both news and mail -back ends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this -is all done by the back ends. +Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only +difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are +commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be +read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus +thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally, +when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke +a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a +back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo +group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''. + +So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end +accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via +IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end +accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml} +back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's +quite similar). + +Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all +done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to +access the articles. + +However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server' +would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select +method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite +confusing. @item native @cindex native -- 2.34.1