10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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284 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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293 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
295 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
299 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
300 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
301 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
302 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
303 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
304 License'' in the Emacs manual.
306 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
307 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
308 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
310 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
311 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
312 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
313 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
321 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
323 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
324 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
326 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
327 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
328 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
329 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
330 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
331 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
332 License'' in the Emacs manual.
334 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
335 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
336 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
338 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
339 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
340 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
341 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
349 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
352 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
353 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
355 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
357 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
358 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
359 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
360 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
361 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
362 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
363 License'' in the Emacs manual.
365 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
366 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
367 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
369 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
370 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
371 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
372 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
381 @top The Gnus Newsreader
385 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
386 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
387 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
390 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v0.18.
401 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
402 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
404 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
405 being accused of plagiarism:
407 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
408 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
409 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
410 can even read news with it!
412 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
413 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
414 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
415 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
416 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
422 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
423 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
424 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
425 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
426 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
427 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
428 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
429 * Various:: General purpose settings.
430 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
431 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
432 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
433 * Key Index:: Key Index.
435 Other related manuals
437 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
438 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
439 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
440 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
443 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
447 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
448 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
449 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
450 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
451 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
452 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
453 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
454 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
455 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
456 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
457 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
461 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
462 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
463 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
467 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
468 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
469 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
470 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
471 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
472 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
473 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
474 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
475 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
476 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
477 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
478 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
479 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
480 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
481 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
482 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
483 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
487 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
488 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
489 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
493 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
494 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
495 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
496 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
497 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
501 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
502 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
503 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
504 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
505 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
509 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
510 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
511 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
512 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
513 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
514 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
515 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
516 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
517 * Threading:: How threads are made.
518 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
519 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
520 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
521 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
522 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
523 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
524 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
525 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
526 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
527 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
528 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
529 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
530 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
531 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
532 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
533 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
534 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
535 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
536 or reselecting the current group.
537 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
538 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
539 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
540 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
542 Summary Buffer Format
544 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
545 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
546 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
547 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
551 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
552 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
554 Reply, Followup and Post
556 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
557 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
558 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
559 * Canceling and Superseding::
563 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
564 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
565 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
567 * Generic Marking Commands::
568 * Setting Process Marks::
572 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
573 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
574 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
578 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
579 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
581 Customizing Threading
583 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
584 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
585 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
586 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
590 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
591 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
592 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
593 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
594 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
595 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
599 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
600 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
601 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
605 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
606 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
607 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
608 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
609 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
610 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
611 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
612 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
613 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
614 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
615 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
617 Alternative Approaches
619 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
620 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
622 Various Summary Stuff
624 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
625 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
626 * Summary Generation Commands::
627 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
631 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
632 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
633 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
634 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
635 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
639 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
640 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
641 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
642 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
643 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
644 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
645 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
646 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
650 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
651 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
652 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
653 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
654 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
655 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
656 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
657 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
661 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
662 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
663 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
664 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
665 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
666 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
667 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
671 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
672 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
676 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
677 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
678 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
682 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
683 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
684 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
685 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
686 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
687 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
688 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
689 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
690 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
691 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
692 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
693 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
694 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
698 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
699 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
700 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
702 Choosing a Mail Back End
704 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
705 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
706 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
707 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
708 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
709 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
710 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
715 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
716 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
717 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
718 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
719 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
720 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
724 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
725 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
726 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
727 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
728 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
732 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
733 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
734 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
735 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
736 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
740 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
744 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
745 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
746 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
750 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
751 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
755 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
756 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
757 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
758 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
759 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
760 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
761 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
762 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
763 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
764 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
765 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
766 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
770 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
771 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
772 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
776 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
777 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
778 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
782 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
783 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
784 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
785 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
786 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
787 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
788 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
789 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
790 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
791 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
792 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
793 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
794 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
795 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
796 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
797 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
798 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
802 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
803 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
804 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
805 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
809 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
810 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
811 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
815 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
816 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
817 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
818 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
819 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
820 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
821 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
822 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
823 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
824 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
825 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
826 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
827 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
828 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
829 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
830 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
831 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
832 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
833 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
837 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
838 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
839 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
840 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
841 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
842 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
843 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
844 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
848 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
849 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
850 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
851 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
855 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
856 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
857 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
858 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
859 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
860 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
864 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
865 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
866 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
867 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
868 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
869 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
870 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
871 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
872 * Frequently Asked Questions::
876 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
877 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
878 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
879 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
880 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
881 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
882 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
883 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
884 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
888 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
889 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
890 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
891 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
892 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
896 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
897 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
898 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
899 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
903 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
904 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
905 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
906 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
907 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
908 * Group Info:: The group info format.
909 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
910 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
911 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
915 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
916 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
917 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
918 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
919 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
920 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
924 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
925 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
929 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
930 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
936 @chapter Starting Gnus
941 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
942 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
945 @findex gnus-other-frame
946 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
947 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
948 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
950 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
951 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
952 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
954 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
955 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
958 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
959 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
960 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
961 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
962 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
963 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
964 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
965 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
966 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
967 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
968 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
972 @node Finding the News
973 @section Finding the News
976 @vindex gnus-select-method
978 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
979 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
980 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
981 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
984 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
985 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
988 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
991 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
994 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
997 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
998 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
999 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1001 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1003 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1004 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1005 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1006 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1007 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1008 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1010 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1011 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1012 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1013 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1015 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1016 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1017 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1018 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1019 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1020 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1021 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1022 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1023 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1026 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1028 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1029 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1030 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1031 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1032 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1033 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1035 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1037 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1038 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1039 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1040 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1041 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1042 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1045 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1046 you would typically set this variable to
1049 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1053 @node The First Time
1054 @section The First Time
1055 @cindex first time usage
1057 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1058 be subscribed by default.
1060 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1061 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1062 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1063 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1066 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1067 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1068 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1070 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1071 help you with most common problems.
1073 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1074 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1078 @node The Server is Down
1079 @section The Server is Down
1080 @cindex server errors
1082 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1083 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1084 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1086 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1087 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1088 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1089 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1090 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1091 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1092 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1094 @findex gnus-no-server
1095 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1097 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1098 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1099 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1100 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1101 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1102 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1103 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1107 @section Slave Gnusae
1110 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1111 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1112 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1113 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1115 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1116 @file{.newsrc} file.
1118 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1119 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1120 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1121 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1122 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1123 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1124 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1127 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1128 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1129 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1130 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1131 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1132 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1133 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1134 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1136 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1137 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1139 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1140 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1141 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1142 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1143 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1145 @node Fetching a Group
1146 @section Fetching a Group
1147 @cindex fetching a group
1149 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1150 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1151 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1152 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1153 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1154 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1160 @cindex subscription
1162 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1163 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1164 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1165 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1166 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1167 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1168 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1169 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1170 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1173 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1174 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1175 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1179 @node Checking New Groups
1180 @subsection Checking New Groups
1182 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1183 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1184 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1185 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1186 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1187 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1188 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1189 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1190 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1191 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1193 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1194 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1195 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1196 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1197 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1198 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1199 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1200 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1201 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1202 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1203 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1205 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1206 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1207 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1208 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1209 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1210 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1213 @node Subscription Methods
1214 @subsection Subscription Methods
1216 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1217 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1218 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1220 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1221 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1223 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1227 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1228 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1229 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1230 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1231 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1233 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1234 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1235 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1236 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1238 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1239 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1240 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1242 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1243 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1244 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1245 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1246 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1247 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1248 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1249 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1250 up. Or something like that.
1252 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1253 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1254 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1255 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1256 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1258 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1259 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1260 Kill all new groups.
1262 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1263 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1264 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1265 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1266 topic parameter that looks like
1272 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1275 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1280 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1281 A closely related variable is
1282 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1283 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1284 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1285 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1288 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1289 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1290 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1291 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1294 @node Filtering New Groups
1295 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1297 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1298 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1299 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1302 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1305 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1306 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1307 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1308 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1309 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1310 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1311 subscribing these groups.
1312 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1313 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1315 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1316 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1317 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1318 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1319 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1320 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1321 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1322 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1324 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1325 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1326 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1327 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1328 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1329 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1330 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1331 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1332 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1333 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1336 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1337 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1340 @node Changing Servers
1341 @section Changing Servers
1342 @cindex changing servers
1344 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1345 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1346 very flaky and you want to use another.
1348 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1349 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1353 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1354 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1355 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1356 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1359 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1360 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1361 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1362 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1364 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1365 @findex gnus-change-server
1366 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1367 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1368 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1369 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1370 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1372 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1373 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1374 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1375 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1376 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1378 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1379 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1380 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1381 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1382 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1383 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1385 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1386 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1387 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1388 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1390 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1391 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1392 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1393 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1394 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1395 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1396 cache for all groups).
1400 @section Startup Files
1401 @cindex startup files
1406 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1407 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1409 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1410 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1411 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1412 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1413 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1414 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1415 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1417 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1418 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1419 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1420 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1421 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1422 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1424 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1425 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1426 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1427 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1428 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1429 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1430 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1431 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1432 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1433 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1435 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1436 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1437 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1438 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1439 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1440 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1441 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1442 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1443 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1444 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1445 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1446 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1448 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1449 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1450 @vindex version-control
1451 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1452 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1453 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1454 If you want version control for this file, set
1455 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1456 @code{version-control} variable.
1458 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1459 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1460 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1461 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1462 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1463 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1464 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1465 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1466 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1467 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1470 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1471 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1473 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1474 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1477 @vindex gnus-init-file
1478 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1479 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1480 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1481 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1482 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1483 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1484 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1485 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1486 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1487 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1493 @cindex dribble file
1496 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1497 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1498 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1499 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1500 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1503 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1504 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1507 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1508 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1509 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1511 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1512 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1513 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1514 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1515 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1516 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1518 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1519 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1520 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1523 @node The Active File
1524 @section The Active File
1526 @cindex ignored groups
1528 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1529 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1530 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1532 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1533 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1534 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1535 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1536 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1537 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1538 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1541 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1542 @c if you set it to anything else.
1544 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1546 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1547 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1548 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1550 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1551 you actually subscribe to.
1553 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1554 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1555 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1556 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1558 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1559 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1560 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1561 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1562 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1563 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1565 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1566 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1567 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1570 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1571 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1572 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1573 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1574 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1575 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1577 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1578 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1580 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1581 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1583 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1584 secondary select methods.
1587 @node Startup Variables
1588 @section Startup Variables
1592 @item gnus-load-hook
1593 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1594 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1595 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1596 times you start Gnus.
1598 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1599 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1600 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1602 @item gnus-startup-hook
1603 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1604 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1606 @item gnus-started-hook
1607 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1608 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1611 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1612 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1613 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1614 generating the group buffer.
1616 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1617 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1618 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1619 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1620 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1621 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1622 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1623 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1625 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1626 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1627 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1628 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1629 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1630 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1632 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1633 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1634 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1636 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1637 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1638 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1640 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1641 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1642 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1643 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1649 @chapter Group Buffer
1650 @cindex group buffer
1652 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1654 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1655 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1656 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1657 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1658 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1659 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1660 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1661 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1662 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1663 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1664 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1665 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1666 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1667 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1668 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1669 @c human rights at 9...
1672 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1673 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1674 long as Gnus is active.
1678 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1679 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1680 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1681 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1682 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1683 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1684 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1685 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1691 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1692 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1693 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1694 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1695 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1696 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1697 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1698 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1699 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1700 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1701 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1702 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1703 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1704 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1705 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1706 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1707 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1711 @node Group Buffer Format
1712 @section Group Buffer Format
1715 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1716 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1717 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1721 @node Group Line Specification
1722 @subsection Group Line Specification
1723 @cindex group buffer format
1725 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1726 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1728 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1731 25: news.announce.newusers
1732 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1737 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1738 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1739 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1740 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1742 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1743 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1744 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1745 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1746 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1747 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1749 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1751 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1752 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1753 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1754 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1755 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1757 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1758 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1759 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1761 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1766 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1769 Whether the group is subscribed.
1772 Level of subscribedness.
1775 Number of unread articles.
1778 Number of dormant articles.
1781 Number of ticked articles.
1784 Number of read articles.
1787 Number of unseen articles.
1790 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1791 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1793 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1794 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1795 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1796 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1797 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1798 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1799 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1800 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1803 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1806 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1815 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1816 comment element in the group parameters.
1819 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1820 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1821 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1825 @samp{m} if moderated.
1828 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1834 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1840 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1844 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1847 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1848 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1849 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1850 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1851 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1854 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1856 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1860 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1863 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1867 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1868 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1869 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1870 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1871 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1872 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1877 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1878 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1879 group, or a bogus native group.
1882 @node Group Modeline Specification
1883 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1884 @cindex group modeline
1886 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1887 The mode line can be changed by setting
1888 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1889 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1893 The native news server.
1895 The native select method.
1899 @node Group Highlighting
1900 @subsection Group Highlighting
1901 @cindex highlighting
1902 @cindex group highlighting
1904 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1905 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1906 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1907 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1908 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1910 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1914 (cond (window-system
1915 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1916 (defface my-group-face-1
1917 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1918 (defface my-group-face-2
1919 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1920 (defface my-group-face-3
1921 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1922 (defface my-group-face-4
1923 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1924 (defface my-group-face-5
1925 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1927 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1928 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1929 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1930 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1931 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1932 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1935 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1937 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1944 The number of unread articles in the group.
1948 Whether the group is a mail group.
1950 The level of the group.
1952 The score of the group.
1954 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1956 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1957 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1959 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1960 topic being inserted.
1963 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1964 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1965 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1967 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1968 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1969 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1970 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1971 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1974 @node Group Maneuvering
1975 @section Group Maneuvering
1976 @cindex group movement
1978 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1979 expected, hopefully.
1985 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1986 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1987 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1993 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1994 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1995 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1999 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2000 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2004 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2005 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2009 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2010 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2011 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2015 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2016 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2017 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2020 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2026 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2027 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2028 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2033 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2034 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2035 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2039 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2040 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2041 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2044 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2045 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2046 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2047 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2051 @node Selecting a Group
2052 @section Selecting a Group
2053 @cindex group selection
2058 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2059 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2060 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2061 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2062 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2063 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2064 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2065 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2066 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2067 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2069 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2070 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2071 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2073 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2074 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2079 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2080 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2081 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2082 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2083 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2087 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2088 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2089 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2090 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2091 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2092 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2093 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2094 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2095 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2096 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2099 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2100 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2101 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2102 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2103 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2106 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2107 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2108 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2109 doing any processing of its contents
2110 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2111 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2112 manner will have no permanent effects.
2116 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2117 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2118 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2119 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2120 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2121 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2122 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2123 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2126 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2127 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2128 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2129 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2130 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2131 Which article this is is controlled by the
2132 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2138 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2141 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2144 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2146 @item unseen-or-unread
2147 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2148 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2152 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2156 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2157 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2159 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2160 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2161 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2162 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2166 @node Subscription Commands
2167 @section Subscription Commands
2168 @cindex subscription
2176 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2177 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2178 Toggle subscription to the current group
2179 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2185 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2186 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2187 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2188 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2194 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2195 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2196 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2202 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2203 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2206 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2207 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2208 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2209 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2210 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2216 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2217 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2221 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2222 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2225 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2226 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2227 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2228 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2229 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2230 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2231 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2232 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2233 @file{.newsrc} file.
2237 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2247 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2248 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2249 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2250 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2251 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2252 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2257 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2258 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2259 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2263 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2264 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2265 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2267 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2268 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2269 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2270 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2271 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2272 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2279 @section Group Levels
2283 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2284 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2285 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2286 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2287 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2289 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2295 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2296 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2297 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2298 prompted for a level.
2301 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2302 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2303 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2304 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2305 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2306 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2307 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2308 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2309 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2310 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2311 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2312 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2313 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2314 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2315 reasons of efficiency.
2317 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2318 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2320 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2321 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2322 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2323 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2324 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2325 groups are hidden, in a way.
2327 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2328 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2329 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2330 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2331 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2332 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2334 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2335 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2336 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2337 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2338 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2339 list of killed groups.)
2341 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2342 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2343 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2345 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2346 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2347 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2348 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2349 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2350 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2351 relevant valid ranges.
2353 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2354 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2355 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2356 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2357 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2358 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2361 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2362 one with the best level.
2364 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2365 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2366 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2369 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2370 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2371 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2372 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2375 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2376 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2377 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2378 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2380 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2381 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2382 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2383 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2384 to 5. The default is 6.
2388 @section Group Score
2393 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2394 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2395 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2398 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2399 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2400 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2401 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2402 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2403 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2404 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2405 least significant part.))
2407 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2408 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2409 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2410 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2411 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2412 action after each summary exit, you can add
2413 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2414 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2415 slow things down somewhat.
2418 @node Marking Groups
2419 @section Marking Groups
2420 @cindex marking groups
2422 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2423 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2424 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2425 bidding on those groups.
2427 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2428 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2429 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2437 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2438 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2444 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2445 Remove the mark from the current group
2446 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2450 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2451 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2455 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2456 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2460 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2461 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2465 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2466 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2467 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2470 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2472 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2473 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2474 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2475 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2476 the command to be executed.
2479 @node Foreign Groups
2480 @section Foreign Groups
2481 @cindex foreign groups
2483 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2484 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2485 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2486 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2493 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2494 @cindex making groups
2495 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2496 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2497 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2501 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2502 @cindex renaming groups
2503 Rename the current group to something else
2504 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2505 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2511 @findex gnus-group-customize
2512 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2516 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2517 @cindex renaming groups
2518 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2519 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2523 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2524 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2525 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2529 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2530 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2531 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2535 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2537 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2538 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2543 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2544 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2548 @cindex (ding) archive
2549 @cindex archive group
2550 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2551 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2552 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2553 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2554 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2555 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2556 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2560 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2562 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2563 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2564 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2565 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2569 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2571 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2572 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2573 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2577 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2578 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2580 Make a group based on some file or other
2581 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2582 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2583 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2584 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2585 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2586 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2587 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2588 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2589 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2593 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2594 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2595 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2596 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2600 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2604 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2605 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2606 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2607 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2608 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2609 @xref{Web Searches}.
2611 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2612 to a particular group by using a match string like
2613 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2616 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2617 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2618 This function will delete the current group
2619 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2620 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2621 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2622 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2623 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2627 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2628 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2629 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2633 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2634 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2635 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2638 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2641 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2642 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2643 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2644 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2645 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2646 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2650 @node Group Parameters
2651 @section Group Parameters
2652 @cindex group parameters
2654 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2655 Here's an example group parameter list:
2658 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2662 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2663 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2664 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2665 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2667 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2668 is an alist of regexps and values.
2670 The following group parameters can be used:
2675 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2678 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2681 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2682 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2683 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2684 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2685 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2687 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2688 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2689 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2690 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2691 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2692 list address instead.
2694 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2698 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2701 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2704 It is totally ignored
2705 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2706 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2708 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2709 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2710 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2711 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2712 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2714 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2715 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2716 sending the message.
2718 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2719 @cindex Mail List Groups
2720 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2721 entering summary buffer.
2723 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2728 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2729 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2730 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2731 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2732 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{Mailing
2733 Lists, , Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual} for a complete
2734 treatment of available MFT support.
2736 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2737 directly uses this group parameter.
2741 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2742 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2743 of whether it has any unread articles.
2745 @item broken-reply-to
2746 @cindex broken-reply-to
2747 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2748 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2749 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2750 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2751 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2752 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2756 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2757 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2761 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2762 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2763 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2768 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2769 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2770 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2771 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2772 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2773 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2774 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2775 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2776 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2780 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2781 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2782 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2784 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2787 @cindex total-expire
2788 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2789 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2790 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2791 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2794 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2798 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2799 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2800 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2801 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2802 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2803 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2804 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2807 @cindex score file group parameter
2808 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2809 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2810 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2813 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2814 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2815 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2816 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2819 @cindex admin-address
2820 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2821 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2822 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2823 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2827 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2828 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2832 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2835 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2836 entering the group with C-u @var{integer}.
2839 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2843 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2845 Here are some examples:
2849 Display only unread articles.
2852 Display everything except expirable articles.
2854 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2855 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2859 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2860 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2861 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2862 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2863 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2867 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2868 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2869 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2873 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2874 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2875 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2879 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2880 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2881 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2883 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2885 @item ignored-charsets
2886 @cindex ignored-charset
2887 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2888 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2889 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2891 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2894 @cindex posting-style
2895 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2896 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2897 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2898 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2899 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2901 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2902 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2903 like this in the group parameters:
2908 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2909 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2914 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2915 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2919 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2920 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2921 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2922 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2923 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2927 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2928 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2929 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2930 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2932 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2933 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2934 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2935 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2938 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2939 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2943 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2946 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2947 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2948 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2949 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2950 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2951 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2952 @code{eval}ed there.
2954 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
2955 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
2956 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
2957 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
2958 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
2959 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
2960 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
2961 @file{~/.gnus} file:
2963 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
2966 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2967 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2968 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2969 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2970 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2971 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2972 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2973 parameters for the group.
2975 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2976 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2977 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2978 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2979 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2983 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2984 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2985 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2986 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2987 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2989 @vindex gnus-parameters
2990 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2991 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2995 (setq gnus-parameters
2997 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2998 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2999 (gnus-summary-line-format
3000 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3004 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3008 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3012 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3015 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3016 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3019 @node Listing Groups
3020 @section Listing Groups
3021 @cindex group listing
3023 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3031 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3032 List all groups that have unread articles
3033 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3034 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3035 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3036 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3043 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3044 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3045 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3046 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3047 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3048 unsubscribed groups).
3052 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3053 List all unread groups on a specific level
3054 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3055 with no unread articles.
3059 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3060 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3061 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3062 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3067 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3068 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3072 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3073 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3074 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3078 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3079 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3083 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3084 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3085 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3086 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3087 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3088 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3089 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3090 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3094 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3095 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3096 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3100 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3101 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3102 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3106 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3107 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3111 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3112 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3116 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3117 List groups limited within the current selection
3118 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3122 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3123 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3127 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3128 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3132 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3133 @cindex visible group parameter
3134 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3135 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3136 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3137 get the same effect.
3139 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3140 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3141 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3142 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3143 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3146 @node Sorting Groups
3147 @section Sorting Groups
3148 @cindex sorting groups
3150 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3151 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3152 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3153 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3154 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3155 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3160 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3161 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3162 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3164 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3165 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3166 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3168 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3169 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3170 Sort by group level.
3172 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3173 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3174 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3176 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3177 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3178 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3179 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3181 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3182 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3183 Sort by number of unread articles.
3185 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3186 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3187 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3189 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3190 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3191 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3196 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3197 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3201 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3202 some sorting criteria:
3206 @kindex G S a (Group)
3207 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3208 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3209 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3212 @kindex G S u (Group)
3213 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3214 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3215 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3218 @kindex G S l (Group)
3219 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3220 Sort the group buffer by group level
3221 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3224 @kindex G S v (Group)
3225 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3226 Sort the group buffer by group score
3227 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3230 @kindex G S r (Group)
3231 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3232 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3233 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3236 @kindex G S m (Group)
3237 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3238 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3239 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3242 @kindex G S n (Group)
3243 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3244 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3245 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3249 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3250 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3252 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3253 commands will sort in reverse order.
3255 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3259 @kindex G P a (Group)
3260 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3261 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3262 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3265 @kindex G P u (Group)
3266 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3267 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3268 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3271 @kindex G P l (Group)
3272 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3273 Sort the groups by group level
3274 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3277 @kindex G P v (Group)
3278 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3279 Sort the groups by group score
3280 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3283 @kindex G P r (Group)
3284 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3285 Sort the groups by group rank
3286 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3289 @kindex G P m (Group)
3290 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3291 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3292 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3295 @kindex G P n (Group)
3296 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3297 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3298 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3301 @kindex G P s (Group)
3302 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3303 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3307 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3311 @node Group Maintenance
3312 @section Group Maintenance
3313 @cindex bogus groups
3318 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3319 Find bogus groups and delete them
3320 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3324 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3325 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3326 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3327 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3328 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3332 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3333 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3334 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3335 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3336 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3337 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3340 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3341 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3342 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3343 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3348 @node Browse Foreign Server
3349 @section Browse Foreign Server
3350 @cindex foreign servers
3351 @cindex browsing servers
3356 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3357 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3358 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3359 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3362 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3363 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3364 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3365 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3367 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3372 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3373 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3377 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3378 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3381 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3382 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3383 Enter the current group and display the first article
3384 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3387 @kindex RET (Browse)
3388 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3389 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3393 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3394 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3395 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3401 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3402 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3406 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3407 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3411 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3412 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3413 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3418 @section Exiting Gnus
3419 @cindex exiting Gnus
3421 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3426 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3427 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3428 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3429 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3433 @findex gnus-group-exit
3434 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3435 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3439 @findex gnus-group-quit
3440 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3441 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3444 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3445 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3446 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3447 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3448 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3449 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3455 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3456 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3457 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3463 @section Group Topics
3466 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3467 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3468 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3469 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3470 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3471 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3475 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3476 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3487 2: alt.religion.emacs
3490 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3492 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3493 13: comp.sources.unix
3496 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3498 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3499 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3500 is a toggling command.)
3502 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3503 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3504 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3505 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3508 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3509 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3510 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3513 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3517 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3518 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3519 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3520 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3521 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3525 @node Topic Commands
3526 @subsection Topic Commands
3527 @cindex topic commands
3529 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3530 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3531 definitions slightly.
3533 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3534 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3535 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3536 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3537 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3538 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3540 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3547 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3548 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3549 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3553 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3555 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3556 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3557 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3558 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3561 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3562 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3563 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3564 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3568 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3569 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3570 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3571 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3577 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3578 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3579 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3583 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3584 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3585 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3588 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3589 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3590 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3591 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3592 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3594 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3595 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3599 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3600 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3607 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3609 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3610 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3611 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3612 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3613 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3614 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3618 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3624 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3625 Move the current group to some other topic
3626 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3627 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3631 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3632 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3636 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3637 Copy the current group to some other topic
3638 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3639 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3643 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3644 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3645 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3649 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3650 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3651 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3655 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3656 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3657 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3658 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3659 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3660 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3661 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3664 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3665 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3669 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3670 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3671 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3675 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3676 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3677 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3681 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3682 Toggle hiding empty topics
3683 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3687 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3688 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3689 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3690 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3693 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3694 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3695 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3696 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3697 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3700 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3701 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3702 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3703 expiry process (if any)
3704 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3708 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3709 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3712 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3713 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3714 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3718 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3719 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3720 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3723 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3724 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3725 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3728 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3729 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3730 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3734 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3735 @cindex group parameters
3736 @cindex topic parameters
3738 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3739 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3744 @node Topic Variables
3745 @subsection Topic Variables
3746 @cindex topic variables
3748 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3749 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3751 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3752 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3753 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3766 Number of groups in the topic.
3768 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3770 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3773 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3774 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3775 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3778 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3779 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3781 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3782 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3783 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3787 @subsection Topic Sorting
3788 @cindex topic sorting
3790 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3796 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3797 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3798 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3799 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3802 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3803 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3804 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3805 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3808 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3809 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3810 Sort the current topic by group level
3811 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3814 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3815 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3816 Sort the current topic by group score
3817 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3820 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3821 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3822 Sort the current topic by group rank
3823 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3826 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3827 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3828 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3829 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3832 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3833 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3834 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3835 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3839 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3840 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3841 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3842 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3846 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3847 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3851 @node Topic Topology
3852 @subsection Topic Topology
3853 @cindex topic topology
3856 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3862 2: alt.religion.emacs
3865 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3867 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3868 13: comp.sources.unix
3871 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3872 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3873 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3878 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3879 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3883 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3884 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3885 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3886 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3887 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3888 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3890 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3891 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3892 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3895 @node Topic Parameters
3896 @subsection Topic Parameters
3897 @cindex topic parameters
3899 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3900 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3901 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3903 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3908 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3909 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3910 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3913 @item subscribe-level
3914 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3915 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3916 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3920 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3921 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3922 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3923 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3929 2: alt.religion.emacs
3933 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3935 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3936 13: comp.sources.unix
3940 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3941 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3942 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3943 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3944 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3945 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3947 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3948 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3949 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3950 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3951 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3953 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3954 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3955 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3956 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3957 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3958 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3959 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3960 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3963 @node Misc Group Stuff
3964 @section Misc Group Stuff
3967 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3968 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3969 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3970 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3971 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3978 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3979 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3980 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3984 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3985 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3986 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3987 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3988 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3989 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3990 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3994 @findex gnus-group-mail
3995 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3996 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3997 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3998 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4002 @findex gnus-group-news
4003 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4004 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4005 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4007 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4008 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4009 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4010 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4011 for this to work though.
4015 Variables for the group buffer:
4019 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4020 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4021 is called after the group buffer has been
4024 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4025 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4026 is called after the group buffer is
4027 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4030 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4031 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4032 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4033 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4035 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4036 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4037 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4038 whether they are empty or not.
4040 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4041 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4042 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4043 non-ASCII group names.
4047 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4048 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4051 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4052 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4053 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4054 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4055 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4056 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is
4061 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4062 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4067 @node Scanning New Messages
4068 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4069 @cindex new messages
4070 @cindex scanning new news
4076 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4077 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4078 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4079 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4080 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4081 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4086 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4087 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4088 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4089 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4090 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4091 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4092 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4094 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4095 @cindex activating groups
4097 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4098 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4103 @findex gnus-group-restart
4104 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4105 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4106 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4110 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4111 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4113 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4114 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4118 @node Group Information
4119 @subsection Group Information
4120 @cindex group information
4121 @cindex information on groups
4128 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4129 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4132 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4133 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4134 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4135 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4136 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4137 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4138 for fetching the file.
4140 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4141 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4145 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4146 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4148 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4149 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4152 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4153 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4154 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4158 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4159 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4160 @cindex control message
4161 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4162 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4163 group if given a prefix argument.
4165 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4166 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4167 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4168 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4170 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4171 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4172 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4176 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4178 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4179 @cindex describing groups
4180 @cindex group description
4181 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4182 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4183 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4187 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4188 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4189 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4196 @findex gnus-version
4197 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4201 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4202 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4205 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4208 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4209 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4213 @node Group Timestamp
4214 @subsection Group Timestamp
4216 @cindex group timestamps
4218 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4219 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4220 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4223 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4226 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4228 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4229 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4232 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4233 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4236 This will result in lines looking like:
4239 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4240 0: custom 19961002T012713
4243 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4244 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4248 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4249 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4252 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4253 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4257 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4258 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4259 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4260 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4262 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4268 @subsection File Commands
4269 @cindex file commands
4275 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4276 @vindex gnus-init-file
4277 @cindex reading init file
4278 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4279 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4283 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4284 @cindex saving .newsrc
4285 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4286 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4287 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4290 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4291 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4292 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4297 @node Sieve Commands
4298 @subsection Sieve Commands
4299 @cindex group sieve commands
4301 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4302 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4303 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4304 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4305 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4307 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4308 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4309 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4310 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4311 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4312 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4313 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4314 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4315 regenerate the Sieve script.
4317 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4318 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4319 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4320 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4321 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4322 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4323 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4324 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4325 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4326 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4329 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4330 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4335 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4341 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4342 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4343 @cindex generating sieve script
4344 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4345 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4349 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4350 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4351 @cindex updating sieve script
4352 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4353 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4354 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4359 @node Summary Buffer
4360 @chapter Summary Buffer
4361 @cindex summary buffer
4363 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4364 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4366 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4367 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4369 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4372 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4373 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4374 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4375 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4376 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4377 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4378 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4379 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4380 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4381 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4382 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4383 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4384 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4385 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4386 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4387 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4388 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4389 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4390 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4391 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4392 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4393 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4394 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4395 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4396 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4397 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4398 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4399 or reselecting the current group.
4400 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4401 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4402 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4403 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4407 @node Summary Buffer Format
4408 @section Summary Buffer Format
4409 @cindex summary buffer format
4413 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4414 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4415 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4421 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4422 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4423 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4424 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4427 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4428 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4429 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4430 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4431 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4432 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4433 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4434 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4435 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4436 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4437 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4440 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4441 'mail-extract-address-components)
4444 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4445 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4446 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4447 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4450 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4451 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4453 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4454 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4455 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4456 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4457 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4459 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4460 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4461 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4462 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4463 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4464 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4466 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4468 The following format specification characters and extended format
4469 specification(s) are understood:
4475 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4476 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4478 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4479 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4480 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4482 Full @code{From} header.
4484 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4486 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4489 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4490 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4491 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4492 may be more thorough.
4494 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4497 Number of lines in the article.
4499 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4500 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4502 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4503 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4505 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4507 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4508 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4521 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4522 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4523 replacing the default ASCII characters with graphic line-drawing
4526 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4527 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4528 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4529 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4531 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4532 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4533 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4534 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4536 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4537 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4538 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4539 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4541 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4542 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4543 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4545 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4546 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4547 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4549 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4550 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4551 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4553 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4554 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4555 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4560 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4561 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4563 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4564 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4566 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4567 for adopted articles.
4569 One space for each thread level.
4571 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4573 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4576 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4577 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4578 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4581 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4583 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4584 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4585 default level. If the difference between
4586 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4587 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4595 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4597 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4603 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4604 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4606 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4607 article has any children.
4613 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4614 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4616 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4617 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4618 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4619 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4620 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4621 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4624 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4625 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4626 There can only be one such area.
4628 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4629 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4630 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4631 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4632 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4633 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4635 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4636 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4638 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4641 @node To From Newsgroups
4642 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4646 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4647 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4648 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4649 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4650 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4654 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4655 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4656 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4660 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4661 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4664 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4665 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4668 @findex gnus-extra-header
4669 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4670 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4671 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4674 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4678 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4679 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4680 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4681 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4682 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4683 headers are used instead.
4687 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4688 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4689 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files.
4690 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4691 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4692 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4695 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4696 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4697 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4698 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4700 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4704 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4706 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4707 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4708 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4709 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4713 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4716 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4717 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4720 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4721 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4722 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4728 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4729 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4732 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4733 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4735 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4736 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4737 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4738 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4740 Here are the elements you can play with:
4746 Unprefixed group name.
4748 Current article number.
4750 Current article score.
4754 Number of unread articles in this group.
4756 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4759 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4760 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4761 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4762 and no unselected ones.
4764 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4765 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4767 Subject of the current article.
4769 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4771 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4773 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4775 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4777 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4779 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4783 @node Summary Highlighting
4784 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4788 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4789 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4790 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4791 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4792 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4794 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4795 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4796 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4797 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4799 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4800 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4801 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4802 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4804 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4805 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4806 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4807 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4808 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4809 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4812 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4813 ((> score default) . bold))
4815 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4816 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4820 @node Summary Maneuvering
4821 @section Summary Maneuvering
4822 @cindex summary movement
4824 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4825 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4827 None of these commands select articles.
4832 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4833 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4834 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4835 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4836 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4840 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4841 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4842 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4843 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4844 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4847 @kindex G g (Summary)
4848 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4849 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4850 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4853 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4854 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4855 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4856 to the group buffer.
4858 Variables related to summary movement:
4862 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4863 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4864 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4865 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4866 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4867 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4868 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4869 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4870 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4871 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4872 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4873 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4874 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4875 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4877 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4878 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4879 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4880 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4881 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4882 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4883 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4885 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4887 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4888 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4889 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4890 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4891 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4893 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4894 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4895 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4896 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4897 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4898 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4899 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4900 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4903 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4904 the given number of lines from the top.
4909 @node Choosing Articles
4910 @section Choosing Articles
4911 @cindex selecting articles
4914 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4915 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4919 @node Choosing Commands
4920 @subsection Choosing Commands
4922 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4923 and they all select and display an article.
4925 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4926 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4930 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4931 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4932 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4933 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4935 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
4936 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
4937 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @pxref{Paging the Article}.
4942 @kindex G n (Summary)
4943 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4944 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4945 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4950 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4951 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4952 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4957 @kindex G N (Summary)
4958 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4959 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4964 @kindex G P (Summary)
4965 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4966 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4969 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4970 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4971 Go to the next article with the same subject
4972 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4975 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4976 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4977 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4978 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4982 @kindex G f (Summary)
4984 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4985 Go to the first unread article
4986 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4990 @kindex G b (Summary)
4992 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4993 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4994 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4995 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5000 @kindex G l (Summary)
5001 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5002 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5005 @kindex G o (Summary)
5006 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5008 @cindex article history
5009 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5010 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5011 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5012 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5013 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5014 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5019 @kindex G j (Summary)
5020 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5021 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5022 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5027 @node Choosing Variables
5028 @subsection Choosing Variables
5030 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5033 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5034 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5035 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5036 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5037 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5038 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5040 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5041 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5042 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5043 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5044 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5045 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5047 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5048 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5049 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5050 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5051 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5052 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5053 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5054 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5055 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5056 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5057 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5058 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5059 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5060 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5065 @node Paging the Article
5066 @section Scrolling the Article
5067 @cindex article scrolling
5072 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5073 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5074 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5075 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5076 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5078 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5079 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5080 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5081 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5082 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5083 what is considered uninteresting with
5084 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5085 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5088 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5089 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5090 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5093 @kindex RET (Summary)
5094 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5095 Scroll the current article one line forward
5096 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5099 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5100 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5101 Scroll the current article one line backward
5102 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5106 @kindex A g (Summary)
5108 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5109 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5110 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5111 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5112 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5113 the way it came from the server.
5115 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5116 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5117 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5120 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5125 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5130 @kindex A < (Summary)
5131 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5132 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5133 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5138 @kindex A > (Summary)
5139 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5140 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5144 @kindex A s (Summary)
5146 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5147 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5148 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5152 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5153 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5158 @node Reply Followup and Post
5159 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5162 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5163 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5164 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5165 * Canceling and Superseding::
5169 @node Summary Mail Commands
5170 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5172 @cindex composing mail
5174 Commands for composing a mail message:
5180 @kindex S r (Summary)
5182 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5183 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5184 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5185 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5186 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5191 @kindex S R (Summary)
5192 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5193 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5194 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5195 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5196 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5199 @kindex S w (Summary)
5200 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5201 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5202 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5203 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5204 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5207 @kindex S W (Summary)
5208 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5209 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5210 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5211 the process/prefix convention.
5214 @kindex S v (Summary)
5215 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5216 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5217 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5218 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5219 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5220 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5223 @kindex S V (Summary)
5224 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5225 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5226 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5227 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5230 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5231 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5232 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5233 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5234 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5235 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5236 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5237 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5240 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5241 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5242 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5243 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5244 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5248 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5249 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5250 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5251 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5252 Forward the current article to some other person
5253 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5254 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5255 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5256 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5257 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5258 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5259 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5260 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5261 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime}
5267 @kindex S m (Summary)
5268 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5269 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5270 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5271 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5272 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5277 @kindex S i (Summary)
5278 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5279 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5280 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5281 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5283 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5284 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5285 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5286 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5287 for this to work though.
5290 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5291 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5292 @cindex bouncing mail
5293 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5294 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5295 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5296 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5297 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5298 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5299 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5300 very well fail, though.
5303 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5304 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5305 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5306 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5307 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5308 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5309 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5310 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5311 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5312 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5314 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5315 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5316 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5317 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5318 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5320 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5321 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5324 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5325 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5326 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5327 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5328 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5331 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5332 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5333 @cindex crossposting
5334 @cindex excessive crossposting
5335 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5336 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5338 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5339 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5340 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5341 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5342 command understands the process/prefix convention
5343 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5347 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5348 Manual}, for more information.
5351 @node Summary Post Commands
5352 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5354 @cindex composing news
5356 Commands for posting a news article:
5362 @kindex S p (Summary)
5363 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5364 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5365 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5366 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5367 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5372 @kindex S f (Summary)
5373 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5374 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5375 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5379 @kindex S F (Summary)
5381 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5382 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5383 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5384 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5385 process/prefix convention.
5388 @kindex S n (Summary)
5389 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5390 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5391 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5394 @kindex S N (Summary)
5395 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5396 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5397 message through mail and include the original message
5398 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5399 the process/prefix convention.
5402 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5403 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5404 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5405 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5406 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5407 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5408 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5409 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5410 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5411 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5412 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5413 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5414 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section.
5417 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5418 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5420 @cindex making digests
5421 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5422 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
5423 process/prefix convention.
5426 @kindex S u (Summary)
5427 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5428 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5429 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5430 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5433 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5434 Manual}, for more information.
5437 @node Summary Message Commands
5438 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5442 @kindex S y (Summary)
5443 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5444 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5445 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5446 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5447 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5452 @node Canceling and Superseding
5453 @subsection Canceling Articles
5454 @cindex canceling articles
5455 @cindex superseding articles
5457 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5458 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5460 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5462 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5464 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5465 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5466 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5467 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5468 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5469 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5471 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5472 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5475 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5476 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5477 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5479 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5480 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5481 your original article.
5483 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5485 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5486 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5487 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5490 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5491 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5492 have posted almost the same article twice.
5494 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5495 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5496 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5497 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5498 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5499 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5500 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5501 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5502 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5503 canceled/superseded.
5505 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5507 @node Delayed Articles
5508 @section Delayed Articles
5509 @cindex delayed sending
5510 @cindex send delayed
5512 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5513 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5514 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5515 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5518 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5521 @findex gnus-delay-article
5522 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5523 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5524 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5525 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5529 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5530 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5531 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5532 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5535 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5536 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5537 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5540 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5541 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5542 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5543 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5544 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5545 that means a time tomorrow.
5548 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5549 couple of variables:
5552 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5553 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5554 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5555 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5557 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5558 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5559 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5560 formats described above.
5562 @item gnus-delay-group
5563 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5564 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5565 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5566 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5568 @item gnus-delay-header
5569 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5570 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5571 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5572 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5575 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5576 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5577 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5578 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5579 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5581 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5582 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5583 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5584 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5585 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5586 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5587 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5590 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5591 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5592 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5593 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5594 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5595 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5596 argument is ignored.
5598 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5599 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5600 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5604 @node Marking Articles
5605 @section Marking Articles
5606 @cindex article marking
5607 @cindex article ticking
5610 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5612 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5613 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5614 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5616 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5619 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5620 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5621 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5625 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5629 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5630 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5631 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5635 @node Unread Articles
5636 @subsection Unread Articles
5638 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5643 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5644 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5646 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5647 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5648 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5649 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5650 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5651 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5652 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5655 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5656 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5658 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5659 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5660 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5661 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5665 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5666 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5668 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5673 @subsection Read Articles
5674 @cindex expirable mark
5676 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5681 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5682 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5683 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5686 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5687 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5690 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5691 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5692 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5695 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5696 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5699 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5700 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5703 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5704 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5707 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5708 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5711 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5712 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5715 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5716 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5719 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5720 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5724 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5725 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5726 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5730 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5731 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5733 One more special mark, though:
5737 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5738 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5740 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5741 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5742 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5743 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5749 @subsection Other Marks
5750 @cindex process mark
5753 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5759 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5760 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5761 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5762 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5763 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5766 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5767 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5768 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5769 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5772 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5773 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5774 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5777 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5778 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5779 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5782 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5783 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5784 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5785 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5788 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5789 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5790 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5791 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5792 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5793 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5796 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5797 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5798 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5799 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5802 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5803 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, articles may be
5804 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5805 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5806 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5810 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5811 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might
5812 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5813 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5814 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5815 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5818 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5819 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5820 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5821 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5822 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5823 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5827 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5828 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5829 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5830 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5831 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5834 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5835 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5836 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5837 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5838 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5839 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5843 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5844 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5845 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5847 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5848 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5849 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5853 @subsection Setting Marks
5854 @cindex setting marks
5856 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5861 @kindex M c (Summary)
5862 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5863 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5864 @cindex mark as unread
5865 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5866 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5872 @kindex M t (Summary)
5873 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5874 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5875 @xref{Article Caching}.
5880 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5881 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5882 Mark the current article as dormant
5883 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5887 @kindex M d (Summary)
5889 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5890 Mark the current article as read
5891 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5895 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5896 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5897 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5902 @kindex M k (Summary)
5903 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5904 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5905 and then select the next unread article
5906 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5910 @kindex M K (Summary)
5911 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5912 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5913 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5914 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5917 @kindex M C (Summary)
5918 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5919 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5920 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5923 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5924 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5925 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5926 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5929 @kindex M H (Summary)
5930 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5931 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5932 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5935 @kindex M h (Summary)
5936 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5937 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5938 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5941 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5942 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5943 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5944 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5947 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5948 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5949 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5950 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5954 @kindex M e (Summary)
5956 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5957 Mark the current article as expirable
5958 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5961 @kindex M b (Summary)
5962 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5963 Set a bookmark in the current article
5964 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5967 @kindex M B (Summary)
5968 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5969 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5970 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5973 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5974 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5975 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5976 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5979 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5980 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5981 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5982 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5985 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5986 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5987 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5988 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5989 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5992 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5993 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5994 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5995 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5996 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5997 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5998 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5999 The default is @code{t}.
6002 @node Generic Marking Commands
6003 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6005 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6006 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6007 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6008 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6009 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6012 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6013 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6016 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6017 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6018 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6019 to list in this manual.
6021 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6022 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6023 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6024 article, you could say something like:
6027 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6028 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6029 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6035 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6036 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6040 @node Setting Process Marks
6041 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6042 @cindex setting process marks
6044 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6045 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6046 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6047 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6048 commands into the cache. For more information,
6049 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6056 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6057 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6058 Mark the current article with the process mark
6059 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6060 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6064 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6065 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6066 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6067 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6070 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6071 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6072 Remove the process mark from all articles
6073 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6076 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6077 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6078 Invert the list of process marked articles
6079 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6082 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6084 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6085 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6088 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6089 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6090 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6091 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6094 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6095 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6096 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6100 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6101 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6104 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6105 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6106 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6107 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6110 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6111 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6112 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6113 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6116 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6117 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6118 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6119 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6122 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6123 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6124 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6127 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6128 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6129 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6130 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6133 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6134 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6135 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6138 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6139 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6140 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6141 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6144 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6145 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6146 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6147 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6150 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6151 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6152 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6153 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6156 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6157 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6158 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6159 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6163 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6164 set process marks based on article body contents.
6171 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6172 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6173 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6176 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6177 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6178 additional articles.
6184 @kindex / / (Summary)
6185 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6186 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6187 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6191 @kindex / a (Summary)
6192 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6193 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6194 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6198 @kindex / x (Summary)
6199 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6200 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6201 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6202 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6207 @kindex / u (Summary)
6209 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6210 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6211 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6212 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6213 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6216 @kindex / m (Summary)
6217 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6218 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6219 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6222 @kindex / t (Summary)
6223 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6224 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6225 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6226 articles younger than that number of days.
6229 @kindex / n (Summary)
6230 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6231 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6232 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6233 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6236 @kindex / w (Summary)
6237 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6238 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6239 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6243 @kindex / . (Summary)
6244 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6245 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6246 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6249 @kindex / v (Summary)
6250 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6251 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6252 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6255 @kindex / p (Summary)
6256 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6257 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6258 group parameter predicate
6259 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6260 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6264 @kindex M S (Summary)
6265 @kindex / E (Summary)
6266 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6267 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6268 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6271 @kindex / D (Summary)
6272 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6273 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6274 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6277 @kindex / * (Summary)
6278 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6279 Include all cached articles in the limit
6280 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6283 @kindex / d (Summary)
6284 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6285 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6286 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6289 @kindex / M (Summary)
6290 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6291 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6294 @kindex / T (Summary)
6295 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6296 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6299 @kindex / c (Summary)
6300 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6301 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6302 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6305 @kindex / C (Summary)
6306 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6307 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6308 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6309 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6312 @kindex / N (Summary)
6313 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6314 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6315 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6318 @kindex / o (Summary)
6319 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6320 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6321 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6329 @cindex article threading
6331 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6332 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6333 hierarchical fashion.
6335 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6336 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6337 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6338 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6339 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6340 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6341 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6343 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6347 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6350 A tree-like article structure.
6353 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6356 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6357 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6358 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6359 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6360 called loose threads.
6362 @item thread gathering
6363 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6365 @item sparse threads
6366 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6367 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6373 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6374 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6378 @node Customizing Threading
6379 @subsection Customizing Threading
6380 @cindex customizing threading
6383 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6384 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6385 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6386 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6391 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6394 @cindex loose threads
6397 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6398 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6399 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6400 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6401 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6402 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6404 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6405 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6406 There are four possible values:
6410 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6411 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6412 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6413 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6414 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6419 @cindex adopting articles
6424 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6425 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6426 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6427 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6430 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6431 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6432 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6433 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6434 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6435 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6436 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6437 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6438 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6439 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6442 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6443 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6444 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6448 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6449 display them after one another.
6452 Don't gather loose threads.
6455 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6456 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6457 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6458 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6459 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6460 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6461 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6462 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6463 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6464 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6465 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6467 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6468 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6469 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6472 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6473 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6474 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6475 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6476 simplification is used.
6478 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6479 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6480 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6481 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6483 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6485 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6491 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6492 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6493 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6494 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6499 (mapconcat 'identity
6500 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6502 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6505 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6508 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6509 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6510 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6511 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6512 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6513 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6515 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6518 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6519 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6520 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6522 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6523 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6526 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6527 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6528 Remove excessive whitespace.
6530 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6531 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6532 Remove all whitespace.
6535 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6538 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6539 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6540 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6541 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6542 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6543 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6544 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6545 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6547 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6548 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6549 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6550 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6551 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6552 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6553 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6554 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6555 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6559 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6560 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6561 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6562 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6564 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6565 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6566 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6569 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6573 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6574 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6580 @node Filling In Threads
6581 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6584 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6585 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6586 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6587 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6588 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6589 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6590 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6591 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6592 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6593 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6594 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6595 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6598 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6599 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6600 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6602 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6603 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6604 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6605 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6606 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6607 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6608 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6609 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6610 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6611 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6612 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6613 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6614 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6615 @code{nil} by default.
6617 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6618 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6619 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6620 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6621 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6622 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6623 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6625 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6626 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6627 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6632 @node More Threading
6633 @subsubsection More Threading
6636 @item gnus-show-threads
6637 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6638 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6639 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6640 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6641 slower and more awkward.
6643 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6644 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6645 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6648 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6649 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6650 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6655 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6656 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6657 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6660 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6661 unread, but you get my drift.)
6664 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6665 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6666 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6667 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6668 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6669 threads are expunged.
6671 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6672 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6673 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6676 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6677 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6678 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6679 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6680 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6681 result in a new thread.
6683 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6684 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6685 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6688 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6689 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6690 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6691 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6692 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6693 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6694 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6695 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6696 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6697 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6698 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6703 @node Low-Level Threading
6704 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6708 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6709 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6710 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6712 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6713 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6714 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6715 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6716 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6717 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6718 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6719 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6720 meaningful. Here's one example:
6723 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6725 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6726 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6728 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6730 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6737 @node Thread Commands
6738 @subsection Thread Commands
6739 @cindex thread commands
6745 @kindex T k (Summary)
6746 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6747 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6748 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6749 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6750 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6755 @kindex T l (Summary)
6756 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6757 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6758 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6759 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6762 @kindex T i (Summary)
6763 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6764 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6765 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6768 @kindex T # (Summary)
6769 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6770 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6771 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6774 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6775 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6776 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6777 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6780 @kindex T T (Summary)
6781 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6782 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6785 @kindex T s (Summary)
6786 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6787 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6788 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6791 @kindex T h (Summary)
6792 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6793 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6796 @kindex T S (Summary)
6797 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6798 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6801 @kindex T H (Summary)
6802 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6803 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6806 @kindex T t (Summary)
6807 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6808 Re-thread the current article's thread
6809 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6810 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6813 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6814 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6815 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6816 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6820 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6821 understand the numeric prefix.
6826 @kindex T n (Summary)
6828 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6830 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6831 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6832 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6835 @kindex T p (Summary)
6837 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6839 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6840 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6841 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6844 @kindex T d (Summary)
6845 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6846 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6849 @kindex T u (Summary)
6850 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6851 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6854 @kindex T o (Summary)
6855 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6856 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6859 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6860 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6861 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6862 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6863 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6864 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6865 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6866 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6867 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6868 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6869 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6870 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6874 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6875 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6877 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6878 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6879 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6880 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6881 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6882 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6883 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6884 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6885 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6886 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6887 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6888 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6889 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6891 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6892 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6893 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6894 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6895 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6896 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6897 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6898 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6900 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6901 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6902 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6904 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6905 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6906 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6907 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6908 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6909 ascending article order.
6911 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6912 by number, you could do something like:
6915 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6916 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6917 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6918 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6921 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6922 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6923 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6924 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6925 which the articles arrived.
6927 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6931 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6933 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6934 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6937 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6938 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6939 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6940 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6943 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6944 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6945 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6946 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6947 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6948 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6949 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6950 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6951 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6952 variable. It is very similar to the
6953 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6954 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6955 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6956 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6957 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6958 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6959 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6961 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6965 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6966 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6967 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6972 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6973 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6974 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6975 @cindex article pre-fetch
6978 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6979 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6980 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6981 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6982 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6984 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6985 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6987 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6988 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6989 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6990 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6991 connection is blocked.
6993 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6994 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6995 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6996 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6998 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6999 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
7000 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7001 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7004 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7007 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7008 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7009 happen automatically.
7011 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7012 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7013 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7014 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7015 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7016 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7017 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7019 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7020 @findex gnus-async-read-p
7021 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7022 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7023 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7024 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7025 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which
7026 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7027 article data structure as the only parameter.
7029 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7030 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7033 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7034 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7035 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7036 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7039 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7042 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7043 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
7044 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7046 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7047 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7048 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7049 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7053 Remove articles when they are read.
7056 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7059 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7061 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7062 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7063 @c from the next group.
7066 @node Article Caching
7067 @section Article Caching
7068 @cindex article caching
7071 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
7072 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7073 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7074 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7075 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7077 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7079 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7080 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7081 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7082 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7083 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7084 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7085 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7086 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7088 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7089 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7090 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7091 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7092 as dormant, and don't worry.
7094 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7096 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7097 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7098 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7099 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7100 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7101 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7102 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7103 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7104 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7105 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7107 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7108 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7109 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7110 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7111 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7112 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7113 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7114 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7115 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7116 not then be downloaded by this command.
7118 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7119 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7120 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7121 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7122 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7123 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7125 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7126 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7127 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7128 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7129 variables, the group is not cached.
7131 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7132 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7133 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7134 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7135 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7136 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7137 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7138 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7139 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7142 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7143 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7144 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7145 where, isn't that cool?
7147 @node Persistent Articles
7148 @section Persistent Articles
7149 @cindex persistent articles
7151 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7152 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7153 useful in my opinion.
7155 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7156 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7157 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7158 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7159 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7160 the expiry going on at the news server.
7162 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7163 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7164 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7170 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7171 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7174 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7175 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7176 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7177 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7181 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7183 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7184 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7185 interested in persistent articles:
7188 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7192 @node Article Backlog
7193 @section Article Backlog
7195 @cindex article backlog
7197 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7198 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7199 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7200 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7201 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7202 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7203 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7204 increase memory usage some.
7206 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7207 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7208 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7209 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7210 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7211 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7212 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7214 The default value is 20.
7217 @node Saving Articles
7218 @section Saving Articles
7219 @cindex saving articles
7221 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7222 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7223 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7224 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7225 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7227 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7228 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7229 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7231 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7232 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7233 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7235 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7236 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7237 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7238 deleted before saving.
7244 @kindex O o (Summary)
7246 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7247 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7248 Save the current article using the default article saver
7249 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7252 @kindex O m (Summary)
7253 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7254 Save the current article in mail format
7255 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7258 @kindex O r (Summary)
7259 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7260 Save the current article in rmail format
7261 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7264 @kindex O f (Summary)
7265 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7266 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7267 Save the current article in plain file format
7268 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7271 @kindex O F (Summary)
7272 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7273 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7274 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7277 @kindex O b (Summary)
7278 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7279 Save the current article body in plain file format
7280 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7283 @kindex O h (Summary)
7284 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7285 Save the current article in mh folder format
7286 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7289 @kindex O v (Summary)
7290 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7291 Save the current article in a VM folder
7292 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7296 @kindex O p (Summary)
7298 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7299 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7300 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7301 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7302 complete headers in the piped output.
7305 @kindex O P (Summary)
7306 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7307 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7308 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7309 external program Muttprint (see
7310 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7311 options to use is controlled by the variable
7312 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7316 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7317 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7318 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7319 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7320 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7321 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7322 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7323 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7324 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7325 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7326 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7327 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7331 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7332 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7333 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7334 functions below, or you can create your own.
7338 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7339 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7340 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7341 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7342 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7343 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7344 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7346 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7347 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7348 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7349 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7350 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7351 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7353 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7354 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7355 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7356 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7357 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7358 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7359 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7361 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7362 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7363 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7364 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7365 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7366 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7368 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7369 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7370 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7371 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7372 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7374 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7375 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7376 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7377 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7378 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7381 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7382 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7383 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7384 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7385 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7387 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7388 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7389 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7390 reader to use this setting.
7393 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7394 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7395 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7396 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7399 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7400 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7401 available functions that generate names:
7405 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7406 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7407 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7409 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7410 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7411 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7413 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7414 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7415 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7417 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7418 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7419 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7421 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7422 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7423 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7426 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7427 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7428 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7429 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7430 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7434 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7435 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7436 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7437 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7440 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7441 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7442 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7443 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7444 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7445 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7446 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7447 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7448 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7450 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7451 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7452 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7453 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7455 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7456 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7457 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7460 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7461 lots of mail groups called things like
7462 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7463 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7464 following will do just that:
7467 (defun my-save-name (group)
7468 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7469 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7471 (setq gnus-split-methods
7472 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7477 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7478 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7479 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7480 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7481 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7482 all the files in the top level directory
7483 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7484 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7485 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7486 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7488 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7489 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7490 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7491 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7492 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7495 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7499 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7500 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7501 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7504 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7505 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7506 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7507 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7510 @node Decoding Articles
7511 @section Decoding Articles
7512 @cindex decoding articles
7514 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7515 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7518 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7519 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7520 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7521 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7522 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7523 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7527 @cindex article series
7528 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7529 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7530 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7531 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7532 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7534 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7535 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7536 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7538 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7539 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7540 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7542 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7543 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7544 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7547 @node Uuencoded Articles
7548 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7550 @cindex uuencoded articles
7555 @kindex X u (Summary)
7556 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7557 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7558 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7561 @kindex X U (Summary)
7562 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7563 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7564 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7567 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7568 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7569 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7572 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7573 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7574 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7575 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7579 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7580 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7581 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7582 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7583 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7585 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7586 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7587 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7588 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7591 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7592 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7593 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7594 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7595 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7596 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7600 @node Shell Archives
7601 @subsection Shell Archives
7603 @cindex shell archives
7604 @cindex shared articles
7606 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7607 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7608 some commands to deal with these:
7613 @kindex X s (Summary)
7614 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7615 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7618 @kindex X S (Summary)
7619 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7620 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7623 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7624 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7625 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7628 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7629 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7630 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7631 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7635 @node PostScript Files
7636 @subsection PostScript Files
7642 @kindex X p (Summary)
7643 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7644 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7647 @kindex X P (Summary)
7648 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7649 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7650 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7653 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7654 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7655 View the current PostScript series
7656 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7659 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7660 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7661 View and save the current PostScript series
7662 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7667 @subsection Other Files
7671 @kindex X o (Summary)
7672 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7673 Save the current series
7674 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7677 @kindex X b (Summary)
7678 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7679 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7680 doesn't really work yet.
7684 @node Decoding Variables
7685 @subsection Decoding Variables
7687 Adjective, not verb.
7690 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7691 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7692 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7696 @node Rule Variables
7697 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7698 @cindex rule variables
7700 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7701 variables are of the form
7704 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7711 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7712 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7714 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7715 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7718 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7719 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7722 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7723 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7724 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7725 user and default view rules.
7727 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7728 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7729 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7734 @node Other Decode Variables
7735 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7738 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7740 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7741 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7742 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7743 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7744 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7748 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7749 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7752 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7753 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7754 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7757 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7758 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7759 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7760 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7761 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7764 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7765 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7766 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7768 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7769 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7770 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7771 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7772 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7775 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7776 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7777 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7779 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7780 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7781 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7782 looking for files to display.
7784 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7785 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7786 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7789 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7790 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7791 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7794 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7795 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7796 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7799 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7800 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7801 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7804 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7805 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7806 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7807 decoded articles as unread.
7809 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7810 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7811 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7812 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7814 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7815 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7816 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7818 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7819 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7821 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7822 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7823 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7824 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7826 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7827 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7828 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7829 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7830 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7831 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7832 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7833 simply dropped them.
7838 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7839 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7843 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7844 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7845 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7846 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7847 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7848 for you when you post the article.
7850 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7851 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7852 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7853 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7855 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7856 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7857 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7858 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7859 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7860 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7861 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
7863 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7864 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7865 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7866 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7867 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7868 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7869 Default is @code{t}.
7875 @subsection Viewing Files
7876 @cindex viewing files
7877 @cindex pseudo-articles
7879 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7880 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7881 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7882 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7883 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7884 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7885 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7887 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7888 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7889 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7890 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7892 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7893 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7894 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7896 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7897 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7898 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7899 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7900 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7902 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7903 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7904 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7905 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7906 a list of parameters to that command.
7908 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7909 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7910 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7912 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7913 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7914 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7917 @node Article Treatment
7918 @section Article Treatment
7920 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7921 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7922 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7923 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7924 these articles easier.
7927 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7928 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7929 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7930 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7931 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7932 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7933 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
7934 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7935 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7936 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7937 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7941 @node Article Highlighting
7942 @subsection Article Highlighting
7943 @cindex highlighting
7945 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7946 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7951 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7952 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7953 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7954 Do much highlighting of the current article
7955 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7956 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7959 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7960 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7961 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7962 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7963 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7964 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7965 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7966 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7967 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7968 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7969 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7970 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7973 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7974 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7975 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7977 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7980 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7982 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7983 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7984 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7986 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7987 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7988 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7990 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7991 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7992 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7993 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7994 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7995 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7997 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7998 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7999 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8001 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8002 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8003 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8005 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8006 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8007 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8008 that it's a citation.
8010 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8011 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8012 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8014 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8015 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8016 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8018 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8019 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8020 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8021 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8027 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8028 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8029 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8030 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8031 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8032 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8033 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8034 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8039 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8042 @node Article Fontisizing
8043 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8045 @cindex article emphasis
8047 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8048 @kindex W e (Summary)
8049 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8050 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8051 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8052 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8054 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8055 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8056 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8057 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8058 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8059 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8060 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8061 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8065 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8066 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8067 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8076 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8077 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8078 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8079 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8080 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8081 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8082 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8083 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8084 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8085 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8086 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8087 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8088 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8090 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8091 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8092 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8096 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8099 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8101 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8102 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8103 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8104 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8106 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8109 @node Article Hiding
8110 @subsection Article Hiding
8111 @cindex article hiding
8113 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8114 too much cruft in most articles.
8119 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8120 @findex gnus-article-hide
8121 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8122 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8123 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8126 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8127 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8128 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8132 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8133 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8134 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8135 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8138 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8139 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8140 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8144 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8145 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8146 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8147 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8148 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8149 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8150 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8151 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8155 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8156 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8157 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8158 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8163 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8164 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8165 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8166 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8169 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8170 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8171 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8172 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8175 @cindex stripping advertisements
8176 @cindex advertisements
8177 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8178 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8179 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8180 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8181 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8182 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8183 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8184 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8185 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8186 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8189 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8190 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8191 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8195 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8196 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8197 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8198 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8199 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8200 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8201 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8202 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8203 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8204 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8205 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8208 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8214 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8215 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8216 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8217 customizing the hiding:
8221 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8222 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8223 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8224 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8225 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8226 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8227 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8232 Starting point of the hidden text.
8234 Ending point of the hidden text.
8236 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8238 Number of lines of hidden text.
8241 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8242 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8243 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8244 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8245 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8250 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8251 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8253 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8254 following two variables:
8257 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8258 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8259 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8260 50), hide the cited text.
8262 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8263 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8264 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8269 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8270 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8271 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8272 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8273 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8274 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8278 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8279 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8280 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8282 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8283 citation customization.
8285 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8289 @node Article Washing
8290 @subsection Article Washing
8292 @cindex article washing
8294 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8295 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8297 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8298 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8301 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8302 articles by default.
8307 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8308 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8312 Force redisplaying of the current article
8313 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8314 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8315 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8316 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8319 @kindex W l (Summary)
8320 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8321 Remove page breaks from the current article
8322 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8326 @kindex W r (Summary)
8327 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8328 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8329 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8330 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8331 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8332 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8334 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8335 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8336 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8337 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8340 @kindex W m (Summary)
8341 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8342 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8346 @kindex W t (Summary)
8348 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8349 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8350 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8353 @kindex W v (Summary)
8354 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8355 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8356 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8359 @kindex W o (Summary)
8360 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8361 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8364 @kindex W d (Summary)
8365 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8366 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8368 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8370 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8371 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8372 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8373 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8376 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8377 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8378 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8379 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8382 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8383 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8384 @cindex Outlook Express
8385 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8386 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8387 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8390 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8391 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8392 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8393 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8394 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8395 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8396 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8397 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8398 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8399 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8402 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8403 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8404 Repair a broken attribution line.
8405 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8408 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8409 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8410 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8411 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8414 @kindex W w (Summary)
8415 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8416 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8418 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8422 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8423 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8424 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8427 @kindex W C (Summary)
8428 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8429 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8430 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8433 @kindex W c (Summary)
8434 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8435 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8436 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8437 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8438 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8441 @kindex W q (Summary)
8442 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8443 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8444 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
8445 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
8446 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
8447 readable to me. Note that this is usually done automatically by
8448 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
8449 header that says that this encoding has been done.
8450 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8453 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8454 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8455 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8456 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8457 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8458 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8459 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8461 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8464 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8465 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8466 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8467 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8468 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8471 @kindex W u (Summary)
8472 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8473 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8474 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8475 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8476 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8479 @kindex W h (Summary)
8480 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8481 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8482 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8483 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8485 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8487 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8488 The default is to use the function specified by
8489 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
8490 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
8491 @sc{html}, but this is controlled by the
8492 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8500 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8504 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8507 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8510 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8515 @kindex W b (Summary)
8516 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8517 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8518 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8521 @kindex W B (Summary)
8522 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8523 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8524 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8527 @kindex W p (Summary)
8528 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8529 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8530 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8531 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8532 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8533 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8534 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8537 @kindex W s (Summary)
8538 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8539 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8540 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8543 @kindex W a (Summary)
8544 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8545 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8546 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8549 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8550 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8551 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8552 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8555 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8556 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8557 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8558 lines with a single empty line.
8559 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8562 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8563 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8564 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8565 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8568 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8569 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8570 Do all the three commands above
8571 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8574 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8575 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8576 Remove all blank lines
8577 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8580 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8581 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8582 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8583 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8586 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8587 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8588 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8589 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8593 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8596 @node Article Header
8597 @subsection Article Header
8599 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8604 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8605 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8606 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8609 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8610 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8611 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8612 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8615 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8616 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8617 Fold all the message headers
8618 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8622 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8623 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8624 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8629 @node Article Buttons
8630 @subsection Article Buttons
8633 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8634 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8635 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8636 button on these references.
8638 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8639 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8640 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
8641 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
8642 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
8646 @item gnus-button-alist
8647 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8648 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8651 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8657 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8658 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8659 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8660 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8661 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
8664 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8665 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8666 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8669 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8670 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8671 avoid false matches. Often variables named
8672 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
8673 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
8675 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
8678 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8681 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8682 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8686 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8689 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8692 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8693 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8694 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8695 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8696 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8699 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8702 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8704 @subsubheading Related variables and functions
8706 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
8707 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
8709 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
8711 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8712 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8713 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8714 default values of the variables above.
8716 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
8718 @item gnus-button-man-handler
8719 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8720 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
8721 argument with a string naming the man page.
8723 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
8725 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8726 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
8727 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
8729 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8730 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
8731 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
8732 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
8733 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
8734 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
8735 a mail address, respectivly. If this variable is set to the symbol
8736 @code{ask}, always query the user what do do. If it is a function, this
8737 function will be called with the string as it's only argument. The
8738 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
8739 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
8740 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8742 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8743 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
8744 Function that guesses whether it's argument is a message ID or a mail
8745 address. Returns @code{mid} it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if it's a
8746 mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the string is
8749 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8750 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
8751 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
8752 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
8754 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
8756 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
8757 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
8758 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
8759 argument, the string naming the URL.
8762 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
8763 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
8764 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
8768 @item gnus-article-button-face
8769 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8770 Face used on buttons.
8772 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8773 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8774 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8778 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8781 @node Article Button Levels
8782 @subsection Article button levels
8783 @cindex button levels
8784 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
8785 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
8786 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
8787 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
8788 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
8789 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
8790 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
8791 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
8794 ;; increase `gnus-button-*-level' in some groups:
8795 (setq gnus-parameters
8796 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
8797 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
8798 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
8803 @item gnus-button-browse-level
8804 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
8805 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
8806 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
8807 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
8808 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
8810 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
8811 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
8812 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
8813 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
8814 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
8815 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
8816 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
8817 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
8818 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
8819 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
8820 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
8821 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
8822 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
8824 @item gnus-button-man-level
8825 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
8826 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
8827 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
8829 @item gnus-button-message-level
8830 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
8831 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
8832 Related variables and functions include
8833 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
8834 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
8835 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
8836 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
8838 @item gnus-button-tex-level
8839 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
8840 Controls the display of references to TeX or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
8841 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
8842 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
8843 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
8844 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
8850 @subsection Article Date
8852 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8853 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8854 when the article was sent.
8859 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8860 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8861 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8862 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8865 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8866 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8868 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8869 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8872 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8873 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8874 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8877 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8878 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8879 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8880 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8883 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8884 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8885 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8886 @findex format-time-string
8887 Display the date using a user-defined format
8888 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8889 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8890 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8891 for a list of possible format specs.
8894 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8895 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8896 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8897 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8898 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8899 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8902 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8905 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
8906 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8907 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8910 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8911 into wonderful absurdities.
8913 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8916 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8919 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8920 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8924 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8925 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8926 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8927 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8928 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8929 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8930 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8934 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8935 preferred format automatically.
8938 @node Article Display
8939 @subsection Article Display
8944 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8945 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8947 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8948 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8950 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8951 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8953 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8954 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8956 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8961 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8962 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8963 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8964 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8967 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8968 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8969 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8970 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8973 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8974 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8975 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8978 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8979 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8980 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8983 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8984 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8985 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8986 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8989 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8990 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8991 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8992 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8995 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8996 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8997 Remove all images from the article buffer
8998 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9004 @node Article Signature
9005 @subsection Article Signature
9007 @cindex article signature
9009 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9010 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9011 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9012 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9013 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9014 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9015 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9016 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9017 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9020 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9021 '("^-- $" ; The standard
9022 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
9023 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
9024 ; line of dashes. Shame!
9025 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
9026 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
9027 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
9030 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9033 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9034 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9035 signature when displaying articles.
9039 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9042 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9045 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9046 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9048 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9049 in question is not a signature.
9052 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9053 listed above. Here's an example:
9056 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9057 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9060 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9061 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9062 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9063 signature after all.
9066 @node Article Miscellania
9067 @subsection Article Miscellania
9071 @kindex A t (Summary)
9072 @findex gnus-article-babel
9073 Translate the article from one language to another
9074 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9080 @section MIME Commands
9081 @cindex MIME decoding
9083 @cindex viewing attachments
9085 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9086 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
9092 @kindex K v (Summary)
9093 View the @sc{mime} part.
9096 @kindex K o (Summary)
9097 Save the @sc{mime} part.
9100 @kindex K c (Summary)
9101 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
9104 @kindex K e (Summary)
9105 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
9108 @kindex K i (Summary)
9109 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
9112 @kindex K | (Summary)
9113 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
9116 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9121 @kindex K b (Summary)
9122 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9123 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9127 @kindex K m (Summary)
9128 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9129 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9130 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9131 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9132 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9135 @kindex X m (Summary)
9136 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9137 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
9138 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9139 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9142 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9143 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9144 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9145 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9148 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9149 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9150 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9151 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9154 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9155 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9156 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9157 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9159 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9160 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9161 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9162 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9163 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9164 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9167 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9168 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9169 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
9170 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9177 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9178 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9179 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9180 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9183 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9186 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9190 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9191 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9192 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9193 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
9194 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9195 default is @code{nil}.
9197 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9198 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9199 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
9200 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9201 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9202 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9203 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9205 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9206 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9207 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9208 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9209 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9210 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9211 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9212 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9214 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9215 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9216 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9217 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9218 displayed. This variable overrides
9219 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9220 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9223 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9224 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9225 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9227 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9228 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9229 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The
9230 default value is @code{nil}.
9232 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9233 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9234 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9235 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9236 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9237 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9238 save all jpegs into some directory).
9240 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9243 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9244 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9246 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9247 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9248 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9249 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9250 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9253 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9254 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9255 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9257 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9258 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9259 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9260 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9262 Ready-made functions include@*
9263 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9264 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9265 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9266 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9267 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9268 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9269 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9270 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9271 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9272 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9273 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9274 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9276 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9277 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9279 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9280 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9281 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9284 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9285 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9286 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9287 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9291 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9300 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9301 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9302 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9303 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9304 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9305 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9306 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9308 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9309 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9310 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9311 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9313 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9314 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9315 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9316 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9317 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9318 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9319 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9320 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9321 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9323 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9324 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9325 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9326 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9327 quoted-printable header encoding.
9329 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9330 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9331 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9335 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9338 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9339 means encode all charsets),
9341 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9342 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9343 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9350 @cindex coding system aliases
9351 @cindex preferred charset
9353 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9355 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9356 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9359 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9360 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9363 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9364 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9366 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9369 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9372 This will almost do the right thing.
9374 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9378 (codepage-setup 1251)
9379 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9383 @node Article Commands
9384 @section Article Commands
9391 @kindex A P (Summary)
9392 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9393 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9394 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9395 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9396 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9397 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9402 @node Summary Sorting
9403 @section Summary Sorting
9404 @cindex summary sorting
9406 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9407 can't really see why you'd want that.
9412 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9413 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9414 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9417 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9418 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9419 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9422 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9423 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9424 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9427 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9428 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9429 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9432 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9433 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9434 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9437 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9438 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9439 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9442 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9443 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9444 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9447 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9448 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9449 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9452 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9453 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9454 Sort using the default sorting method
9455 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9458 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9459 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9460 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9461 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9462 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9466 @node Finding the Parent
9467 @section Finding the Parent
9468 @cindex parent articles
9469 @cindex referring articles
9474 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9475 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9476 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9477 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9478 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9479 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9480 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9481 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9482 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9484 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9485 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9486 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
9487 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9488 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9492 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9493 @kindex A R (Summary)
9494 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9495 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9498 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9499 @kindex A T (Summary)
9500 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9501 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9502 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9503 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9504 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9505 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9506 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9508 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9509 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9510 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9511 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9512 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9513 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9516 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9517 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9519 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9520 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9521 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9522 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9523 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9524 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9525 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9528 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9529 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9530 by giving this command a prefix.
9532 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9533 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9534 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9535 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9536 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9537 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9540 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9541 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9542 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9545 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9546 then ask Google if that fails:
9549 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9551 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9554 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9555 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9556 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9557 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9558 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9559 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9560 support this at all.
9563 @node Alternative Approaches
9564 @section Alternative Approaches
9566 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9567 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9570 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9571 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9576 @subsection Pick and Read
9577 @cindex pick and read
9579 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9580 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9581 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9582 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9584 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9585 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9586 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9587 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9588 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9589 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9591 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9596 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9597 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9598 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9599 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9600 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9601 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9602 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9603 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9606 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9607 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9608 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9609 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9613 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9614 Unpick the thread or article
9615 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9616 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9617 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9618 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9619 the thread or article at that line.
9623 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9624 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9625 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9626 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9627 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9628 will still be visible when you are reading.
9632 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9633 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9634 which is mapped to the same function
9635 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9637 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9640 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9643 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9644 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9646 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9647 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9648 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9650 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9651 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9652 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9653 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9654 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9655 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9656 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9660 @subsection Binary Groups
9661 @cindex binary groups
9663 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9664 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9665 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9666 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9667 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9668 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9669 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9672 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9673 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9674 command, when you have turned on this mode
9675 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9677 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9678 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9682 @section Tree Display
9685 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9686 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
9687 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9688 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9691 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9694 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9695 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9696 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9698 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9699 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9700 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9701 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9702 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9704 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9705 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9706 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9707 default is @code{modeline}.
9709 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9710 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9711 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9712 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9713 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9714 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9715 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9721 The name of the poster.
9723 The @code{From} header.
9725 The number of the article.
9727 The opening bracket.
9729 The closing bracket.
9734 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9736 Variables related to the display are:
9739 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9740 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9741 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9742 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9743 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9744 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9746 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9747 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9748 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9749 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9753 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9754 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9755 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
9756 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
9757 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9758 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9759 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9760 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9761 other windows displayed next to it.
9763 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9767 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9768 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9771 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9772 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9773 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9774 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9775 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9776 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9777 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9781 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9784 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9794 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9798 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9799 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9801 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9803 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9808 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9809 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9810 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
9813 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9814 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9815 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9816 (gnus-add-configuration
9820 (summary 0.75 point)
9825 @xref{Window Layout}.
9828 @node Mail Group Commands
9829 @section Mail Group Commands
9830 @cindex mail group commands
9832 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9833 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9835 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9836 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9841 @kindex B e (Summary)
9842 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9843 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9844 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9845 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9846 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9849 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9850 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9851 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9852 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9853 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9854 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9857 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9858 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9859 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9860 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9861 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9862 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9865 @kindex B m (Summary)
9867 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9868 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9869 Move the article from one mail group to another
9870 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9871 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9874 @kindex B c (Summary)
9876 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9877 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9878 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9879 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9880 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9883 @kindex B B (Summary)
9884 @cindex crosspost mail
9885 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9886 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9887 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9888 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9889 be properly updated.
9892 @kindex B i (Summary)
9893 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9894 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9895 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9896 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9899 @kindex B I (Summary)
9900 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9901 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9902 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9903 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9906 @kindex B r (Summary)
9907 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9908 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
9909 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9910 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9911 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9912 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9913 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9914 (which is the default).
9918 @kindex B w (Summary)
9920 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9921 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9922 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9923 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9924 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9925 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9926 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9929 @kindex B q (Summary)
9930 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9931 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9932 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9933 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9936 @kindex B t (Summary)
9937 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9938 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9939 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9942 @kindex B p (Summary)
9943 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9944 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
9945 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9946 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9947 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9948 article from your news server (or rather, from
9949 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9950 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9951 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9952 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9953 just not have arrived yet.
9956 @kindex K E (Summary)
9957 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9958 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9959 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9960 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9961 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9965 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9966 @cindex moving articles
9967 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
9968 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9969 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9970 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9971 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9972 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9973 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9976 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9977 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9978 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9979 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9983 @node Various Summary Stuff
9984 @section Various Summary Stuff
9987 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9988 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9989 * Summary Generation Commands::
9990 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9994 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
9995 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
9996 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
9997 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
9998 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
9999 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10001 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10002 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10003 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10005 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10006 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10007 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10008 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10009 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10010 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10013 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10014 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10015 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10016 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10017 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10019 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10020 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10021 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10024 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10025 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10026 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10027 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10028 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10029 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10030 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
10031 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10032 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10033 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10035 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10036 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10037 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10038 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10039 list of articles to be selected.
10041 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10042 the list in one particular group:
10045 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10046 (if (string= group "some.group")
10047 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10051 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10052 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10053 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10054 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
10055 @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary buffer is
10056 active. These variables can be used to set variables in the group
10057 parameters while still allowing them to affect operations done in
10058 other buffers. For example:
10061 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10062 '(message-use-followup-to
10063 (gnus-visible-headers .
10064 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10070 @node Summary Group Information
10071 @subsection Summary Group Information
10076 @kindex H f (Summary)
10077 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10078 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10079 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
10080 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
10081 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
10082 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
10083 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
10084 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
10085 be used for fetching the file.
10088 @kindex H d (Summary)
10089 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10090 Give a brief description of the current group
10091 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10092 rereading the description from the server.
10095 @kindex H h (Summary)
10096 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10097 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10098 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10101 @kindex H i (Summary)
10102 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10103 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10107 @node Searching for Articles
10108 @subsection Searching for Articles
10113 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10114 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10115 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10116 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10119 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10120 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10121 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10122 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10125 @kindex & (Summary)
10126 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10127 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10128 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10129 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10130 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10131 search backward instead.
10133 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
10134 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10137 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10138 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10139 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10140 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10143 @node Summary Generation Commands
10144 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10149 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10150 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10151 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10154 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10155 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10156 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10157 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10160 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10161 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10162 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10163 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10168 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10169 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10175 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10176 @kindex A D (Summary)
10177 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10178 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10179 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10180 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10181 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10182 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10183 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10184 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10188 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10189 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10190 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10191 several documents into one biiig group
10192 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10193 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10194 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10195 command understands the process/prefix convention
10196 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10199 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10200 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10201 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10202 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10203 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10204 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10207 @kindex = (Summary)
10208 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10209 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10210 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10213 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10214 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10215 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10216 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10219 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10220 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10221 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10222 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10227 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10228 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10229 @cindex summary exit
10230 @cindex exiting groups
10232 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10233 group and return you to the group buffer.
10239 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10240 @kindex q (Summary)
10241 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10242 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10243 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10244 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10245 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10246 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10247 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10248 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10249 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10250 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10251 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10252 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10256 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10257 @kindex Q (Summary)
10258 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10259 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10260 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10264 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10265 @kindex c (Summary)
10266 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10267 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10268 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10269 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10272 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10273 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10274 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10275 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10278 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10279 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10280 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10281 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10284 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10285 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10286 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10287 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10288 all articles, both read and unread.
10292 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10293 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10294 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10295 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10296 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10297 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10298 articles, both read and unread.
10301 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10302 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10303 Exit the group and go to the next group
10304 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10307 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10308 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10309 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10310 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10313 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10314 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10315 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10316 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10317 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10318 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10321 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10322 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10323 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10324 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10326 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10327 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10328 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10329 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10330 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10331 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10332 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10333 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10334 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10335 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10336 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10337 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10339 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10341 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10342 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10343 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10344 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10345 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10346 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10347 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10348 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10349 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10352 @node Crosspost Handling
10353 @section Crosspost Handling
10357 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10358 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10359 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10360 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10361 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10362 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10365 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10366 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10367 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10368 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10369 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10371 @cindex cross-posting
10374 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10375 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10376 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10377 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10378 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10379 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10380 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10381 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10382 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10383 the cross reference mechanism.
10385 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10386 @cindex overview.fmt
10387 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10388 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10389 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10390 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10391 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10392 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10395 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10396 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10397 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10402 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10405 @node Duplicate Suppression
10406 @section Duplicate Suppression
10408 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10409 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10410 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10411 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10416 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10417 is evil and not very common.
10420 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10421 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10424 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10425 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10428 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10431 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10432 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10434 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10435 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10436 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10437 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10438 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10439 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10440 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10443 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10444 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10445 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10446 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10447 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10448 saw the article in.
10451 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10452 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10453 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10455 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10456 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10457 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10458 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10459 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
10460 session are suppressed.
10462 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10463 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10464 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10465 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10467 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10468 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10469 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10470 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10473 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
10474 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10475 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10476 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10477 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
10478 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10479 to you to figure out, I think.
10484 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10485 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10486 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10490 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10491 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10492 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10493 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10496 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10497 or newer is recommended.
10501 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10502 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10505 @item mm-verify-option
10506 @vindex mm-verify-option
10507 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10508 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10509 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10511 @item mm-decrypt-option
10512 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10513 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10514 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10515 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10518 @vindex mml1991-use
10519 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10520 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10521 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10524 @vindex mml2015-use
10525 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10526 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10527 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10531 @cindex snarfing keys
10532 @cindex importing PGP keys
10533 @cindex PGP key ring import
10534 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
10535 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
10536 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
10537 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
10538 through the usual MIME infrastructure. You can use a
10539 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
10540 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
10541 Privacy Guard when you click on the MIME button (@pxref{Using MIME}).
10544 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
10547 This happens to also be the default action defined in
10548 @var{mailcap-mime-data}.
10551 @section Mailing List
10553 @kindex A M (summary)
10554 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10555 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10556 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10557 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10560 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10565 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10566 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10567 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10570 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10571 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10572 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10575 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10576 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10577 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10581 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10582 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10583 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10586 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10587 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10588 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10591 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10592 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10593 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10598 @node Article Buffer
10599 @chapter Article Buffer
10600 @cindex article buffer
10602 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10603 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10604 tell Gnus otherwise.
10607 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10608 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10609 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10610 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10611 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10615 @node Hiding Headers
10616 @section Hiding Headers
10617 @cindex hiding headers
10618 @cindex deleting headers
10620 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10621 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10623 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10624 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10625 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10626 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10627 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10628 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10629 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10630 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10631 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10633 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10637 @item gnus-visible-headers
10638 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10639 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10640 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10641 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10643 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10644 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10647 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10650 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10653 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10654 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10655 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10656 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10657 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10658 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10660 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
10661 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
10664 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10667 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10670 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10671 variable will have no effect.
10675 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10676 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10677 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10678 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10679 the headers are to be displayed.
10681 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10682 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10685 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10688 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10689 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10691 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10692 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10693 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10694 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10695 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10696 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10697 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10700 These conditions are:
10703 Remove all empty headers.
10705 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10706 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10708 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10709 @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter is
10712 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10715 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10716 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10718 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10719 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10721 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
10722 the current groups's @code{to-list} parameter.
10724 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10727 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10729 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10732 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10735 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10736 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10739 This is also the default value for this variable.
10743 @section Using MIME
10746 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10747 while people stand around yawning.
10749 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10750 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10752 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10753 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10754 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10756 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
10757 @findex gnus-display-mime
10758 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
10759 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
10760 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
10761 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
10763 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
10767 @findex gnus-article-press-button
10768 @item RET (Article)
10769 @kindex RET (Article)
10770 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
10771 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
10772 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If builtin viewers can not display
10773 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
10774 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
10775 object is displayed inline.
10777 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
10778 @item M-RET (Article)
10779 @kindex M-RET (Article)
10781 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10782 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
10784 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
10786 @kindex t (Article)
10787 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
10788 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
10790 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
10792 @kindex C (Article)
10793 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10794 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
10796 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
10798 @kindex o (Article)
10799 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
10800 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
10802 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
10803 @item C-o (Article)
10804 @kindex C-o (Article)
10805 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
10806 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
10807 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
10808 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
10809 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
10810 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
10812 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
10814 @kindex d (Article)
10815 Delete the @sc{mime} object from the article and replace it with some
10816 information about the removed @sc{mime} object
10817 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
10819 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
10821 @kindex c (Article)
10822 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
10823 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
10824 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
10825 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
10826 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
10828 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
10830 @kindex p (Article)
10831 Print the @sc{mime} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
10832 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
10833 @file{.mailcap} file.
10835 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
10837 @kindex i (Article)
10838 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
10839 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
10840 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
10841 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
10842 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
10845 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
10847 @kindex E (Article)
10848 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
10849 viewer is available, use an external viewer
10850 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
10852 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
10854 @kindex e (Article)
10855 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
10856 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
10858 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
10860 @kindex | (Article)
10861 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
10863 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
10865 @kindex . (Article)
10866 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
10867 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
10871 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
10872 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
10875 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
10876 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
10877 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
10878 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
10879 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
10880 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
10881 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
10882 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
10883 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
10885 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10887 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10890 @node Customizing Articles
10891 @section Customizing Articles
10892 @cindex article customization
10894 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10895 exist. You can call these functions interactively
10896 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
10897 called automatically when you select the articles.
10899 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10900 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10901 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10902 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10904 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10905 for sensible values.
10909 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10912 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10915 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10918 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10921 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10925 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10926 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10927 regexps in the list.
10930 A list where the first element is not a string:
10932 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10933 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10934 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10938 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10943 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10944 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10945 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10946 considered to contain just a single part.
10948 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10949 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10950 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10951 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10952 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10953 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10954 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10956 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10957 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10958 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10959 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10962 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10963 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10965 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10967 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10968 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10969 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10970 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10971 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10972 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10973 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10974 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10975 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10976 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10978 @xref{Article Washing}.
10980 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10981 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10982 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10983 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10984 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10985 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10986 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10988 @xref{Article Date}.
10990 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10991 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10992 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10996 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10998 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
11000 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
11001 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
11002 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
11006 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
11010 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
11011 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
11012 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
11013 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
11014 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
11015 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
11016 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
11017 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
11018 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
11019 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
11021 @xref{Article Hiding}.
11023 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
11024 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
11025 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
11027 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
11029 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
11030 @item gnus-treat-translate
11031 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
11033 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
11034 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
11035 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
11036 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
11038 @xref{Article Header}.
11043 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
11044 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
11045 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
11046 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
11047 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11051 @node Article Keymap
11052 @section Article Keymap
11054 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11055 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11056 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11057 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11060 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11065 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11066 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11067 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11068 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11071 @kindex DEL (Article)
11072 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11073 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11074 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11077 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11078 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11079 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11080 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11081 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11084 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11085 @findex gnus-article-mail
11086 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11087 given a prefix, include the mail.
11090 @kindex s (Article)
11091 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11092 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11093 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11096 @kindex ? (Article)
11097 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11098 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11099 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11102 @kindex TAB (Article)
11103 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11104 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11105 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11108 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11109 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11110 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11113 @kindex R (Article)
11114 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11115 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11116 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
11117 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11121 @kindex F (Article)
11122 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11123 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11124 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
11125 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11133 @section Misc Article
11137 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11138 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11139 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11140 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11143 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11144 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11146 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
11147 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11149 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11150 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11151 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11152 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11153 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11154 the contents of the article buffer.
11156 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11157 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11158 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11160 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11161 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11162 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11163 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11165 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11166 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11167 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11168 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11170 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11171 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11172 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11173 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
11174 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
11180 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11181 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11182 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11187 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11190 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11193 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11194 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11195 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11198 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11201 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11204 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11209 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
11213 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11215 @item gnus-break-pages
11216 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11217 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11218 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11219 paging will not be done.
11221 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11222 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11223 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11227 @cindex internationalized domain names
11228 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11229 @item gnus-use-idna
11230 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11231 internationalized domain names inside @sc{From:}, @sc{To:} and
11232 @sc{Cc:} headers. This requires GNU Libidn
11233 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}, and this variable is only
11234 enabled if you have installed it.
11239 @node Composing Messages
11240 @chapter Composing Messages
11241 @cindex composing messages
11244 @cindex sending mail
11249 @cindex using s/mime
11250 @cindex using smime
11252 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11253 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11254 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11255 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11256 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11257 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11260 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11261 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11262 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11263 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11264 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11265 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11266 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11267 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11270 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11271 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11277 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11280 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11281 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11282 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11283 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11284 @code{nil} include all headers.
11286 @item gnus-add-to-list
11287 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11288 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11289 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11291 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11292 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11293 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11294 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11295 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11296 confirmation is should be asked for.
11298 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11299 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11301 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11302 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11303 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11304 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11305 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11310 @node Posting Server
11311 @section Posting Server
11313 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11314 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11316 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11318 It can be quite complicated.
11320 @vindex gnus-post-method
11321 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11322 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11323 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11324 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11325 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11326 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11327 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11328 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11329 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11332 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11335 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11336 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11337 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11338 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11340 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11341 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11343 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11344 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11347 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11348 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11350 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11351 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11352 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11353 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11354 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11355 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11356 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11357 package correctly. An example:
11360 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11361 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11364 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11365 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11366 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11368 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11369 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11370 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11372 @node Mail and Post
11373 @section Mail and Post
11375 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11379 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11380 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11381 @cindex mailing lists
11383 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11384 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11385 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11386 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11387 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11388 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11389 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11390 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11391 still a pain, though.
11393 @item gnus-user-agent
11394 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11397 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11398 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11399 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11400 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11401 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11402 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11403 use a valid format, see RFC 2616."
11407 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11408 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11409 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11412 @findex ispell-message
11414 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11417 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11418 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11421 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11425 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11426 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11428 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11431 Modify to suit your needs.
11434 @node Archived Messages
11435 @section Archived Messages
11436 @cindex archived messages
11437 @cindex sent messages
11439 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11440 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11441 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11442 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11445 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11446 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11449 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11450 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
11451 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11454 (nnfolder "archive"
11455 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11456 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11457 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11458 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11461 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11462 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11463 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11464 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11467 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11468 '(nnfolder "archive"
11469 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11470 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11471 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11474 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11476 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11477 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11478 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11480 This variable can be used to do the following:
11485 Messages will be saved in that group.
11487 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11488 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11489 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11490 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11491 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11492 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11493 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11494 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11498 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11500 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11501 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11504 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11509 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11511 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11514 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11516 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11519 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11521 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11522 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11523 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11524 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11527 More complex stuff:
11529 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11530 '((if (message-news-p)
11535 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11536 messages in one file per month:
11539 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11540 '((if (message-news-p)
11542 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11545 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11546 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11548 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11549 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11550 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11551 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11552 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11553 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11554 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11555 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11556 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11557 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11559 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11560 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11561 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11562 this will disable archiving.
11565 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11566 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11567 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11568 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11569 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11572 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11573 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11574 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11577 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11578 but the latter is the preferred method.
11580 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11581 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11582 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11584 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11585 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11586 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11587 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11588 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11589 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11590 changed in the future.
11595 @node Posting Styles
11596 @section Posting Styles
11597 @cindex posting styles
11600 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11602 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11603 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11604 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11607 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11608 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11609 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11610 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11611 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11616 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11617 (organization "What me?"))
11619 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11620 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11621 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11624 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11625 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11626 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11627 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11628 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11629 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11630 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11631 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11633 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11634 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11635 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
11636 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
11637 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
11638 @var{regexp} are strings. (There original article is the one you are
11639 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
11640 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11641 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
11642 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11643 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11644 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
11645 said to @dfn{match}.
11647 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11648 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11649 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11650 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11651 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11652 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11653 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11654 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11655 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11656 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11659 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11660 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11661 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11662 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11663 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11664 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11665 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11666 references chars lines xref extra.
11668 @vindex message-reply-headers
11670 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11671 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11672 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11674 @findex message-mail-p
11675 @findex message-news-p
11677 So here's a new example:
11680 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11682 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11684 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11685 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11687 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11688 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11689 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11690 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11691 (signature my-news-signature))
11692 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11693 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11694 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11695 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11696 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11697 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11698 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11699 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11700 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11701 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11703 (From (save-excursion
11704 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11705 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11707 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11710 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11711 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11712 if you fill many roles.
11719 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11720 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11721 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11722 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11723 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11725 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11726 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11727 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11728 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11729 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11733 @vindex nndraft-directory
11734 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11735 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11736 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11737 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11738 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11739 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11741 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11742 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11743 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
11744 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
11745 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
11746 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
11747 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
11748 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
11749 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
11751 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11752 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11753 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11754 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11755 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11756 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11757 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11758 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11759 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11760 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11761 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11762 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11763 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11764 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11766 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11767 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11768 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11770 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11771 @kindex D e (Draft)
11772 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11773 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11774 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11776 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11779 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11780 @kindex D s (Draft)
11781 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11782 @kindex D S (Draft)
11783 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11784 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11785 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11786 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11787 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11790 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
11791 @kindex D t (Draft)
11792 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11793 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11794 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11797 @node Rejected Articles
11798 @section Rejected Articles
11799 @cindex rejected articles
11801 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11802 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11803 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11804 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11806 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
11807 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11808 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11809 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
11810 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11812 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11813 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11814 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11816 @node Signing and encrypting
11817 @section Signing and encrypting
11819 @cindex using s/mime
11820 @cindex using smime
11822 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11823 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11824 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11825 (@pxref{Security}).
11827 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
11828 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
11829 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
11830 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11831 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11832 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11833 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11834 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11835 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11836 automatically encrypted messages.
11838 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11839 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11840 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11845 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11846 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11848 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11851 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11852 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11854 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11857 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11858 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11860 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11863 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11864 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11866 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11869 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11870 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11872 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11875 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11876 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11878 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11881 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11882 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11883 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11887 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11889 @node Select Methods
11890 @chapter Select Methods
11891 @cindex foreign groups
11892 @cindex select methods
11894 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11895 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11896 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11897 personal mail group.
11899 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11900 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11901 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11902 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11903 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11904 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11906 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11907 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11909 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11912 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11913 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11914 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11915 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11916 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11918 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11921 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11922 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11923 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11924 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11925 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11926 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11927 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11928 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11932 @node Server Buffer
11933 @section Server Buffer
11935 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11936 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11937 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11938 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11939 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11940 back end represents a virtual server.
11942 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11943 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11944 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11945 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11947 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11948 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11949 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11950 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11951 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11952 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11953 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11955 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11956 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11959 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11960 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11961 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11962 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11963 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11964 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11965 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11968 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11969 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11972 @node Server Buffer Format
11973 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11974 @cindex server buffer format
11976 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11977 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11978 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11979 variable, with some simple extensions:
11984 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11987 The name of this server.
11990 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11993 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11996 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11997 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11998 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11999 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
12009 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
12012 @node Server Commands
12013 @subsection Server Commands
12014 @cindex server commands
12020 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12021 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12025 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12026 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12029 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12030 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12031 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12035 @findex gnus-server-exit
12036 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
12040 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
12041 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
12045 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
12046 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
12050 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
12051 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
12055 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
12056 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
12060 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
12061 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
12062 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
12067 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
12068 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
12069 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
12070 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
12075 @node Example Methods
12076 @subsection Example Methods
12078 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
12081 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
12084 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
12090 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
12091 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
12094 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
12095 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
12097 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
12098 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12102 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12105 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12106 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12108 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12109 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12110 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12114 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12117 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12120 Here's the method for a public spool:
12124 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12125 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12131 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
12132 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12133 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
12134 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12135 should probably look something like this:
12139 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12140 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12141 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12142 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12145 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12146 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12147 configuration to the example above:
12150 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12153 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
12155 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12156 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12157 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12161 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12162 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12163 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12164 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12167 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12168 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12169 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12170 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12173 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12174 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12176 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12177 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12179 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12180 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
12181 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12183 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
12185 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
12186 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12187 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12188 will contain the following:
12198 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
12199 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
12200 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12203 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12204 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12205 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12208 @node Server Variables
12209 @subsection Server Variables
12210 @cindex server variables
12211 @cindex server parameters
12213 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12214 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12215 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12216 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12217 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12219 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12220 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12221 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12222 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12223 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12224 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12225 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12226 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12227 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12231 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12232 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12233 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12236 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
12238 @node Servers and Methods
12239 @subsection Servers and Methods
12241 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12242 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12243 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12244 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12248 @node Unavailable Servers
12249 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12251 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12252 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12253 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12254 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12255 actually the case or not.
12257 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12258 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12259 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12260 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12261 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12262 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12263 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12264 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12266 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12267 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12269 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12270 with the following commands:
12276 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12277 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12278 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12282 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12283 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12284 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12288 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12289 Mark the current server as unreachable
12290 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12293 @kindex M-o (Server)
12294 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12295 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12296 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12299 @kindex M-c (Server)
12300 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12301 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12302 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12306 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12307 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12308 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12312 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12313 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12319 @section Getting News
12320 @cindex reading news
12321 @cindex news back ends
12323 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12324 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12325 or it can read from a local spool.
12328 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12329 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12337 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12338 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12339 server as the, uhm, address.
12341 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12342 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12343 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12344 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12346 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12347 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12348 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12350 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12355 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12356 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12357 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12359 @cindex authentification
12360 @cindex nntp authentification
12361 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12362 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12363 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12364 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12365 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12366 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12367 present in this hook.
12369 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12370 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12371 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12372 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12373 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12374 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12375 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12376 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12377 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12378 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12379 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12380 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12384 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12387 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12389 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12390 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12391 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12392 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12393 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12394 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12395 @samp{force} is explained below.
12399 Here's an example file:
12402 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12403 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12406 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12407 have to be first, for instance.
12409 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12410 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12411 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12412 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12413 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12414 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12415 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12417 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12418 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12424 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12425 previously mentioned.
12427 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12429 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12430 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12431 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12432 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12433 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12436 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12437 '(("innd" (ding))))
12440 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12442 The default value is
12445 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12446 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12447 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12450 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12451 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12453 @item nntp-maximum-request
12454 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12455 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12456 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12457 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12458 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12459 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12460 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12462 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12463 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12464 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12465 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12466 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12467 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12468 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12469 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12470 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12471 no timeouts are done.
12473 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12474 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12475 @c @cindex PPP connections
12476 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12477 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12478 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12479 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12480 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12481 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12482 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12483 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12484 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12485 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12487 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12488 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12489 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12490 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12491 @c described above.
12493 @item nntp-server-hook
12494 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12495 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12498 @item nntp-buggy-select
12499 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12500 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12502 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12503 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12504 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12505 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12508 @item nntp-xover-commands
12509 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12512 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12513 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12517 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12518 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12519 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12520 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12521 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12522 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12523 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12524 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12525 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12526 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12527 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12529 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12530 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12531 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12533 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12534 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12535 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12536 server closes connection.
12538 @item nntp-record-commands
12539 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12540 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12541 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12542 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12543 that doesn't seem to work.
12545 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12546 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12547 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12548 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12549 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12550 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12551 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12552 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12554 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12555 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12556 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12557 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12558 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12559 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12560 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12563 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12566 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12567 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12569 @item nntp-read-timeout
12570 @vindex nntp-read-timeout
12571 How long nntp should wait between checking for the end of output.
12572 Shorter values mean quicker response, but is more CPU intensive. The
12573 default is 0.1 seconds. If you have a slow line to the server (and
12574 don't like to see Emacs eat your available CPU power), you might set
12580 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12581 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12582 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12586 @node Direct Functions
12587 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12588 @cindex direct connection functions
12590 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12591 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12592 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12593 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12596 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12597 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12598 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12601 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
12602 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
12603 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12604 this you must have GNUTLS installed (see
12605 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}). You then define a server
12609 ;; "nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12610 ;; however, gnutls-cli -p doesn't like named ports.
12612 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12613 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
12614 (nntp-port-number )
12615 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12618 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12619 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12620 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
12621 you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12622 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}. You then
12623 define a server as follows:
12626 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12627 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports.
12629 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12630 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12631 (nntp-port-number 563)
12632 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12635 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12636 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12637 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12638 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12639 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12640 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12641 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12642 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12646 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12647 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12648 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12651 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12652 session, which is not a good idea.
12656 @node Indirect Functions
12657 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12658 @cindex indirect connection functions
12660 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12661 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12662 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12663 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
12664 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12665 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12668 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12669 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12670 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12671 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12672 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12674 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12677 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12678 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12679 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12680 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12682 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12683 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12684 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12685 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12686 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
12687 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12688 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
12689 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
12693 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12694 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12695 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12696 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12698 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12701 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12702 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12703 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12706 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12707 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12708 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12709 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12711 @item nntp-via-user-password
12712 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12713 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12715 @item nntp-via-envuser
12716 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12717 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12718 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12719 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12721 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12722 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12723 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12724 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12731 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12736 @item nntp-via-user-name
12737 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12738 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12740 @item nntp-via-address
12741 @vindex nntp-via-address
12742 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12747 @node Common Variables
12748 @subsubsection Common Variables
12750 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12751 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12756 @item nntp-pre-command
12757 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12758 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
12759 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
12760 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is
12761 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
12764 @vindex nntp-address
12765 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12767 @item nntp-port-number
12768 @vindex nntp-port-number
12769 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is
12770 @samp{nntp}. If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{tls}/@sc{ssl}, you may
12771 want to use integer ports rather than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563}
12772 instead of @samp{snews} or @samp{nntps}), because external TLS/SSL
12773 tools may not work with named ports.
12775 @item nntp-end-of-line
12776 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12777 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12778 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12779 using a non native connection function.
12781 @item nntp-telnet-command
12782 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12783 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12784 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12785 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12787 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12788 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12789 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12796 @subsection News Spool
12800 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12801 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12802 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12805 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12806 anything else) as the address.
12808 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12809 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12810 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12811 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12815 @item nnspool-inews-program
12816 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12817 Program used to post an article.
12819 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12820 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12821 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12823 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12824 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12825 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12826 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12828 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12829 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12830 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12831 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12833 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12834 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12835 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12837 @item nnspool-active-file
12838 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12839 The name of the active file.
12841 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12842 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12843 The name of the group descriptions file.
12845 @item nnspool-history-file
12846 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12847 The name of the news history file.
12849 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12850 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12851 The name of the active date file.
12853 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12854 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12855 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12858 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12859 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12861 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12862 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
12863 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
12870 @section Getting Mail
12871 @cindex reading mail
12874 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12878 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12879 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12880 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12881 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12882 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12883 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12884 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12885 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12886 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12887 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12888 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12889 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12890 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12894 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12895 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12897 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12898 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12899 of a culture shock.
12901 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12902 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12904 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12905 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12906 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12907 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12909 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12911 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12912 deleted? How awful!
12914 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12915 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12916 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12917 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12920 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12921 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12922 they want to treat a message.
12924 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12925 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12926 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12927 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12928 archived somewhere else.
12930 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12931 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12932 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12933 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12934 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12936 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12937 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12938 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12940 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12941 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12944 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12945 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12946 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12947 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12948 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12950 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12951 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12952 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12953 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12954 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12955 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12959 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12960 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12962 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12963 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12964 and things will happen automatically.
12966 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
12967 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12970 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12973 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12974 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12975 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12976 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12977 like any other group.
12979 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12982 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12983 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12984 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12988 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12989 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12990 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12993 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12994 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12995 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12998 @node Splitting Mail
12999 @subsection Splitting Mail
13000 @cindex splitting mail
13001 @cindex mail splitting
13003 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
13004 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
13005 to be split into groups.
13008 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13009 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13010 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13011 ("mail.other" "")))
13014 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
13015 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
13016 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
13017 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
13018 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
13019 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
13020 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
13023 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
13026 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13027 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
13028 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
13029 mail belongs in that group.
13031 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
13032 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{*} so that it matches any mails
13033 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
13034 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
13035 rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled.
13036 In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.)
13038 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
13039 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
13040 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
13041 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
13042 thinks should carry this mail message.
13044 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
13045 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
13046 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
13047 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
13049 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
13050 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
13051 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
13052 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
13053 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{*}) group.
13055 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
13058 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
13059 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
13060 links. If that's the case for you, set
13061 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
13062 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13064 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13065 @kindex nnmail-split-history
13066 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13067 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13068 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13069 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13072 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13073 Header lines longer than the value of
13074 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13077 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13078 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13079 By default the splitting codes @sc{mime} decodes headers so you can
13080 match on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
13081 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
13082 can be turned off completely by binding
13083 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to @code{nil}, which is useful if
13084 you want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13086 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13087 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
13088 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
13089 @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then splitting does
13090 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13091 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
13092 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
13093 other kinds of entries.)
13095 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13096 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13097 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13098 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13099 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13100 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13101 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13102 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13103 month's rent money.
13107 @subsection Mail Sources
13109 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
13110 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
13114 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13115 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13116 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13120 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13121 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13123 @cindex mail server
13126 @cindex mail source
13128 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13129 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13134 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13137 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13138 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13139 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13142 The following mail source types are available:
13146 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13152 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
13153 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13154 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13158 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13161 An example file mail source:
13164 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13167 Or using the default file name:
13173 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
13174 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
13175 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
13178 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13182 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13185 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13189 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13192 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13194 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13197 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13201 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13202 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
13203 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
13204 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
13205 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
13206 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
13207 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13208 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
13209 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
13210 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13212 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13213 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13214 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
13215 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13221 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13225 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13229 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13230 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13231 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13232 predicate are considered.
13236 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13240 An example directory mail source:
13243 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13248 Get mail from a POP server.
13254 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
13255 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13258 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
13259 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13260 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13261 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13262 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13265 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
13269 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
13273 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
13274 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13277 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13280 The valid format specifier characters are:
13284 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13285 included in this string.
13288 The name of the server.
13291 The port number of the server.
13294 The user name to use.
13297 The password to use.
13300 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13301 corresponding keywords.
13304 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13305 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13308 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13309 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13312 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
13313 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
13316 @item :authentication
13317 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13318 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13323 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13324 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13326 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
13327 default user name, and default fetcher:
13333 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13336 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13337 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13340 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13343 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13347 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13348 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13349 contains exactly one mail.
13355 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13356 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13359 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13360 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13362 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13363 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13364 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13367 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13368 from locking problems).
13372 Two example maildir mail sources:
13375 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13376 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13380 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13385 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13386 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13387 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13388 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13391 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, TLS/SSL and STARTTLS support you
13392 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13398 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13399 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13402 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13403 @samp{993} for TLS/SSL connections.
13406 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13410 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13414 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13415 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13416 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
13417 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13419 @item :authentication
13420 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13421 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13422 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13423 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13426 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13427 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
13428 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13434 The valid format specifier characters are:
13438 The name of the server.
13441 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
13444 The port number of the server.
13447 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13448 corresponding keywords.
13451 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13452 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13455 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13456 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13457 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13458 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13459 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13460 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13463 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13464 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13465 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13466 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13469 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
13470 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
13474 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13477 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13479 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13483 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13484 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13485 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13487 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13488 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13490 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13496 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13497 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13500 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13504 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13508 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
13509 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
13513 An example webmail source:
13516 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13518 :password "secret")
13523 @item Common Keywords
13524 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13530 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
13531 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
13536 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13541 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13542 useful when you use local mail and news.
13547 @subsubsection Function Interface
13549 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13550 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13551 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13552 consider the following mail-source setting:
13555 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13556 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13559 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13560 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13561 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13562 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13563 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13565 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13568 @node Mail Source Customization
13569 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13571 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13572 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13576 @item mail-source-crash-box
13577 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13578 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13579 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13581 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13582 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13583 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
13584 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
13585 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
13586 (This will only happen, when reveiving new mail). You may also set
13587 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
13588 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
13590 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13591 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
13592 If non-@code{nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
13593 files. This variable only applies when
13594 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
13596 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
13597 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
13598 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
13600 @item mail-source-directory
13601 @vindex mail-source-directory
13602 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13603 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13604 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13607 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13608 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13609 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13610 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13611 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13612 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13614 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13615 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13616 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13618 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13619 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13620 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
13621 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13626 @node Fetching Mail
13627 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13629 @vindex mail-sources
13630 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13631 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13632 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13633 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13635 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13636 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13639 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13640 mail server, you'd say something like:
13645 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13646 :password "secret")))
13649 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13653 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13654 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13657 :password "secret")))
13661 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13662 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13663 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13664 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13665 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13666 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13670 @node Mail Back End Variables
13671 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13673 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13677 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13678 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13679 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13680 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13682 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13683 @item nnmail-split-hook
13684 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
13685 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13686 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13687 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13688 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13689 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13690 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13691 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13692 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13695 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13696 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13697 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13698 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13699 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13700 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13701 starting to handle the new mail) and
13702 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13703 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13704 default file modes the new mail files get:
13707 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13708 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13710 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13711 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13714 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13715 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13716 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13717 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13718 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13719 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13720 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13722 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13723 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13724 @findex delete-file
13725 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13727 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13728 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13729 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13730 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13731 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13733 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13734 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13735 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13736 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13737 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13739 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13740 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13741 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13746 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13747 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13748 @cindex mail splitting
13749 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13751 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13752 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13753 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13754 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13755 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13756 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13758 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13761 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13762 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13763 ;; from real errors.
13764 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13766 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13767 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13768 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13769 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13770 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13771 ;; Other mailing lists...
13772 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13773 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13774 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13775 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13776 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13777 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13778 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13779 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13781 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13782 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13786 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13787 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13788 the five possible split syntaxes:
13793 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13794 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13798 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13799 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13800 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13801 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13802 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13803 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13804 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13805 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13808 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13809 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13810 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13811 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13814 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13815 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13818 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13819 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13822 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13823 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13824 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13825 function should return a @var{split}.
13828 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13829 body of the messages:
13832 (defun split-on-body ()
13834 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13835 (goto-char (point-min))
13836 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13840 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13841 when the @code{:} function is run.
13844 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the
13845 first element is @code{!}, then @var{split} will be processed, and
13846 @var{func} will be called as a function with the result of @var{split}
13847 as argument. @var{func} should return a split.
13850 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13854 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13855 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13856 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13857 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13858 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13860 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13861 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13862 are expanded as specified by the variable
13863 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13864 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13867 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13868 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13869 when all this splitting is performed.
13871 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13872 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13873 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13876 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13879 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13880 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13882 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13883 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13884 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13885 groupings 1 through 9.
13887 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13888 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13889 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13890 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13891 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13892 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13893 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13894 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13895 it once per thread.
13897 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
13898 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
13899 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
13900 using the colon feature, like so:
13902 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13903 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13905 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13906 ;; other splits go here
13910 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13911 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
13912 in the file specified by the variable
13913 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
13914 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
13915 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
13916 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
13917 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
13918 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
13919 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
13920 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
13921 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
13922 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
13923 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
13924 300 kBytes in size.)
13925 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13926 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13927 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13928 messages goes into the new group.
13930 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13931 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13932 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13933 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13934 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13938 @node Group Mail Splitting
13939 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13940 @cindex mail splitting
13941 @cindex group mail splitting
13943 @findex gnus-group-split
13944 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13945 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13946 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13947 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13948 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13949 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13950 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13951 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13953 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13954 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13955 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13956 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13958 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13959 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13960 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13961 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13962 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13963 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13964 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13966 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13967 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13968 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13969 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13970 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13971 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13972 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13974 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13975 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13976 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13977 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13978 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13979 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13980 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13981 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13982 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13983 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13984 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13985 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13986 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13988 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13993 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13994 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13996 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13997 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13998 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13999 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
14001 ((split-spec . catch-all))
14004 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
14005 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
14006 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
14009 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
14010 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
14011 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
14015 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
14016 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
14017 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14021 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
14024 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
14025 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
14026 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
14027 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
14028 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
14029 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
14030 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
14031 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
14032 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
14034 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
14035 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
14036 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
14037 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
14038 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
14039 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
14040 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
14041 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
14042 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14044 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14045 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14046 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14047 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14048 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14049 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14052 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
14055 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14056 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14057 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14058 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14059 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14062 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14063 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14064 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14065 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14067 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14068 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14069 @cindex incorporating old mail
14070 @cindex import old mail
14072 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14073 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14074 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14077 Doing so can be quite easy.
14079 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14080 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14081 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14082 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14083 your @code{nnml} groups.
14089 Go to the group buffer.
14092 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14093 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14096 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14099 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14100 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14103 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14104 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14107 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14108 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14109 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14110 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14111 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14113 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14114 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14115 using the new mail back end.
14118 @node Expiring Mail
14119 @subsection Expiring Mail
14120 @cindex article expiry
14122 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14123 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14124 different approach to mail reading.
14126 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14127 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14128 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14129 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14130 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14131 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14134 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14135 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
14136 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14137 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14138 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14139 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14140 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14141 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14142 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14144 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14145 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
14146 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14147 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
14148 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14149 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14150 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14153 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14154 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14155 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14156 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14157 into its own group.)
14159 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14160 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14161 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14162 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14163 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14164 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14165 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
14166 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14169 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14170 Groups that match the regular expression
14171 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14172 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14173 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14175 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14176 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14177 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14178 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14179 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14181 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14183 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14184 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14185 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14188 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14189 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14190 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14191 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14192 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14194 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14195 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14198 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14199 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14202 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14203 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14205 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14206 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14207 don't really mix very well.
14209 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14210 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14211 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14212 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14215 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14216 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14217 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14218 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14221 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14223 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14225 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14227 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14229 ((string= group "important")
14235 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14236 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14238 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14239 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14240 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14243 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14244 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14246 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14247 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14248 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14249 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14250 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14251 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14252 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14253 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14254 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14255 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14256 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14257 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
14258 name or @code{delete}.
14260 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14262 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14265 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14266 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14267 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14268 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14269 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14272 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14273 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14274 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14275 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14276 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14279 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14280 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14281 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14282 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14283 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14284 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14286 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14287 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14288 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14289 easier for procmail users.
14291 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14292 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14293 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14294 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14295 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14296 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14297 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14298 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14299 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14300 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14301 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14302 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14303 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14306 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14308 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14309 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14310 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14311 auto-expire turned on.
14315 @subsection Washing Mail
14316 @cindex mail washing
14317 @cindex list server brain damage
14318 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14320 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14321 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14322 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14323 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14324 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14325 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14327 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14328 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14329 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14332 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14333 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14334 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14335 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14338 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14339 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14340 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14341 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14342 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14345 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14346 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14347 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14348 Emacs running on MS machines.
14352 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14353 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14354 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14355 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14358 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14359 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14360 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14361 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14363 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14364 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14365 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14366 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14367 into a feature by documenting it.)
14369 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14370 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14371 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14372 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14373 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14374 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14375 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14378 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14379 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14382 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14383 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14386 This can also be done non-destructively with
14387 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14389 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14390 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14391 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14393 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14394 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14396 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14397 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14398 @code{References} headers.
14402 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14403 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14404 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14408 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14409 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14410 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14417 @subsection Duplicates
14419 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14420 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14421 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14422 @cindex duplicate mails
14423 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14424 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14425 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14426 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14427 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14428 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14429 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14430 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14431 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14432 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14433 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14434 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14435 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14437 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14438 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14439 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14440 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14442 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14445 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14446 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14450 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14451 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14452 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14453 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14454 (any mail "mail.misc")
14461 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14462 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14467 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14468 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14469 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14470 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14471 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14474 @node Not Reading Mail
14475 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14477 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14478 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14479 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14481 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14482 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14483 mail, which should help.
14485 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14486 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14487 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14488 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14489 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14490 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14491 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14492 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14493 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14494 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14495 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14497 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14498 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14502 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14503 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14505 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14506 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14507 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14509 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14510 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14511 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14515 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14516 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14517 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14518 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14519 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
14520 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14521 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14525 @node Unix Mail Box
14526 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14528 @cindex unix mail box
14530 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14531 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14532 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14533 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14534 which group it belongs in.
14536 Virtual server settings:
14539 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14540 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14541 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14544 @item nnmbox-active-file
14545 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14546 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14547 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14549 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14550 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14551 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14552 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14557 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14561 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14562 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14563 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14564 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14565 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14567 Virtual server settings:
14570 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14571 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14572 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14574 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14575 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14576 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14577 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14579 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14580 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14581 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14587 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14589 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14591 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14592 format. It should be used with some caution.
14594 @vindex nnml-directory
14595 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14596 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14597 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14598 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14600 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14603 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14604 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14605 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14606 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14607 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14608 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14609 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14610 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14612 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14613 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14614 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14615 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14617 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14619 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14620 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14621 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14622 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14623 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14624 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14625 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14626 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14629 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14630 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14631 them next time it starts.
14633 Virtual server settings:
14636 @item nnml-directory
14637 @vindex nnml-directory
14638 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
14639 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
14642 @item nnml-active-file
14643 @vindex nnml-active-file
14644 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14645 @file{~/Mail/active}.
14647 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14648 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14649 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14650 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
14652 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14653 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14654 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14657 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14658 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14659 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14660 default is @code{nil}.
14662 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14663 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14664 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14666 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14667 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14668 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14670 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14671 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14672 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14673 default is @code{nil}.
14675 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14676 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14677 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14679 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14680 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14681 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14686 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14687 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14688 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14689 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14690 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14691 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14692 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14697 @subsubsection MH Spool
14699 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14701 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14702 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14703 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14704 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14706 Virtual server settings:
14709 @item nnmh-directory
14710 @vindex nnmh-directory
14711 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14712 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14715 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14716 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14717 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14721 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14722 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14723 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14724 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14725 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14726 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14727 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14732 @subsubsection Maildir
14736 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
14737 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
14738 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
14739 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. nnmaildir also
14740 stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory within a
14743 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
14744 reading, without needing locks. With other backends, you would have
14745 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
14746 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
14747 can still do that with nnmaildir, but the more common configuration is
14748 to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs that appear as
14751 nnmaildir is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will never
14752 corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never corrupt its
14753 data in the filesystem.
14755 nnmaildir stores article marks and NOV data in each maildir. So you
14756 can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to another, and you will
14759 Virtual server settings:
14763 For each of your nnmaildir servers (it's very unlikely that you'd need
14764 more than one), you need to create a directory and populate it with
14765 maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not choose a
14766 directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir will be
14767 represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the filename of the
14768 symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames in the directory
14769 starting with `.' are ignored. The directory is scanned when you
14770 first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in the group buffer;
14771 if any maildirs have been removed or added, nnmaildir notices at these
14774 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
14775 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
14776 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
14777 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
14778 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
14779 don't worry - a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
14780 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
14781 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
14782 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
14783 if nnmaildir uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical value.
14785 @item target-prefix
14786 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
14787 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
14788 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
14791 When you create a group on an nnmaildir server, the maildir is created
14792 with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
14793 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
14794 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
14795 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
14796 the group @code{foo}, nnmaildir will create
14797 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
14798 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
14799 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
14801 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
14802 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
14803 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
14804 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
14805 symlinks pointing to them will be).
14807 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
14808 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
14809 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
14810 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
14811 @code{force} argument.
14813 @item directory-files
14814 This should be a function with the same interface as
14815 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
14816 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
14817 parameter is optional; the default is
14818 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
14819 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
14820 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
14821 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
14822 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
14823 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
14826 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
14827 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
14828 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
14829 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
14830 value is @code{nil}.
14832 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
14833 an nnmaildir group. The results might happen to be useful, but that
14834 would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be different
14835 in the future. If your split rules create new groups, remember to
14836 supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
14839 @subsubsection Group parameters
14841 nnmaildir uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore all
14842 this; the default behavior for nnmaildir is the same as the default
14843 behavior for other mail backends: articles are deleted after one week,
14844 etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this functionality is
14845 unique to nnmaildir, so you can ignore it if you're just trying to
14846 duplicate the behavior you already have with another backend.
14848 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
14849 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
14850 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
14851 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
14852 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
14853 backends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
14854 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
14855 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
14856 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
14860 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article before
14861 it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
14862 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
14863 nnmaildir falls back to the usual
14864 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (overridable by
14865 the @code{expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) group parameters. If you
14866 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
14867 60 60)]}; nnmaildir will evaluate the form and use the result. An
14868 article's age is measured starting from the article file's
14869 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
14870 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
14871 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
14874 If this is set to a string (a full Gnus group name, like
14875 @code{"backend+server.address.string:group.name"}), and if it is not
14876 the name of the same group that the parameter belongs to, then
14877 articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry before
14878 being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an nnmaildir group, the
14879 article will be just as old in the destination group as it was in the
14880 source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
14881 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
14882 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
14883 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
14884 article. So that form can refer to
14885 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
14886 article. @emph{If this parameter is not set, nnmaildir does not fall
14887 back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
14888 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
14891 If this is set to @code{t}, nnmaildir will treat the articles in this
14892 maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed from
14893 @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in @file{new/},
14894 not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles cannot be
14895 edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the @file{new/}
14896 directory of another maildir - e.g., a system-wide mailbox containing
14897 a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the maildir outside
14898 @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for a shared
14899 mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or have write
14900 permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't contain
14901 extra copies of the articles.
14903 @item directory-files
14904 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
14905 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
14906 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
14907 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
14909 @item distrust-Lines:
14910 If non-@code{nil}, nnmaildir will always count the lines of an
14911 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
14912 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
14915 A list of mark symbols, such as
14916 @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever Gnus asks nnmaildir for
14917 article marks, nnmaildir will say that all articles have these
14918 marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in the filesystem
14919 say so. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will probably be
14920 removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14921 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14924 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
14925 Gnus asks nnmaildir for article marks, nnmaildir will say that no
14926 articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks stored in
14927 the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
14928 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
14929 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
14930 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
14932 @item nov-cache-size
14933 An integer specifying the size of the NOV memory cache. To speed
14934 things up, nnmaildir keeps NOV data in memory for a limited number of
14935 articles in each group. (This is probably not worthwhile, and will
14936 probably be removed in the future.) This parameter's value is noticed
14937 only the first time a group is seen after the server is opened - i.e.,
14938 when you first start Gnus, typically. The NOV cache is never resized
14939 until the server is closed and reopened. The default is an estimate
14940 of the number of articles that would be displayed in the summary
14941 buffer: a count of articles that are either marked with @code{tick} or
14942 not marked with @code{read}, plus a little extra.
14945 @subsubsection Article identification
14946 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
14947 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
14948 contains no colons. nnmaildir ignores, but preserves, the
14949 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
14950 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
14951 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
14952 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
14953 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
14954 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
14955 request the article in the summary buffer.
14957 @subsubsection NOV data
14958 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its NOV data (used to
14959 generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
14960 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
14961 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
14962 need for it - an article's NOV data is updated automatically when the
14963 article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can force
14964 nnmaildir to regenerate the NOV data for a single article simply by
14965 deleting the corresponding NOV file, but @emph{beware}: this will also
14966 cause nnmaildir to assign a new article number for this article, which
14967 may cause trouble with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
14969 @subsubsection Article marks
14970 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
14971 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
14972 When Gnus asks nnmaildir for a group's marks, nnmaildir looks for such
14973 files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus asks nnmaildir
14974 to store a new set of marks, nnmaildir creates and deletes the
14975 corresponding files as needed. (Actually, rather than create a new
14976 file for each mark, it just creates hard links to
14977 @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
14979 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
14980 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
14981 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
14982 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
14983 this while Gnus is running and your nnmaildir server is open, it's
14984 best to exit all summary buffers for nnmaildir groups and type @kbd{s}
14985 in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g} in the
14986 group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not pick up the
14987 changes, and might undo them.
14991 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14993 @cindex mbox folders
14994 @cindex mail folders
14996 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14997 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14998 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
15001 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
15003 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
15004 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15005 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15006 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
15007 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
15008 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
15009 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
15010 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
15011 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
15012 @code{nnfolder} directory).
15014 Virtual server settings:
15017 @item nnfolder-directory
15018 @vindex nnfolder-directory
15019 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
15020 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
15023 @item nnfolder-active-file
15024 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
15025 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
15027 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15028 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15029 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15030 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
15032 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
15033 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15034 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
15037 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15038 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15039 @cindex backup files
15040 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
15041 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
15042 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
15043 your @file{.emacs} file:
15046 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15047 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15049 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15052 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15053 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15054 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15055 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15056 extract some information from it before removing it.
15058 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15059 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15060 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
15061 default is @code{nil}.
15063 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15064 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15065 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15067 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15068 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15069 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If
15070 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15072 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15073 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15074 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15075 default is @code{nil}.
15077 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15078 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15079 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15081 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15082 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15083 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
15084 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15089 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15090 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15091 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15092 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15093 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15094 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15097 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15098 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15100 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15101 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15102 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15103 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15104 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15106 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15107 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15108 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15109 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
15110 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15111 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15112 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15113 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15116 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15117 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15118 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15119 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15124 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15125 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15126 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15127 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15128 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15129 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15130 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15131 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15132 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15133 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15134 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15135 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15136 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15141 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15142 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15143 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15144 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15145 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15146 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15147 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15148 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15149 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
15150 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15151 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15152 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15153 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
15154 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15156 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15157 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15162 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15163 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15164 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15165 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15166 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15167 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15168 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15169 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15170 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15171 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15172 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15173 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15174 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15175 provided by the active file and overviews.
15177 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15178 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15179 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15180 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15181 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15184 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15185 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15190 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15191 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15192 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
15193 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15194 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15195 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15196 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15200 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15201 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15202 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15203 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15204 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15205 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15206 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15207 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15208 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15210 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15211 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15212 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15213 friendly mail back end all over.
15217 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15218 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15221 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15222 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15223 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15224 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15225 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15226 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15227 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
15228 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
15231 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15232 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15233 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
15234 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15235 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15236 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15237 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15238 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15239 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15240 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15241 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15243 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15244 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15245 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15246 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15247 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15250 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15251 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15252 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15253 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15254 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15255 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15256 removed in the future.
15258 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15259 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15260 on your file system.
15262 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15263 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15268 @node Browsing the Web
15269 @section Browsing the Web
15271 @cindex browsing the web
15275 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15276 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15277 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15278 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15279 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15280 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15281 even know what a news group is.
15283 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15284 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15285 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15286 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15287 you mad in the end.
15289 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15292 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15293 interfaces to these sources.
15297 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15298 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15299 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15300 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15301 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15302 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
15305 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
15307 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15308 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
15309 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
15310 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
15311 though, you should be ok.
15313 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
15314 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
15315 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
15316 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
15317 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
15319 @node Archiving Mail
15320 @subsection Archiving Mail
15321 @cindex archiving mail
15322 @cindex backup of mail
15324 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
15325 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
15326 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
15327 marks is fairly simple.
15329 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
15330 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
15333 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
15334 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
15335 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
15336 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
15337 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
15338 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
15339 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
15340 before you restore the data.
15342 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
15343 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
15344 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
15345 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
15346 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
15347 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
15348 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
15349 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
15350 is unnecessary in that case.
15353 @subsection Web Searches
15358 @cindex Usenet searches
15359 @cindex searching the Usenet
15361 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
15362 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
15363 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
15364 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
15365 searches without having to use a browser.
15367 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
15368 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
15369 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
15370 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
15371 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
15373 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
15374 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
15375 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
15376 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
15377 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
15378 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
15379 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
15380 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
15381 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
15382 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
15385 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
15386 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
15387 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
15388 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
15389 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
15390 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
15392 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
15393 to use @code{nnweb}.
15395 Virtual server variables:
15400 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
15401 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
15402 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
15405 @vindex nnweb-search
15406 The search string to feed to the search engine.
15408 @item nnweb-max-hits
15409 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
15410 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
15413 @item nnweb-type-definition
15414 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
15415 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
15416 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
15421 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
15425 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
15428 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
15431 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
15435 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
15442 @subsection Slashdot
15446 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
15447 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
15448 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
15450 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
15451 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15454 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15455 '((nnslashdot "")))
15458 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
15459 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
15460 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
15461 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
15462 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
15465 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
15466 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15468 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
15469 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
15470 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
15471 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
15472 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
15473 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
15476 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
15479 @item nnslashdot-threaded
15480 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
15481 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
15482 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
15483 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
15484 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
15485 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
15487 @item nnslashdot-login-name
15488 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
15489 The login name to use when posting.
15491 @item nnslashdot-password
15492 @vindex nnslashdot-password
15493 The password to use when posting.
15495 @item nnslashdot-directory
15496 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
15497 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
15498 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
15500 @item nnslashdot-active-url
15501 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
15502 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
15503 news articles and comments. The default is
15504 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
15506 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
15507 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
15508 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
15510 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
15512 @item nnslashdot-article-url
15513 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
15514 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
15516 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
15518 @item nnslashdot-threshold
15519 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
15520 The score threshold. The default is -1.
15522 @item nnslashdot-group-number
15523 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
15524 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
15525 updated. The default is 0.
15532 @subsection Ultimate
15534 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
15536 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
15537 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
15538 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
15539 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
15541 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
15542 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
15543 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
15544 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
15545 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
15546 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
15547 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15549 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15552 @item nnultimate-directory
15553 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15554 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
15555 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
15560 @subsection Web Archive
15562 @cindex Web Archive
15564 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15565 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15566 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15567 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15570 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
15571 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15572 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15573 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
15574 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
15575 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15576 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15577 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15579 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15582 @item nnwarchive-directory
15583 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15584 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
15585 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
15587 @item nnwarchive-login
15588 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15589 The account name on the web server.
15591 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15592 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15593 The password for your account on the web server.
15601 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15602 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15603 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15606 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15607 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15610 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15613 @item nnrss-directory
15614 @vindex nnrss-directory
15615 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15616 @file{~/News/rss/}.
15620 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15621 the summary buffer.
15624 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15625 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15627 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15629 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15630 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15633 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15636 (require 'browse-url)
15638 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15640 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15643 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15644 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15647 (browse-url (cdr url))
15648 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15649 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15651 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15652 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15653 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15654 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15657 @node Customizing w3
15658 @subsection Customizing w3
15664 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15665 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15666 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15668 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15669 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15670 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15673 (eval-after-load "w3"
15675 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15676 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15677 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15678 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15680 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15683 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15684 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15693 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
15694 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15695 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15696 specify the network address of the server.
15698 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15699 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15700 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15701 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15702 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15704 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15705 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15706 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15707 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15709 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15710 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15711 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15712 usage explained in this section.
15714 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15715 might look something like the following. (Note that for TLS/SSL, you
15716 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15719 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15720 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15721 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15723 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15724 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15725 ; a UW server running on localhost
15727 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15728 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15729 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15730 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15731 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15732 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15733 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15734 (nnimap-stream network))
15735 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15737 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15738 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15739 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15742 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15743 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15744 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15745 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15747 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15752 @item nnimap-address
15753 @vindex nnimap-address
15755 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15756 server name if not specified.
15758 @item nnimap-server-port
15759 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15760 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for TLS/SSL.
15762 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15765 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15766 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15769 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15770 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15771 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15772 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15773 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15774 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15775 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15777 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15778 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15779 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15782 Example server specification:
15785 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15786 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15787 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15790 @item nnimap-stream
15791 @vindex nnimap-stream
15792 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15793 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15794 of TLS/SSL. (@sc{imap} over TLS/SSL is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15795 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15797 Example server specification:
15800 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15801 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15804 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15808 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15809 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
15811 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15813 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15814 TLS/SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15817 @dfn{tls:} Connect through TLS. Requires GNUTLS (the program
15818 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
15820 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15821 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
15823 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15825 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15828 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15829 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15830 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15831 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15832 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15833 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15834 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15835 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15836 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15839 For TLS connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
15840 needed. It is available from
15841 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
15843 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
15844 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
15845 authenticated IMAP stream in a subshell. They are tried sequentially
15846 until a connection is made, or the list has been exhausted. By
15847 default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
15848 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
15849 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
15852 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15853 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15854 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15855 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15856 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15857 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15858 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15861 @vindex imap-shell-program
15862 @vindex imap-shell-host
15863 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15864 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15866 @item nnimap-authenticator
15867 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15869 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15870 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15872 Example server specification:
15875 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15876 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15879 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15883 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15884 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
15886 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15889 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15890 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15892 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15894 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15896 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15899 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15901 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15902 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15903 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15904 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15905 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15906 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15909 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15910 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15911 running in circles yet?
15913 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15914 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15917 The possible options are:
15922 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
15925 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15926 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15927 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15928 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15930 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15935 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15936 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15938 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
15939 well), for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15940 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15941 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15942 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15945 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15946 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15949 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15950 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15951 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15952 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15955 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15956 as ticked for other users.
15958 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15960 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15962 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15963 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15964 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15965 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15967 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15968 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15969 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15970 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15972 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15973 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15975 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15976 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15977 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15983 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15984 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15985 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15986 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
15987 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15992 @node Splitting in IMAP
15993 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15994 @cindex splitting imap mail
15996 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15997 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15998 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15999 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
16000 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
16004 Here are the variables of interest:
16008 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
16009 @cindex splitting, crosspost
16011 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
16013 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
16014 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
16015 found will be used.
16017 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
16019 @item nnimap-split-inbox
16020 @cindex splitting, inbox
16022 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
16024 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
16025 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
16026 splitting is disabled!
16029 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
16030 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
16033 No nnmail equivalent.
16035 @item nnimap-split-rule
16036 @cindex Splitting, rules
16037 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
16039 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
16042 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
16043 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
16044 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16045 Neither did I, we need examples.
16048 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16050 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16051 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16052 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16055 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16056 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16057 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16059 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
16060 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16064 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16067 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16068 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16070 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16071 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16072 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
16073 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16075 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16076 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16077 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16078 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16079 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16080 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16082 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16083 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16084 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16086 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16087 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16088 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16090 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16092 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16093 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16094 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16097 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16098 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16099 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
16100 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16101 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16102 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
16105 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16106 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16107 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16108 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16109 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16110 group/function elements.
16112 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16114 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16116 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16118 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16119 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16121 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
16122 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16123 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16126 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16127 @cindex splitting, fancy
16128 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16129 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16131 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16132 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16133 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16135 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16136 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16137 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16138 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16143 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16144 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16147 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16149 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16150 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16151 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16153 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
16154 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
16155 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
16156 splitting function that analyses the body to split the article.
16160 @node Expiring in IMAP
16161 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16162 @cindex expiring imap mail
16164 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16165 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16166 Mail}). Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do
16167 not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16168 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16169 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16172 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
16173 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16174 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16175 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16176 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16177 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16178 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16179 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16183 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16184 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16186 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16187 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16189 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16191 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16192 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
16193 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
16194 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
16198 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
16199 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
16200 @cindex editing imap acls
16201 @cindex Access Control Lists
16202 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
16204 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
16206 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
16207 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
16208 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
16211 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
16212 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
16213 editing window with detailed instructions.
16215 Some possible uses:
16219 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
16220 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
16221 follow the list without subscribing to it.
16223 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
16224 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
16225 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
16229 @node Expunging mailboxes
16230 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
16234 @cindex Manual expunging
16236 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
16238 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
16239 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
16240 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
16242 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
16245 @node A note on namespaces
16246 @subsection A note on namespaces
16247 @cindex IMAP namespace
16250 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
16251 following text in the RFC:
16254 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
16256 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
16257 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
16258 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
16259 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
16261 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
16262 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
16263 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
16264 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
16265 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
16266 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
16269 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
16270 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
16271 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
16273 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
16274 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
16275 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
16276 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
16277 the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
16278 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
16279 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
16280 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
16282 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
16283 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
16284 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
16286 @node Other Sources
16287 @section Other Sources
16289 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
16290 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
16294 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
16295 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
16296 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
16297 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
16298 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
16302 @node Directory Groups
16303 @subsection Directory Groups
16305 @cindex directory groups
16307 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
16308 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
16311 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
16312 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
16313 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
16314 back end to read directories. Big deal.
16316 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
16317 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
16318 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
16319 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
16320 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
16322 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
16324 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
16325 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
16326 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
16327 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
16330 @node Anything Groups
16331 @subsection Anything Groups
16334 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
16335 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
16336 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
16339 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
16340 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
16341 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
16342 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
16343 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
16344 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
16345 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
16346 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
16347 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
16348 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
16351 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
16352 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
16353 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
16354 in the article buffer, just as usual.
16356 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
16357 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
16358 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
16359 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
16361 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
16362 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
16363 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
16364 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
16365 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
16366 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
16367 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
16368 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
16373 @item nneething-map-file-directory
16374 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
16375 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
16376 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
16378 @item nneething-exclude-files
16379 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
16380 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
16381 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
16383 @item nneething-include-files
16384 @vindex nneething-include-files
16385 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
16386 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
16388 @item nneething-map-file
16389 @vindex nneething-map-file
16390 Name of the map files.
16394 @node Document Groups
16395 @subsection Document Groups
16397 @cindex documentation group
16400 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
16401 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
16408 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
16413 The standard Unix mbox file.
16415 @cindex MMDF mail box
16417 The MMDF mail box format.
16420 Several news articles appended into a file.
16423 @cindex rnews batch files
16424 The rnews batch transport format.
16425 @cindex forwarded messages
16428 Forwarded articles.
16431 Netscape mail boxes.
16434 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
16436 @item standard-digest
16437 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
16440 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
16442 @item lanl-gov-announce
16443 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
16445 @item rfc822-forward
16446 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
16449 The Outlook mail box.
16452 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
16455 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
16458 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
16461 An RFC934-forwarded message.
16467 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
16470 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
16476 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
16477 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
16478 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
16481 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
16482 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
16483 group. And that's it.
16485 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
16486 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
16487 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
16488 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
16489 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
16490 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
16491 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
16492 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
16493 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
16494 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
16496 Virtual server variables:
16499 @item nndoc-article-type
16500 @vindex nndoc-article-type
16501 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
16502 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
16503 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
16504 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
16505 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
16507 @item nndoc-post-type
16508 @vindex nndoc-post-type
16509 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
16510 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
16515 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
16519 @node Document Server Internals
16520 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
16522 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
16523 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
16524 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
16525 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
16527 First, here's an example document type definition:
16531 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
16532 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
16535 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
16536 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
16537 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
16538 types can be defined with very few settings:
16541 @item first-article
16542 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
16543 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
16546 @item article-begin
16547 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
16548 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
16550 @item head-begin-function
16551 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
16554 @item nndoc-head-begin
16555 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
16558 @item nndoc-head-end
16559 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
16560 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
16562 @item body-begin-function
16563 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
16567 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16570 @item body-end-function
16571 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16575 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16578 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16579 regexp will be totally ignored.
16583 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16584 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16585 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16586 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16587 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16590 @item prepare-body-function
16591 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16592 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16593 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16595 @item article-transform-function
16596 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16597 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16598 body of the article.
16600 @item generate-head-function
16601 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16602 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16603 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16604 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16608 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16613 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16614 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16615 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16616 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16617 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16618 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16619 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16620 (subtype digest guess))
16623 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16624 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16625 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16626 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16627 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16629 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16630 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
16631 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
16632 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
16633 The alist is traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is
16634 called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is
16635 called to see whether a document is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on.
16636 These type predicates should return @code{nil} if the document is not
16637 of the correct type; @code{t} if it is of the correct type; and a
16638 number if the document might be of the correct type. A high number
16639 means high probability; a low number means low probability with
16640 @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16648 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16649 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16650 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16652 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16653 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16654 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16657 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16658 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16659 that interested in doing things properly.
16661 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16662 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16665 First some terminology:
16670 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16671 get news and/or mail from.
16674 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16675 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16678 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16682 @item message packets
16683 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16684 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16685 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16687 @item response packets
16688 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16689 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16690 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16700 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16701 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16702 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16703 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16706 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16709 You put the packet in your home directory.
16712 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16713 the native or secondary server.
16716 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16717 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16720 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16724 You transfer this packet to the server.
16727 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16730 You then repeat until you die.
16734 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16735 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16738 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16739 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16740 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16744 @node SOUP Commands
16745 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16747 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16751 @kindex G s b (Group)
16752 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16753 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16754 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16755 process/prefix convention.
16758 @kindex G s w (Group)
16759 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16760 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16763 @kindex G s s (Group)
16764 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16765 Send all replies from the replies packet
16766 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16769 @kindex G s p (Group)
16770 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16771 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16774 @kindex G s r (Group)
16775 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16776 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16779 @kindex O s (Summary)
16780 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16781 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16782 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16783 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16788 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16793 @item gnus-soup-directory
16794 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16795 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16796 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16798 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16799 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16800 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16801 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16803 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16804 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16805 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16806 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16808 @item gnus-soup-packer
16809 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16810 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16811 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16813 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16814 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16815 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16816 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16818 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16819 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16820 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16822 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16823 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16824 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16825 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16831 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16834 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16835 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16836 you can read them at leisure.
16838 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16842 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16843 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16844 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16845 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16847 @item nnsoup-directory
16848 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16849 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16850 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16852 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16853 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16854 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16855 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
16857 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16858 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16859 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16860 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16861 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16863 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16864 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16865 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16866 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16868 @item nnsoup-active-file
16869 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16870 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16871 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16872 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16873 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16875 @item nnsoup-packer
16876 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16877 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16878 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16880 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16881 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16882 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16883 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16885 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16886 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16887 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16890 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16891 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16892 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16895 @item nnsoup-always-save
16896 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16897 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16903 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16905 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16906 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16907 more for that to happen.
16909 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16910 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16911 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16914 In specific, this is what it does:
16917 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16918 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16921 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16922 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16923 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16926 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16927 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16928 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16931 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16932 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16933 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16935 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16941 @item nngateway-address
16942 @vindex nngateway-address
16943 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16945 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16946 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16947 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16948 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16949 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16950 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16951 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16954 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16955 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16956 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16959 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16962 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16965 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16968 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16970 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16973 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16974 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16975 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16977 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16979 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16980 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16981 @code{nngateway-address}.
16986 (setq gnus-post-method
16988 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16989 (nngateway-header-transformation
16990 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16998 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17001 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17006 @node Combined Groups
17007 @section Combined Groups
17009 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17013 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17014 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
17018 @node Virtual Groups
17019 @subsection Virtual Groups
17021 @cindex virtual groups
17022 @cindex merging groups
17024 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17027 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17028 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17029 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17031 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17032 regexp to match component groups.
17034 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17035 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17036 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17037 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17038 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17039 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17040 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17041 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17043 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17044 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17047 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17050 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17051 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17053 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17054 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17055 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17056 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17059 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17062 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17063 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17064 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17066 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17067 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17068 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17069 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17070 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17072 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17073 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17074 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17076 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17077 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
17078 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
17079 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
17080 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
17081 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
17082 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
17083 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
17084 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
17085 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
17086 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
17088 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17089 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17090 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17091 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17092 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17093 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17094 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17096 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17097 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17099 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17100 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17104 @node Kibozed Groups
17105 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17109 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
17110 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
17111 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
17112 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17114 @kindex G k (Group)
17115 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17118 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17119 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17120 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
17121 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17123 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
17124 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
17125 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17127 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17128 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17129 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17130 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
17131 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
17132 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
17133 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
17134 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17136 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
17137 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
17138 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
17139 Stranger things have happened.
17141 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
17142 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
17144 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
17145 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
17146 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
17147 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
17148 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
17149 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
17151 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
17152 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
17155 @node Gnus Unplugged
17156 @section Gnus Unplugged
17161 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
17163 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
17164 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
17165 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
17166 read news. Believe it or not.
17168 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
17169 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
17170 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
17171 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
17172 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
17174 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
17175 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
17176 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
17177 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
17178 reading news on a machine.
17180 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
17181 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
17183 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
17186 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
17187 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
17188 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
17189 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
17190 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
17191 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
17192 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
17193 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
17194 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
17195 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
17196 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
17197 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
17202 @subsection Agent Basics
17204 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
17206 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
17207 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
17208 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
17209 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
17211 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
17212 connected to the net continuously.
17214 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
17215 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
17217 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
17222 @findex gnus-unplugged
17223 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
17224 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
17225 already fetched while in this mode.
17228 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
17229 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
17230 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
17231 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
17232 Source Specifiers}).
17235 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
17236 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
17237 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
17238 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
17239 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
17242 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
17243 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
17244 then you read the news offline.
17247 And then you go to step 2.
17250 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
17256 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
17257 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
17258 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
17259 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
17260 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
17261 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
17262 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
17263 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
17267 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
17268 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
17269 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
17270 is probably best to start with a category @xref{Agent Categories}.
17272 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
17273 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
17274 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
17275 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
17276 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
17277 your policy, you can use grou parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
17281 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
17285 @node Agent Categories
17286 @subsection Agent Categories
17288 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
17289 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
17290 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
17291 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
17292 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
17293 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
17294 you're interested in the articles anyway.
17296 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
17297 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
17298 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
17299 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
17300 buffer for creating and managing categories.
17302 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
17303 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
17304 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
17305 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
17306 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
17309 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
17310 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
17311 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
17312 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
17313 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
17314 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
17318 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
17319 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
17320 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
17324 @node Category Syntax
17325 @subsubsection Category Syntax
17327 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
17328 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
17329 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
17333 @item gnus-agent-cat-name
17334 The name of the category.
17336 @item gnus-agent-cat-groups
17337 The list of groups that are in this category.
17339 @item gnus-agent-cat-predicate
17340 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
17341 are eligible for downloading; and
17343 @item gnus-agent-cat-score-file
17344 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
17345 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
17346 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
17348 @item gnus-agent-cat-enable-expiration
17349 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
17350 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
17351 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
17352 only groups that should not be expired.
17354 @item gnus-agent-cat-days-until-old
17355 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
17356 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
17358 @item gnus-agent-cat-low-score
17359 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
17361 @item gnus-agent-cat-high-score
17362 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
17364 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-short
17365 an integer that overrides the value of
17366 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
17368 @item gnus-agent-cat-length-when-long
17369 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
17372 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
17375 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
17376 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
17377 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
17380 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
17381 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
17382 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
17383 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
17385 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
17386 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
17387 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
17389 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
17390 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
17391 operators sprinkled in between.
17393 Perhaps some examples are in order.
17395 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
17396 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
17402 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
17403 short (for some value of ``short'').
17405 Here's a more complex predicate:
17414 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
17415 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
17418 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
17419 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
17420 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
17422 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
17423 you want to do, you can write your own.
17425 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
17426 bound to the value determined by calling
17427 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
17428 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
17429 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
17430 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
17431 predicate to individual groups.
17435 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
17436 lines; default 100.
17439 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
17440 lines; default 200.
17443 True iff the article has a download score less than
17444 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
17447 True iff the article has a download score greater than
17448 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
17451 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
17452 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
17453 checksum and sees whether articles match.
17462 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
17463 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
17464 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
17467 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
17468 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
17469 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
17470 something along the lines of the following:
17473 (defun my-article-old-p ()
17474 "Say whether an article is old."
17475 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
17476 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
17479 with the predicate then defined as:
17482 (not my-article-old-p)
17485 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
17486 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
17490 (require 'gnus-agent)
17491 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
17492 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
17493 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
17496 and simply specify your predicate as:
17502 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
17503 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
17504 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
17505 just don't give a damn.
17507 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
17508 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
17509 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
17510 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
17511 parameters like so:
17514 (agent-predicate . short)
17517 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
17518 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
17519 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
17521 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
17524 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
17527 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
17528 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
17529 predicate is assumed to be a list.
17532 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
17533 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
17534 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
17535 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
17536 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
17537 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
17539 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
17540 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
17541 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
17542 if it's to be specific to that group.
17544 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
17551 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
17552 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
17558 Category specification
17562 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17568 Group/Topic Parameter specification
17571 (agent-score ("from"
17572 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
17577 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
17583 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
17584 keywords stated above.
17590 Category specification
17593 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
17599 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
17603 Group Parameter specification
17606 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
17609 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
17614 Use @code{normal} score files
17616 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
17617 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
17618 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
17619 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
17621 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
17622 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
17623 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
17624 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
17628 Category Specification
17635 Group Parameter specification
17638 (agent-score . file)
17643 @node Category Buffer
17644 @subsubsection Category Buffer
17646 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
17647 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
17648 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17650 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17654 @kindex q (Category)
17655 @findex gnus-category-exit
17656 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17659 @kindex e (Category)
17660 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
17661 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
17662 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
17665 @kindex k (Category)
17666 @findex gnus-category-kill
17667 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17670 @kindex c (Category)
17671 @findex gnus-category-copy
17672 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17675 @kindex a (Category)
17676 @findex gnus-category-add
17677 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17680 @kindex p (Category)
17681 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17682 Edit the predicate of the current category
17683 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17686 @kindex g (Category)
17687 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17688 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17689 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17692 @kindex s (Category)
17693 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17694 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17695 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17698 @kindex l (Category)
17699 @findex gnus-category-list
17700 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17704 @node Category Variables
17705 @subsubsection Category Variables
17708 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17709 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17710 Hook run in category buffers.
17712 @item gnus-category-line-format
17713 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17714 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17715 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17719 The name of the category.
17722 The number of groups in the category.
17725 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17726 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17727 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17729 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17730 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17731 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17733 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17734 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17735 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17737 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17738 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17739 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17742 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17743 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17744 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17747 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
17748 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17749 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
17750 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
17751 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
17752 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
17753 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
17754 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
17758 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17759 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
17760 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
17761 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
17762 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
17763 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
17764 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
17769 @node Agent Commands
17770 @subsection Agent Commands
17771 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
17772 @kindex J j (Agent)
17774 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17775 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17776 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17780 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17781 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17782 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17788 @node Group Agent Commands
17789 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17793 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17794 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17795 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17796 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17799 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17800 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17801 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17804 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17805 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17806 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17807 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17810 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17811 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17812 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17813 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17816 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17817 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17818 Add the current group to an Agent category
17819 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17820 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17823 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17824 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17825 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17826 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17827 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17830 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17831 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17832 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17838 @node Summary Agent Commands
17839 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17843 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17844 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17845 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17848 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17849 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17850 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17851 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17855 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17856 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17857 Toggle whether to download the article
17858 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17862 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17863 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17864 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17867 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17868 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17869 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17870 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17873 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17874 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17875 Download all processable articles in this group.
17876 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17879 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17880 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17881 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17882 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17887 @node Server Agent Commands
17888 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17892 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17893 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17894 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17895 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17898 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17899 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17900 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17901 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17906 @node Agent as Cache
17907 @subsection Agent as Cache
17909 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17910 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17911 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17912 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17913 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17914 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17915 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17916 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17917 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17919 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17920 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
17921 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
17922 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
17923 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap backend.
17926 @subsection Agent Expiry
17928 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17929 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17930 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17931 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
17932 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
17933 @cindex Agent expiry
17934 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17937 The Agent backend, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
17938 least it doesn't handle it like other backends. Instead, there are
17939 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
17940 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
17941 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
17942 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
17943 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
17944 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
17946 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
17947 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
17948 synchronized with the group.
17950 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
17951 prevent expiration in selected groups.
17953 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17954 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
17955 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
17956 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
17957 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
17958 be kept indefinitely.
17960 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17961 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
17962 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
17963 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
17965 @node Agent Regeneration
17966 @subsection Agent Regeneration
17968 @cindex Agent Regeneration
17969 @cindex Gnus Agent Regeneration
17970 @cindex regeneration
17972 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
17973 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
17974 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
17975 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
17976 internal inconsistencies.
17978 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
17979 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
17980 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
17981 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
17982 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
17983 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
17985 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17986 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
17987 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
17988 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
17989 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
17990 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
17992 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17993 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17994 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
17995 of individual articles to repair the local NOV(header) database. It
17996 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
17997 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
18000 @node Agent and IMAP
18001 @subsection Agent and IMAP
18003 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
18004 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
18005 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
18006 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
18008 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
18009 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @file{.newsrc} as is the
18010 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
18011 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
18013 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
18014 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
18015 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
18016 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
18018 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
18019 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
18020 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
18021 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
18022 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
18023 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
18025 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
18026 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
18027 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
18028 in the group buffer.
18030 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
18031 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
18036 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
18039 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
18043 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
18044 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
18045 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
18046 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
18047 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
18048 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
18049 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
18050 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
18053 @node Outgoing Messages
18054 @subsection Outgoing Messages
18056 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
18057 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
18058 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
18060 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
18061 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
18062 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
18063 messages in the draft group.
18067 @node Agent Variables
18068 @subsection Agent Variables
18071 @item gnus-agent-directory
18072 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
18073 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
18074 @file{~/News/agent/}.
18076 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
18077 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
18078 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
18079 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
18080 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
18083 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18084 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
18085 Hook run when connecting to the network.
18087 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18088 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
18089 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
18091 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18092 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
18093 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
18095 @item gnus-agent-cache
18096 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
18097 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
18098 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
18099 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
18101 @item gnus-agent-go-online
18102 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
18103 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
18104 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
18105 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
18106 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
18107 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
18110 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18111 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
18112 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
18113 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
18114 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
18115 read. The default is t.
18117 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18118 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
18119 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
18120 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
18121 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
18123 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18124 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
18125 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
18126 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
18127 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
18128 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
18129 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
18130 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
18131 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
18132 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
18133 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
18134 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
18137 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
18138 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
18139 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
18140 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
18141 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
18142 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
18143 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
18144 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
18145 is only valid if the Agent is used.
18147 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18148 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
18149 Another variable that isn't a Agent variable, yet so closely related
18150 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
18151 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
18152 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
18154 The legal values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
18155 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
18156 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
18157 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
18158 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
18163 @node Example Setup
18164 @subsection Example Setup
18166 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
18167 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
18168 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
18171 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
18172 ;;; from your ISP's server.
18173 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
18175 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
18176 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
18177 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
18179 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
18180 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
18182 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
18183 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
18184 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
18187 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
18188 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
18191 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
18192 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
18193 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
18194 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
18195 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
18198 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
18199 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
18200 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
18201 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
18202 back all the killed groups.)
18204 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
18205 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
18206 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
18209 @node Batching Agents
18210 @subsection Batching Agents
18211 @findex gnus-agent-batch
18213 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
18214 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
18215 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
18217 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
18218 following incantation:
18222 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
18226 @node Agent Caveats
18227 @subsection Agent Caveats
18229 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
18230 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
18234 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
18236 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
18237 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
18238 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
18240 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
18241 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
18243 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
18247 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
18248 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
18249 locally stored articles.
18256 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
18257 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
18258 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
18261 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
18262 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
18263 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
18264 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
18265 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
18267 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
18268 before generating the summary buffer.
18270 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
18271 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
18272 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
18274 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
18275 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
18276 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
18277 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
18280 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
18281 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
18282 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
18283 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
18284 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
18285 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
18286 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
18287 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
18288 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
18289 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
18290 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
18291 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
18292 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
18293 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
18294 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
18295 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
18296 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
18300 @node Summary Score Commands
18301 @section Summary Score Commands
18302 @cindex score commands
18304 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
18305 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
18306 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
18307 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
18308 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
18310 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
18311 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
18312 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
18313 score file the current one.
18315 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
18320 @kindex V s (Summary)
18321 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
18322 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
18325 @kindex V S (Summary)
18326 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
18327 Display the score of the current article
18328 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
18331 @kindex V t (Summary)
18332 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
18333 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
18334 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
18335 can use @kbd{q} to quit. @kbd{e} edits the corresponding score file.
18336 When point is on a string within the match element, @kbd{e} will try to
18337 bring you to this string in the score file.
18340 @kindex V w (Summary)
18341 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
18342 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
18345 @kindex V R (Summary)
18346 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
18347 Run the current summary through the scoring process
18348 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
18349 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
18350 effect you're having.
18353 @kindex V c (Summary)
18354 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
18355 Make a different score file the current
18356 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
18359 @kindex V e (Summary)
18360 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
18361 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
18362 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
18366 @kindex V f (Summary)
18367 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
18368 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
18369 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
18372 @kindex V F (Summary)
18373 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18374 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
18375 after editing score files.
18378 @kindex V C (Summary)
18379 @findex gnus-score-customize
18380 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
18381 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
18385 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
18390 @kindex V m (Summary)
18391 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
18392 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
18393 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
18396 @kindex V x (Summary)
18397 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
18398 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
18399 expunge all articles below this score
18400 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
18403 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
18404 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
18407 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
18408 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
18412 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
18413 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
18415 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
18416 keys are available:
18420 Score on the author name.
18423 Score on the subject line.
18426 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
18429 Score on the @code{References} line.
18435 Score on the number of lines.
18438 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
18441 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
18442 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
18445 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
18446 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
18447 @file{ADAPT} files.)
18456 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
18462 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
18463 what headers you are scoring on.
18475 Substring matching.
18478 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
18507 Greater than number.
18512 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
18513 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
18514 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
18519 Temporary score entry.
18522 Permanent score entry.
18525 Immediately scoring.
18529 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
18530 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
18531 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
18535 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
18536 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
18537 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
18538 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
18540 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
18541 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
18542 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
18543 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
18544 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
18546 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
18547 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
18548 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
18549 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
18550 current score file.
18552 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
18553 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
18554 pretend they are keymaps or not.
18557 @node Group Score Commands
18558 @section Group Score Commands
18559 @cindex group score commands
18561 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
18566 @kindex W f (Group)
18567 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
18568 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
18569 all the time. This command will flush the cache
18570 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
18574 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
18576 @findex gnus-batch-score
18577 @cindex batch scoring
18579 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
18583 @node Score Variables
18584 @section Score Variables
18585 @cindex score variables
18589 @item gnus-use-scoring
18590 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
18591 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
18592 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
18594 @item gnus-kill-killed
18595 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
18596 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
18597 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
18598 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
18599 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
18600 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
18601 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
18603 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
18604 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
18605 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
18606 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
18607 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
18609 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
18610 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
18611 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
18612 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
18614 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18615 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
18616 @cindex score cache
18617 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
18618 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
18619 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
18620 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
18621 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
18622 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
18623 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
18626 @item gnus-save-score
18627 @vindex gnus-save-score
18628 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
18629 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
18630 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
18632 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
18633 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
18634 across group visits.
18636 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18637 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
18638 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
18639 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
18640 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
18641 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
18642 manually entered data.
18644 @item gnus-summary-default-score
18645 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
18646 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
18648 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
18649 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
18650 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
18651 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
18652 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
18653 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
18655 @item gnus-score-over-mark
18656 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
18657 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
18658 default. Default is @samp{+}.
18660 @item gnus-score-below-mark
18661 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
18662 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
18663 default. Default is @samp{-}.
18665 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18666 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
18667 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
18668 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
18670 Predefined functions available are:
18673 @item gnus-score-find-single
18674 @findex gnus-score-find-single
18675 Only apply the group's own score file.
18677 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
18678 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
18679 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
18680 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
18681 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
18682 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
18683 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
18684 then a regexp match is done.
18686 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
18687 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
18689 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
18690 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
18691 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
18692 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
18694 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18695 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
18696 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
18697 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
18698 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
18702 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
18703 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
18704 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
18705 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
18706 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
18707 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
18708 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18711 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18712 overall score file, you could use the value
18714 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18715 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18718 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18719 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18720 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18721 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18722 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18724 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18725 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18726 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18727 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18728 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18729 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18730 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18731 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18733 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18734 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18735 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18737 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18738 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18739 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
18740 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18741 threading---according to the current value of
18742 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
18743 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18744 simplified in this manner.
18749 @node Score File Format
18750 @section Score File Format
18751 @cindex score file format
18753 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18754 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18755 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18757 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18761 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18763 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18765 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18767 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18772 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18776 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18777 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18778 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18779 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18783 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18784 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18786 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
18787 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18788 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18790 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18795 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18796 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18797 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18798 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18799 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18800 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18801 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18802 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18803 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18804 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18805 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18806 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18807 to articles that matches these score entries.
18809 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18810 score entry has one to four elements.
18814 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18815 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18819 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18820 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18821 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18822 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18823 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18824 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18827 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18828 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18829 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18830 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18831 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18834 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18835 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18836 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18837 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18840 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18841 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18842 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18843 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18844 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18845 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18846 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18847 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18848 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18849 instead, if you feel like.
18852 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18853 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18854 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18855 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18856 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18857 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18860 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18864 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18865 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18867 These predicates are true if
18870 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18873 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18874 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18881 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18882 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18883 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18884 it's not. I think.)
18886 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18887 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18888 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18889 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18892 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18893 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18894 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18895 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18896 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18897 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18898 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18902 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18903 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18904 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18905 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18906 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18907 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18908 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18909 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18912 @item Head, Body, All
18913 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18917 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18918 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18919 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18920 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18921 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18922 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18923 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18927 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18928 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18929 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18930 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18931 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18932 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18933 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18934 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18935 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18936 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18937 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18941 @cindex Score File Atoms
18943 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18944 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18947 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18948 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18950 @item mark-and-expunge
18951 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18952 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18955 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18956 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18957 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18958 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18959 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18962 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18963 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18966 @item exclude-files
18967 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18968 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18972 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18973 ignored when handling global score files.
18976 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18977 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18978 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18979 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18982 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18983 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18984 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18985 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18987 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18991 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18994 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18995 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18996 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18997 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18998 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
19000 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
19001 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
19002 scoring rules exist.
19005 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
19006 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
19007 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
19008 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
19009 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
19010 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
19011 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19012 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
19013 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
19014 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
19015 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
19019 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
19020 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
19021 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
19022 file for a number of groups.
19025 @cindex local variables
19026 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
19027 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
19028 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
19029 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
19030 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
19035 @node Score File Editing
19036 @section Score File Editing
19038 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
19039 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
19040 with a mode for that.
19042 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
19043 additional commands:
19048 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
19049 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
19050 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
19051 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
19054 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
19055 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
19056 Insert the current date in numerical format
19057 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
19058 you were wondering.
19061 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
19062 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
19063 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
19064 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
19065 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
19070 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
19072 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
19073 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
19075 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
19076 e} to begin editing score files.
19079 @node Adaptive Scoring
19080 @section Adaptive Scoring
19081 @cindex adaptive scoring
19083 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
19084 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
19085 stupidity, to be precise.
19087 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
19088 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
19089 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
19090 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
19091 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
19092 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
19093 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
19094 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
19095 variable to @code{(word line)}.
19097 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19098 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
19099 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
19100 might look something like this:
19103 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
19104 '((gnus-unread-mark)
19105 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
19106 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
19107 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
19108 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
19109 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
19110 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
19111 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
19112 (gnus-ancient-mark)
19113 (gnus-low-score-mark)
19114 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
19117 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
19118 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
19119 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
19120 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
19121 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
19122 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
19125 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
19126 will be applied to each article.
19128 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
19129 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
19130 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
19131 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
19133 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
19134 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
19135 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
19136 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
19138 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
19139 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
19140 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
19141 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
19143 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
19144 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
19145 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
19146 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
19147 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
19148 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
19150 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
19151 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
19152 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
19154 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
19155 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
19156 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
19158 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
19159 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
19160 let you use different rules in different groups.
19162 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
19163 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
19164 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
19167 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
19168 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
19169 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
19170 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
19171 the length of the match is less than
19172 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
19173 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
19176 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19177 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
19178 headers. If you adapt on words, the
19179 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
19180 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
19183 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
19184 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
19185 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
19186 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
19187 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
19190 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
19191 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
19192 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
19193 score with 30 points.
19195 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
19196 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
19197 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
19198 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
19199 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
19201 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
19202 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
19203 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
19204 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
19205 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
19207 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
19208 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
19209 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
19210 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
19212 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
19213 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
19214 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
19215 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
19217 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
19218 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
19219 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
19220 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
19221 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
19223 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
19224 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
19225 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
19227 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
19228 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
19229 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
19230 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
19233 @node Home Score File
19234 @section Home Score File
19236 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
19237 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
19238 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
19239 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
19241 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
19242 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
19243 could perhaps use the same home score file.
19245 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
19246 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
19251 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
19255 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
19256 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
19260 A list. The elements in this list can be:
19264 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
19265 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
19268 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
19269 be used as the home score file.
19272 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
19275 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
19280 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
19283 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19284 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
19287 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
19288 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
19290 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
19292 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19293 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
19296 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
19297 Other functions include
19300 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
19301 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
19302 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
19303 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
19307 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
19308 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
19309 their own home score files:
19312 (setq gnus-home-score-file
19313 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
19314 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
19315 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
19316 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
19319 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
19320 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
19321 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
19322 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
19323 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
19325 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
19326 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
19327 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
19328 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
19329 precedence over this variable.
19332 @node Followups To Yourself
19333 @section Followups To Yourself
19335 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
19336 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
19337 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
19338 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
19339 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
19340 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
19344 @item gnus-score-followup-article
19345 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
19346 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
19349 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
19350 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
19351 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
19355 @vindex message-sent-hook
19356 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
19357 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
19359 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
19363 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
19364 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
19368 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19369 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
19372 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
19373 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
19378 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
19382 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
19383 is system-dependent.
19386 @node Scoring On Other Headers
19387 @section Scoring On Other Headers
19388 @cindex scoring on other headers
19390 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
19391 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
19392 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
19393 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
19394 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
19396 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
19397 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
19398 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
19399 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
19400 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
19402 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
19405 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
19406 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
19409 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
19410 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
19411 time if you have much mail.
19413 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
19414 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
19420 @section Scoring Tips
19421 @cindex scoring tips
19427 @cindex scoring crossposts
19428 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
19429 the @code{Xref} header.
19431 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
19434 @item Multiple crossposts
19435 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
19436 more than, say, 3 groups:
19439 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
19443 @item Matching on the body
19444 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
19445 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
19446 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
19447 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
19448 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
19449 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
19450 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
19453 @item Marking as read
19454 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
19455 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
19456 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
19460 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
19462 @item Negated character classes
19463 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
19464 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
19465 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
19469 @node Reverse Scoring
19470 @section Reverse Scoring
19471 @cindex reverse scoring
19473 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
19474 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
19475 like this in your score file:
19479 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
19484 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
19485 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
19488 @node Global Score Files
19489 @section Global Score Files
19490 @cindex global score files
19492 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
19493 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
19494 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
19496 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
19497 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
19498 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
19500 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
19501 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
19502 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
19503 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
19504 files are applicable to which group.
19506 To use the score file
19507 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
19508 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
19512 (setq gnus-global-score-files
19513 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
19514 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
19517 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
19519 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
19520 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
19521 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
19522 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
19524 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
19525 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
19527 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
19528 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
19529 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
19530 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
19531 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
19532 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
19534 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
19540 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
19542 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
19544 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
19546 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
19547 lowered out of existence.
19549 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
19550 articles completely.
19553 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
19554 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
19555 old articles for a long time.
19558 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
19559 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
19560 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
19561 holding our breath yet?
19565 @section Kill Files
19568 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
19569 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
19570 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
19572 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
19573 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
19574 files into score files.
19576 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
19577 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
19578 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
19579 that isn't a very good idea.
19581 Normal kill files look like this:
19584 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19585 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
19589 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
19590 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
19592 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
19593 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
19596 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
19601 @kindex M-k (Summary)
19602 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
19603 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
19606 @kindex M-K (Summary)
19607 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
19608 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
19611 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
19616 @kindex M-k (Group)
19617 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
19618 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
19621 @kindex M-K (Group)
19622 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
19623 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
19626 Kill file variables:
19629 @item gnus-kill-file-name
19630 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
19631 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
19632 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
19633 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
19634 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
19635 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
19637 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19638 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
19639 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
19640 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
19643 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
19644 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
19645 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
19646 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
19647 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
19648 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
19649 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
19650 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
19651 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
19653 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19654 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
19655 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
19660 @node Converting Kill Files
19661 @section Converting Kill Files
19663 @cindex converting kill files
19665 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
19666 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
19667 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
19670 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
19671 You can fetch it from
19672 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
19674 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
19675 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
19676 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
19684 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
19685 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
19686 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
19687 news articles generated every day.
19689 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
19690 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
19691 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
19692 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
19693 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
19694 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
19695 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
19696 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
19699 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
19700 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
19703 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
19704 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
19705 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
19706 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
19710 @node Using GroupLens
19711 @subsection Using GroupLens
19713 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
19715 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
19716 better bit in town at the moment.
19718 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19722 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19723 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19724 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19725 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19727 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19728 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19729 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19730 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19732 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19733 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19734 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19738 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19739 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19740 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19741 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19742 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19743 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19746 @node Rating Articles
19747 @subsection Rating Articles
19749 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19750 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19751 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19752 yourself is, ``on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19755 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19760 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19761 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19762 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19765 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19766 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19767 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19768 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19769 threads in rec.humor.
19773 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19774 the score of the article you're reading.
19779 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19780 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19781 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19784 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19785 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19786 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19790 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19791 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19794 @node Displaying Predictions
19795 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19797 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19798 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19799 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19800 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19801 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19803 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19804 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19805 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19806 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19807 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19808 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19809 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19810 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19811 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19812 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19813 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19814 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19815 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19817 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19818 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19819 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19820 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19822 The following are valid values for that variable.
19825 @item prediction-spot
19826 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19829 @item confidence-interval
19830 A numeric confidence interval.
19832 @item prediction-bar
19833 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19835 @item confidence-bar
19836 Numerical confidence.
19838 @item confidence-spot
19839 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19841 @item prediction-num
19842 Plain-old numeric value.
19844 @item confidence-plus-minus
19845 Prediction +/- confidence.
19850 @node GroupLens Variables
19851 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19855 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19856 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19857 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19858 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19861 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19862 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19865 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19866 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19868 @item grouplens-score-offset
19869 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19870 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19873 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19874 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19875 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19880 @node Advanced Scoring
19881 @section Advanced Scoring
19883 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19884 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19885 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19886 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19887 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19889 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19893 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19894 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19895 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19899 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19900 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19902 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19903 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19904 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19905 non-@code{nil} value.
19907 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19908 operator, and various match operators.
19915 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19916 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19917 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19922 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19923 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19924 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19929 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19930 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19934 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19935 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19936 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19937 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19938 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19939 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19940 the ancestry you want to go.
19942 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19943 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19944 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19945 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19946 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19949 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19950 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19952 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19953 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19956 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19957 when he's talking about Gnus:
19961 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19962 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19968 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19972 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19979 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19980 really don't want to read what he's written:
19984 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19985 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19989 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19990 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19991 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19998 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19999 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
20000 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
20001 ("body" "white.*socks"))
20005 The possibilities are endless.
20008 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
20009 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
20011 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
20012 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
20013 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
20014 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
20015 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
20016 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
20017 @samp{subject}) first.
20019 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
20020 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
20031 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
20032 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
20038 ("subject" "Gnus")))
20045 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
20046 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
20051 @section Score Decays
20052 @cindex score decays
20055 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
20056 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
20057 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
20058 use them in any sensible way.
20060 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
20061 @findex gnus-decay-score
20062 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
20063 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
20064 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
20065 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
20066 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
20067 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
20068 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
20069 definition of that function:
20072 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
20074 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
20075 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
20078 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
20080 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
20082 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
20085 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
20086 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
20087 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
20088 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
20092 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
20095 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
20098 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
20102 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
20103 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
20104 the new score, which should be an integer.
20106 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
20107 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
20112 @include message.texi
20113 @chapter Emacs MIME
20114 @include emacs-mime.texi
20116 @include sieve.texi
20126 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
20127 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
20128 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
20129 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
20130 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
20131 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
20132 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
20133 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
20134 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
20135 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
20136 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
20137 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
20138 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
20139 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
20140 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
20141 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
20142 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
20143 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
20144 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
20148 @node Process/Prefix
20149 @section Process/Prefix
20150 @cindex process/prefix convention
20152 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
20153 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
20155 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
20156 command to be performed on.
20160 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
20161 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
20162 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
20163 with the current one.
20165 @vindex transient-mark-mode
20166 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
20167 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
20169 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
20170 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
20173 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
20174 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
20176 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
20179 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
20180 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
20181 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
20182 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
20184 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
20185 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
20186 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
20187 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
20188 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
20189 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
20190 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
20191 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
20193 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
20194 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
20195 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
20196 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
20197 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
20201 @section Interactive
20202 @cindex interaction
20206 @item gnus-novice-user
20207 @vindex gnus-novice-user
20208 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
20209 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
20210 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
20211 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
20214 @item gnus-expert-user
20215 @vindex gnus-expert-user
20216 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
20217 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
20218 matter how strange.
20220 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
20221 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
20222 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
20223 is @code{t} by default.
20225 @item gnus-interactive-exit
20226 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
20227 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
20232 @node Symbolic Prefixes
20233 @section Symbolic Prefixes
20234 @cindex symbolic prefixes
20236 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
20237 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
20238 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
20239 rule of 900 to the current article.
20241 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
20242 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
20243 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
20244 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
20245 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
20246 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
20247 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
20249 @kindex M-i (Summary)
20250 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
20251 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
20252 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
20253 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
20254 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
20255 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
20256 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
20257 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
20259 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
20260 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
20261 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
20263 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
20267 @node Formatting Variables
20268 @section Formatting Variables
20269 @cindex formatting variables
20271 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
20272 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
20273 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
20274 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
20275 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
20278 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
20279 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
20280 lots of percentages everywhere.
20283 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
20284 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
20285 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
20286 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
20287 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
20288 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
20289 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
20290 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
20293 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
20294 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
20295 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
20296 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
20297 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
20298 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
20299 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
20300 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
20302 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
20303 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
20305 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
20306 @findex gnus-update-format
20307 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
20308 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
20309 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
20310 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
20314 @node Formatting Basics
20315 @subsection Formatting Basics
20317 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
20318 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
20319 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
20321 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
20322 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
20323 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
20324 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
20325 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
20328 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
20329 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
20330 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
20331 less than 4 characters wide.
20333 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
20334 @samp{%&user-date;}.
20337 @node Mode Line Formatting
20338 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
20340 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
20341 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
20342 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
20343 with the following two differences:
20348 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
20351 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
20352 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
20353 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
20354 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
20355 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
20356 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
20357 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
20362 @node Advanced Formatting
20363 @subsection Advanced Formatting
20365 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
20366 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
20367 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
20368 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
20370 These are the valid modifiers:
20375 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
20379 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
20384 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
20387 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
20392 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
20395 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
20398 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
20401 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
20407 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
20412 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
20413 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
20414 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
20415 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
20416 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
20417 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
20418 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
20420 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
20421 last operation, padding.
20423 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
20424 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
20425 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
20426 @xref{Compilation}.
20429 @node User-Defined Specs
20430 @subsection User-Defined Specs
20432 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
20433 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
20434 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
20435 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
20436 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
20437 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
20438 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
20439 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
20440 should protect against that.
20442 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
20443 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
20445 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
20446 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
20447 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
20448 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
20452 @node Formatting Fonts
20453 @subsection Formatting Fonts
20455 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
20456 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
20457 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
20458 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
20461 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
20462 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
20463 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
20464 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
20465 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
20466 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
20468 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
20469 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
20470 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
20471 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
20472 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
20473 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
20474 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
20475 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
20476 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
20477 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
20478 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
20481 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
20484 ;; Create three face types.
20485 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
20486 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
20488 ;; We want the article count to be in
20489 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
20490 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
20491 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
20493 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
20494 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
20496 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
20497 (setq gnus-group-line-format
20498 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
20501 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
20502 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
20504 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
20505 mode-line variables.
20507 @node Positioning Point
20508 @subsection Positioning Point
20510 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
20511 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
20512 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
20514 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
20516 @findex gnus-goto-colon
20517 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
20518 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
20520 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
20521 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
20522 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
20527 @subsection Tabulation
20529 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
20530 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
20531 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
20532 about lining up the following text afterwards.
20534 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
20535 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
20537 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20538 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
20539 This is the soft tabulator.
20541 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
20542 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
20543 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
20546 @node Wide Characters
20547 @subsection Wide Characters
20549 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
20550 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
20551 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
20553 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
20554 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
20555 these countries, that's not true.
20557 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
20558 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
20559 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
20560 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
20564 @node Window Layout
20565 @section Window Layout
20566 @cindex window layout
20568 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
20570 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
20571 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
20572 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
20573 @code{t} by default.
20575 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
20576 glitches. Use at your own peril.
20578 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
20579 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
20580 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
20583 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
20584 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
20585 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20589 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
20590 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
20591 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
20592 possible names is listed below.
20594 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
20595 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
20598 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
20602 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
20603 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
20604 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
20605 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
20606 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
20607 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
20608 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
20609 size spec per split.
20611 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
20612 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
20613 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
20614 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
20615 present) gets focus.
20617 Here's a more complicated example:
20620 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
20621 (summary 0.25 point)
20622 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
20626 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
20627 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
20628 occupy, not a percentage.
20630 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
20631 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
20632 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
20633 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
20634 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
20637 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
20640 (article (horizontal 1.0
20645 (summary 0.25 point)
20650 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
20651 @code{horizontal} thingie?
20653 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
20654 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
20655 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
20656 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
20657 the screen is to be given to this strip.
20659 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
20660 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
20661 lines from the splits.
20663 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
20667 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
20668 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
20669 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
20670 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
20671 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
20672 size = number | frame-params
20673 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
20676 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
20677 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
20678 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
20679 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
20681 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
20682 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
20683 @cindex window height
20684 @cindex window width
20685 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
20686 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
20687 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
20688 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
20689 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
20690 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
20692 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
20693 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
20694 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
20695 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
20697 @findex gnus-configure-frame
20698 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
20699 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
20700 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
20701 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
20702 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
20703 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
20704 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
20705 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
20706 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
20707 configuration list.
20710 (gnus-configure-frame
20714 (article 0.3 point))
20722 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20723 @code{frame} split:
20726 (gnus-configure-frame
20729 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20731 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20732 (user-position . t)
20733 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20738 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20739 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20740 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20741 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20742 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20743 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20744 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20745 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20747 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20748 be found in its default value.
20750 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20751 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20752 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20756 (message (horizontal 1.0
20757 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20759 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20764 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20765 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20766 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20771 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20772 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20773 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20774 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20775 (name . "Message"))
20776 (message 1.0 point))))
20779 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20780 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20781 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20782 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20783 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20786 (gnus-add-configuration
20787 '(article (vertical 1.0
20789 (summary .25 point)
20793 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20794 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20795 Gnus has been loaded.
20797 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20798 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20799 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20800 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20801 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20803 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20804 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20805 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20808 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20812 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20813 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20828 (gnus-add-configuration
20831 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20833 (summary 0.16 point)
20836 (gnus-add-configuration
20839 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20840 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20846 @node Faces and Fonts
20847 @section Faces and Fonts
20852 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20853 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20854 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20859 @section Compilation
20860 @cindex compilation
20861 @cindex byte-compilation
20863 @findex gnus-compile
20865 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20866 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20867 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
20868 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20869 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20870 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20873 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20874 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20875 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20876 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
20877 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
20878 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
20879 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
20883 @section Mode Lines
20886 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20887 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20888 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20889 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20890 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20891 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20892 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20895 @cindex display-time
20897 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20898 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20899 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20900 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20901 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20902 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20903 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20904 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20907 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20909 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20910 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20912 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20913 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20914 (length display-time-string)))))
20917 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20918 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20919 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20920 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20921 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20924 @node Highlighting and Menus
20925 @section Highlighting and Menus
20927 @cindex highlighting
20930 @vindex gnus-visual
20931 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20932 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20933 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20936 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20937 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20940 @item group-highlight
20941 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20942 @item summary-highlight
20943 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20944 @item article-highlight
20945 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20947 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20949 Create menus in the group buffer.
20951 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20953 Create menus in the article buffer.
20955 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20957 Create menus in the server buffer.
20959 Create menus in the score buffers.
20961 Create menus in all buffers.
20964 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20965 buffers, you could say something like:
20968 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20971 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20974 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20977 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20978 in all Gnus buffers.
20980 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20983 @item gnus-mouse-face
20984 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20985 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20986 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20990 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20994 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20995 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20996 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20998 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20999 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
21000 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
21002 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
21003 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
21004 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
21006 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
21007 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
21008 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
21010 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
21011 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
21012 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
21014 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
21015 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
21016 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
21027 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
21028 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
21029 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
21030 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
21031 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
21035 @vindex gnus-carpal
21036 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
21037 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
21038 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
21043 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21044 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
21045 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
21047 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
21048 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
21049 Face used on buttons.
21051 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
21052 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
21053 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
21055 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21056 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
21057 Buttons in the group buffer.
21059 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21060 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
21061 Buttons in the summary buffer.
21063 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21064 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
21065 Buttons in the server buffer.
21067 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21068 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
21069 Buttons in the browse buffer.
21072 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
21073 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
21074 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
21082 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
21083 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
21084 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
21085 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
21086 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
21088 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
21089 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
21090 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
21092 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
21093 been idle for thirty minutes:
21096 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
21099 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
21103 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
21106 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
21107 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
21108 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21110 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
21111 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
21112 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
21113 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
21115 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
21116 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
21117 @var{idle} minutes.
21119 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
21120 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
21123 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
21124 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
21125 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
21127 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
21128 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
21129 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
21130 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
21132 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
21133 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21135 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
21137 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
21140 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
21141 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
21142 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
21143 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
21144 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
21145 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
21146 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
21147 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
21148 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
21149 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
21150 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
21152 @findex gnus-demon-init
21153 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
21154 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
21155 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
21156 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
21157 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
21159 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
21160 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
21161 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
21170 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
21171 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
21173 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
21174 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
21175 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
21176 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
21179 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
21180 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
21181 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
21182 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
21184 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
21185 this will make spam disappear.
21187 There are some variables to customize, of course:
21190 @item gnus-use-nocem
21191 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
21192 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
21195 @item gnus-nocem-groups
21196 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
21197 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
21198 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
21199 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
21201 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
21202 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
21203 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
21204 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
21205 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
21206 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
21208 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
21209 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
21211 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
21212 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
21213 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
21214 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
21215 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
21216 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
21217 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
21218 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
21219 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
21220 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
21222 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
21223 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
21226 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
21229 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
21230 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
21233 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
21236 The specs are applied left-to-right.
21239 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
21240 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
21242 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
21243 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
21244 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
21245 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
21247 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
21248 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
21251 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
21253 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
21261 This might be dangerous, though.
21263 @item gnus-nocem-directory
21264 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
21265 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
21266 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
21268 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21269 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
21270 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
21271 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
21272 might then see old spam.
21274 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
21275 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
21276 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
21277 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
21278 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
21281 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21282 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
21283 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
21284 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
21288 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
21289 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
21290 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
21291 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
21298 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
21299 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
21300 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
21302 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
21303 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
21304 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
21305 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
21306 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
21307 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
21308 @code{undo} function.
21310 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
21311 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
21312 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
21313 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
21314 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
21315 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
21316 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
21317 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
21318 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
21319 never be totally undoable.
21321 @findex gnus-undo-mode
21322 @vindex gnus-use-undo
21324 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
21325 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
21326 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
21327 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
21331 @node Predicate Specifiers
21332 @section Predicate Specifiers
21333 @cindex predicate specifiers
21335 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
21336 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
21337 to type all that much.
21339 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
21344 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
21345 gnus-article-unread-p)
21348 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
21349 functions all take one parameter.
21351 @findex gnus-make-predicate
21352 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
21353 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
21354 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
21359 @section Moderation
21362 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
21363 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
21364 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
21367 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
21371 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
21374 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21376 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
21381 You split your incoming mail by matching on
21382 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
21383 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
21386 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
21387 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
21390 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
21391 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
21395 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
21398 (setq gnus-moderated-list
21399 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
21403 @node Image Enhancements
21404 @section Image Enhancements
21406 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
21407 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
21410 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
21411 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
21412 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
21413 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
21426 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
21427 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
21428 over your shoulder as you read news.
21430 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
21439 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
21440 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
21441 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
21442 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
21443 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
21444 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
21445 @code{GIF} formats.
21448 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21449 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
21450 point your Web browser at
21451 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
21453 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
21454 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
21456 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
21457 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
21460 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
21464 @item gnus-picon-databases
21465 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
21466 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
21467 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
21468 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
21469 "/usr/local/faces")}.
21471 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
21472 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
21473 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21474 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
21476 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
21477 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
21478 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
21479 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
21481 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
21482 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
21483 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
21484 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
21485 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
21487 @item gnus-picon-file-types
21488 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
21489 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
21490 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your Emacs.
21495 @subsection Smileys
21500 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
21505 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
21506 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
21508 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
21509 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21512 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
21515 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
21516 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
21517 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
21518 text and maps that to file names.
21520 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
21521 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
21522 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
21523 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
21524 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
21527 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
21532 @item smiley-data-directory
21533 @vindex smiley-data-directory
21534 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
21536 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
21537 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
21538 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
21547 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
21548 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
21549 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21553 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21554 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
21555 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21556 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21564 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21565 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21566 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21567 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21569 The variable that controls this is the
21570 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21571 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21572 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21573 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21574 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21576 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21577 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21578 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21579 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21582 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21583 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21584 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21585 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21586 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21587 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21588 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21589 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21591 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21594 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21595 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21597 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21598 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
21599 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
21600 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21601 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21602 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21603 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21604 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21605 header data as a string.
21607 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21608 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21609 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21610 randomly generated data.
21612 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21613 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
21614 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21615 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21616 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21618 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21619 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
21622 (setq message-required-news-headers
21623 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21624 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21627 Using the last function would be something like this:
21630 (setq message-required-news-headers
21631 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21632 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21633 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21634 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21639 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21642 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21643 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21644 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21645 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21646 unusual directory structure.
21648 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21649 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21650 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21651 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21653 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21654 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21655 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21656 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21657 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21658 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21660 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21661 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21662 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21667 @subsubsection Toolbar
21671 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21672 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21673 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21674 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21675 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21677 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21678 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21679 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21681 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21682 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21683 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21685 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21686 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21687 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21698 @node Fuzzy Matching
21699 @section Fuzzy Matching
21700 @cindex fuzzy matching
21702 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21703 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21705 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21706 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21707 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21709 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21710 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21711 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21712 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21713 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21716 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21717 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21721 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21723 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21724 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21725 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21726 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21727 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21728 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21729 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21730 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21733 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21734 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21735 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21736 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21737 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21738 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21740 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21743 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21744 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21745 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21746 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21747 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21748 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21751 @node The problem of spam
21752 @subsection The problem of spam
21754 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21755 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21757 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21759 First, some background on spam.
21761 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21762 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21763 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21764 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21765 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21766 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21767 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21768 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21770 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21771 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21772 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21773 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21774 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21775 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21776 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21777 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21778 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21781 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21782 spam messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21783 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21784 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21785 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21786 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21787 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21788 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21789 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21790 mail can be useful.
21792 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21793 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21794 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21795 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21796 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21797 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21798 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21799 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21800 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21802 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21803 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21804 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21805 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21806 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21807 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21808 because of the incident.
21810 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21811 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21812 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21813 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21814 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21815 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21816 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21817 to store the database of spam analyses.
21819 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21820 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21824 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21826 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21827 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21829 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21830 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21831 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21832 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21833 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21834 part of the mail address.)
21837 (setq message-default-news-headers
21838 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21841 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21842 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21847 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21848 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21849 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21855 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21856 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21857 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21858 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21860 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21861 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21862 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21863 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21864 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21865 your fancy split rule in this way:
21870 (to "larsi" "misc")
21874 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21875 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21876 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21877 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21878 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21880 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21881 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21882 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21883 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21884 cosmic balance somewhat.
21886 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21887 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21888 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21889 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21894 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21895 @cindex SpamAssassin
21896 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21899 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21900 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21901 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21902 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21903 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21904 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21905 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21907 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21908 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21909 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21910 Specifiers}) follows.
21914 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21917 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21920 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21921 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21922 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21925 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21929 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21932 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21933 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21937 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21938 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21939 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21940 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21943 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21945 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21947 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21948 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21950 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21952 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21953 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21957 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21958 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21959 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21962 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21963 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21965 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21966 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21967 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21971 @subsection Hashcash
21974 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21975 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21976 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21977 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21978 in smaller communities.
21980 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21981 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21982 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21983 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21984 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21985 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21986 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21987 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21988 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21989 one of them separately.
21992 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21993 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21994 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21995 header. For more details, and for the external application
21996 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21997 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21998 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
22000 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
22004 (require 'hashcash)
22005 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
22008 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
22009 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
22010 development contrib directory.
22012 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
22016 @item hashcash-default-payment
22017 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
22018 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
22019 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
22020 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
22022 @item hashcash-payment-alist
22023 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
22024 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
22025 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
22026 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
22027 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
22028 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
22029 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
22030 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
22034 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
22038 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
22039 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
22040 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
22041 a useful contribution, however.
22043 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22044 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
22045 @cindex spam filtering
22048 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
22049 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
22050 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
22051 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
22054 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
22055 the following keyboard commands:
22065 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
22066 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
22068 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark.
22069 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
22070 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
22071 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
22077 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
22078 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
22080 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
22086 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
22087 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
22090 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
22091 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
22092 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
22093 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
22094 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
22095 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
22096 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
22097 will be detected later.
22099 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
22100 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
22101 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
22102 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
22103 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
22104 by customizing the corresponding variable
22105 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
22106 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
22107 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
22108 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
22109 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
22110 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
22111 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
22114 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
22115 they get the @samp{$} mark when you enter the group. You must review
22116 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{$} mark for
22117 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{$}
22118 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or @kbd{d} for
22119 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
22120 spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
22121 will study them as spam samples.
22123 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
22124 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
22125 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
22126 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
22127 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
22128 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
22129 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
22130 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
22132 @defvar spam-ham-marks
22133 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
22134 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
22135 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
22138 @defvar spam-spam-marks
22139 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
22140 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
22143 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
22144 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
22145 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
22146 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
22147 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
22148 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
22151 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
22152 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
22153 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
22154 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
22155 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
22156 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
22157 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
22158 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
22159 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
22160 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
22161 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
22163 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
22164 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
22166 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
22167 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
22168 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
22169 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
22170 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
22171 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
22172 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
22173 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
22174 the spam articles are only expired.
22176 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
22177 must add the following to your fancy split list
22178 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
22184 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
22185 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
22186 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
22188 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
22189 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
22190 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
22191 but you can customize it.
22193 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
22195 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
22196 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
22197 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
22198 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
22199 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
22200 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
22201 because it will slow IMAP down.
22203 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
22205 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
22206 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
22207 longer spam or ham.}
22209 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
22210 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
22213 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
22214 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
22217 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
22218 * BBDB Whitelists::
22220 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
22222 * ifile spam filtering::
22223 * spam-stat spam filtering::
22224 * Extending the spam elisp package::
22227 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
22228 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
22229 @cindex spam filtering
22230 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
22231 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
22234 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
22236 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
22237 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
22238 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
22239 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
22244 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
22246 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
22247 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
22248 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22249 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
22250 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22254 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
22256 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
22257 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22258 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
22262 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
22264 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22265 customizing the group parameters or the
22266 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22267 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22268 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
22272 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
22274 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22275 customizing the group parameters or the
22276 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22277 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22278 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22279 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22280 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22284 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
22285 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
22286 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
22287 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
22288 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
22290 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
22291 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
22292 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
22293 Emacs regular expression syntax.
22295 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
22296 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
22297 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
22298 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
22299 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
22300 @file{blacklist} respectively.
22302 @node BBDB Whitelists
22303 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
22304 @cindex spam filtering
22305 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
22306 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
22309 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
22311 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
22312 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
22313 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
22314 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
22315 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
22316 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
22317 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
22321 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
22323 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
22324 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
22325 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
22326 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
22327 classified as spammers.
22331 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
22333 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22334 customizing the group parameters or the
22335 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22336 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
22337 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
22338 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
22339 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22344 @subsubsection Blackholes
22345 @cindex spam filtering
22346 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
22349 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
22351 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
22352 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
22353 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
22354 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
22355 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
22356 contains outdated servers.
22358 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
22359 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
22360 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
22361 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
22362 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
22363 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
22367 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
22369 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
22373 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
22375 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
22376 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
22380 @defvar spam-use-dig
22382 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
22383 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
22387 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
22388 ham processor for blackholes.
22390 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
22391 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
22392 @cindex spam filtering
22393 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
22396 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
22398 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
22399 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
22400 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
22401 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
22402 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
22403 message is spam or ham, respectively.
22407 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
22409 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22410 the message, positively identify it as spam.
22414 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
22416 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
22417 the message, positively identify it as ham.
22421 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
22422 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
22425 @subsubsection Bogofilter
22426 @cindex spam filtering
22427 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
22430 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
22432 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22435 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
22436 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
22437 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
22438 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
22439 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
22440 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
22442 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
22443 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
22446 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
22447 processing will be turned off.
22449 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
22453 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
22455 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
22456 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
22457 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
22458 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
22459 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
22460 installation documents for details.
22462 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
22466 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
22467 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22468 customizing the group parameters or the
22469 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22470 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
22471 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
22474 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
22475 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22476 customizing the group parameters or the
22477 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22478 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22479 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
22480 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22481 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22484 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
22486 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
22487 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
22488 database directory.
22492 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
22493 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22494 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
22495 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
22496 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
22497 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
22499 @node ifile spam filtering
22500 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
22501 @cindex spam filtering
22502 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
22505 @defvar spam-use-ifile
22507 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
22508 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
22512 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
22514 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
22515 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
22516 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
22520 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
22522 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
22523 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
22524 the default value of @samp{spam}.
22527 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
22529 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
22530 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
22534 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
22535 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
22536 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
22537 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
22540 @node spam-stat spam filtering
22541 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
22542 @cindex spam filtering
22543 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
22547 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
22549 @defvar spam-use-stat
22551 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
22552 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
22556 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
22557 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22558 customizing the group parameters or the
22559 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22560 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
22561 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
22564 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
22565 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
22566 customizing the group parameters or the
22567 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
22568 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
22569 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
22570 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
22571 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
22574 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
22575 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
22576 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
22577 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
22580 @node Extending the spam elisp package
22581 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
22582 @cindex spam filtering
22583 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
22584 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
22586 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
22587 incoming mail, provide the following:
22595 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
22596 "True if blackbox should be used.")
22601 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
22603 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
22608 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
22609 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
22610 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
22612 Make sure to add @code{spam-use-blackbox} to
22613 @code{spam-list-of-statistical-checks} if Blackbox is a statistical
22614 mail analyzer that needs the full message body to operate.
22618 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
22625 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
22626 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
22629 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22630 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
22631 Only applicable to spam groups.")
22633 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22634 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
22635 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
22643 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
22644 (spam-generic-register-routine
22645 ;; the spam function
22647 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22648 (when (stringp from)
22649 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
22650 ;; the ham function
22653 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
22654 (spam-generic-register-routine
22655 ;; the spam function
22657 ;; the ham function
22659 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22660 (when (stringp from)
22661 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
22664 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
22665 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
22666 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22667 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22668 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22669 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22674 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22675 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22676 @cindex Paul Graham
22677 @cindex Graham, Paul
22678 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22679 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22680 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22682 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22683 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22684 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22685 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22686 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22687 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22688 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22689 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22690 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22693 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22694 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22695 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22696 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22697 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22698 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22699 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22700 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22702 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22703 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22704 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22705 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22706 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22709 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22710 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22711 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22714 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22715 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22717 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22718 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22719 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22720 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22721 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22723 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22724 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22725 per mail. Use the following:
22727 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22728 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22729 is treated as one spam mail.
22732 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22733 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22734 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22737 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22738 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22739 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22740 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22741 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22742 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22744 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22745 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22746 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22747 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22748 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22751 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22752 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22753 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22754 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22757 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22758 reset the dictionary.
22760 @defun spam-stat-reset
22761 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22764 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22765 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22766 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22767 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22768 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22769 only non-spam mails.
22771 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22772 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22773 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22776 @defun spam-stat-save
22777 Save the dictionary.
22780 @defvar spam-stat-file
22781 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22782 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22785 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22786 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22788 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22789 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22792 (require 'spam-stat)
22796 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22799 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22800 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22801 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22802 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22804 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22805 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22806 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22807 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22810 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22811 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22815 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22816 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22819 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22820 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22821 expression are considered potential spam.
22824 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22825 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22826 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22830 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22831 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22832 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22833 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22834 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22837 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22838 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22839 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22843 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22844 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22845 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22846 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22847 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22851 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22852 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22853 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22854 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22859 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22860 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22862 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22864 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22865 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22866 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22869 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22870 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22871 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22874 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22875 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22876 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22877 already been processed as non-spam.
22880 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22881 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22882 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22883 been processed as spam.
22886 @defun spam-stat-save
22887 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22888 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22891 @defun spam-stat-load
22892 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22893 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22896 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22897 Return the spam score for a word.
22900 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22901 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22904 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22905 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22906 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22909 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22910 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22913 (require 'spam-stat)
22917 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22920 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22921 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22922 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22923 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22924 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22925 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22926 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22927 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22928 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22929 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22930 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22931 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22932 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22933 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22936 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22939 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22940 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22941 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22942 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22943 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22944 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22947 @node Various Various
22948 @section Various Various
22954 @item gnus-home-directory
22955 @vindex gnus-home-directory
22956 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22957 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22959 @item gnus-directory
22960 @vindex gnus-directory
22961 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22962 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22963 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22965 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
22966 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22967 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22968 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22970 @item gnus-default-directory
22971 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22972 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22973 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22974 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22975 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22976 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22977 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22980 @vindex gnus-verbose
22981 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22982 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22983 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22984 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22985 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22987 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22988 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22989 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22990 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22992 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22993 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22994 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22995 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22996 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22997 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22998 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22999 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
23000 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
23001 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
23003 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
23004 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
23005 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
23006 read when doing the operation described above.
23008 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23009 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23011 @cindex invalid characters in file names
23012 @cindex characters in file names
23013 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
23014 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
23015 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
23018 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
23022 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
23023 Windows (phooey) systems.
23025 @item gnus-hidden-properties
23026 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
23027 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
23028 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
23029 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
23031 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
23032 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
23033 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
23034 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
23035 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
23037 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
23038 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
23039 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
23041 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23042 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
23044 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
23045 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
23046 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
23047 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
23050 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
23058 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
23059 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
23061 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
23063 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
23069 Not because of victories @*
23072 but for the common sunshine,@*
23074 the largess of the spring.
23078 but for the day's work done@*
23079 as well as I was able;@*
23080 not for a seat upon the dais@*
23081 but at the common table.@*
23086 @chapter Appendices
23089 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
23090 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
23091 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
23092 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
23093 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
23094 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
23095 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
23096 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
23097 * Frequently Asked Questions::
23104 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
23106 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
23107 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
23108 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
23109 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
23110 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
23111 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
23118 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
23119 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
23121 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
23122 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
23123 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
23124 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
23125 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
23127 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
23128 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
23129 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
23130 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
23131 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
23132 appropriate name, don't you think?)
23134 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
23135 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
23136 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
23137 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
23140 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
23141 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
23142 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
23143 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
23144 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
23145 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
23146 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
23147 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
23148 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
23152 @node Gnus Versions
23153 @subsection Gnus Versions
23155 @cindex September Gnus
23157 @cindex Quassia Gnus
23158 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
23161 @cindex Gnus versions
23163 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
23164 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
23165 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
23167 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
23168 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
23170 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
23171 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
23173 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
23174 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
23176 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
23177 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
23180 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
23182 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
23183 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
23184 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
23185 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
23186 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
23187 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
23190 @node Other Gnus Versions
23191 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
23194 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
23195 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
23196 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
23197 @sc{mime} capabilities.
23199 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
23200 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
23201 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
23202 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
23209 What's the point of Gnus?
23211 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
23212 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
23213 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
23214 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
23215 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
23216 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
23217 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
23218 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
23219 keep track of millions of people who post?
23221 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
23222 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
23223 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
23224 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
23225 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
23226 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
23227 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
23228 every one of you to explore and invent.
23230 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
23231 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
23234 @node Compatibility
23235 @subsection Compatibility
23237 @cindex compatibility
23238 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
23239 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
23240 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
23245 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
23249 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
23252 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
23255 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
23256 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
23257 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
23258 important variables have their values copied into their global
23259 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
23260 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
23262 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
23263 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
23264 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
23265 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
23266 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
23270 @cindex highlighting
23271 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
23272 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
23273 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
23274 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
23275 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
23276 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
23279 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
23280 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
23281 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
23282 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
23284 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
23285 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
23286 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
23287 to stop doing it the old way.
23289 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
23291 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
23293 @cindex reporting bugs
23295 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
23296 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
23297 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
23299 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
23300 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
23301 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
23302 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
23307 @subsection Conformity
23309 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
23310 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
23318 There are no known breaches of this standard.
23322 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
23324 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
23325 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
23326 We do have some breaches to this one.
23332 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
23333 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
23334 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
23335 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
23336 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
23341 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
23342 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
23343 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
23344 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
23346 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
23348 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
23350 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
23351 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
23353 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
23356 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
23357 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
23358 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
23359 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
23360 decoding (verification and decryption).
23362 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
23363 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
23364 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
23365 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
23367 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
23368 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
23370 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
23371 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
23372 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
23373 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
23374 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
23375 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
23376 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
23380 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
23381 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
23386 @subsection Emacsen
23392 Gnus should work on :
23400 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
23404 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
23405 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
23408 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
23409 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
23410 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
23414 @node Gnus Development
23415 @subsection Gnus Development
23417 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
23418 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
23419 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
23420 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
23421 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
23422 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
23423 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
23424 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
23426 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
23427 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
23428 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
23429 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
23430 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
23433 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
23434 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
23435 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
23436 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
23437 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
23439 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
23440 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
23441 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
23442 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
23443 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
23444 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
23445 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
23446 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
23447 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
23448 can't be assumed to do so.
23453 @subsection Contributors
23454 @cindex contributors
23456 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
23457 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
23458 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
23459 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
23460 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
23461 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
23462 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
23463 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
23464 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
23465 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
23467 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
23473 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
23476 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
23477 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
23478 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
23479 functionality and stuff.
23482 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
23483 well as numerous other things).
23486 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
23489 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
23492 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
23495 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
23498 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
23499 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
23502 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
23505 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
23506 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23509 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
23512 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
23515 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
23518 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
23521 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
23522 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
23525 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
23528 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
23531 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
23534 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
23538 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
23541 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
23544 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
23547 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
23548 well as autoconf support.
23552 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
23553 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
23555 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
23570 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
23572 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
23576 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
23586 Alexei V. Barantsev,
23601 Massimo Campostrini,
23606 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
23607 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
23611 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
23614 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
23620 Michael Welsh Duggan,
23625 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
23629 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
23637 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
23639 Michelangelo Grigni,
23643 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
23645 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
23647 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
23654 François Felix Ingrand,
23655 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
23656 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
23658 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
23668 Peter Skov Knudsen,
23669 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
23671 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
23672 Thor Kristoffersen,
23675 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23693 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23694 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23701 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23706 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23710 John McClary Prevost,
23716 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23721 Christian von Roques,
23724 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23731 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23733 Randal L. Schwartz,
23747 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23752 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23772 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23773 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23774 (550kB and counting).
23776 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23779 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23780 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23784 @subsection New Features
23785 @cindex new features
23788 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23789 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23790 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23791 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23792 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23795 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23796 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23797 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23800 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23802 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23807 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23808 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23811 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23812 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23815 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23818 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23819 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23820 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23823 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23824 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23825 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23826 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23829 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23830 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23833 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23834 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23835 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23838 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23839 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23842 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23843 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23844 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23847 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23848 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23849 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23852 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
23853 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
23856 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23857 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23860 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23861 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23864 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23865 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23868 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23869 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23872 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23873 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23876 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23879 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23880 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23883 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23884 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23887 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23888 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23891 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23894 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23895 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23898 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23902 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23906 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23907 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23910 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23916 @node September Gnus
23917 @subsubsection September Gnus
23921 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23925 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23930 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23931 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23935 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23936 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23940 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23944 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23945 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23948 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23952 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23955 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23958 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23961 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23965 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23966 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23969 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23973 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23977 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23981 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23985 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23988 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23989 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23992 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23996 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23997 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
24000 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
24003 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
24004 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
24005 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
24008 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
24012 The Gnus cache is much faster.
24015 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
24019 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
24020 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24023 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
24024 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
24027 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
24028 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
24031 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
24032 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
24033 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
24036 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
24037 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
24040 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
24043 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24046 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
24049 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
24052 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
24053 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
24056 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
24060 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
24063 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
24068 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
24071 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
24075 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
24078 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
24082 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
24085 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
24088 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
24089 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
24092 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
24093 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
24097 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
24098 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
24101 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
24105 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
24106 buffer to allow easier treatment.
24109 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
24112 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
24116 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
24120 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
24121 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
24124 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
24128 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
24129 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
24132 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
24133 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24136 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
24140 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
24143 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
24146 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
24152 @subsubsection Red Gnus
24154 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
24158 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
24165 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
24168 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
24169 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
24172 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
24173 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
24177 Article washing status can be displayed in the
24178 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
24181 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
24184 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
24185 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
24188 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
24192 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
24193 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
24197 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
24198 Server Internals}).
24201 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
24205 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
24208 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
24209 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
24212 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
24213 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
24214 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
24217 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
24218 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24221 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
24222 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
24225 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
24229 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
24230 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24233 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
24234 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
24237 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
24241 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
24244 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
24248 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
24249 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24252 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
24253 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
24256 A new command for reading collections of documents
24257 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
24258 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
24261 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
24265 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
24266 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
24269 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
24270 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
24271 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
24274 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
24275 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
24279 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
24283 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
24287 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
24292 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
24296 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
24300 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
24301 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
24304 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
24310 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
24312 New features in Gnus 5.6:
24317 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
24318 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
24319 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
24322 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
24323 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
24324 group, which is created automatically.
24327 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
24331 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
24334 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
24335 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
24338 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
24342 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
24345 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
24346 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
24349 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
24352 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section ``Symbolic
24353 Prefixes'' in the Gnus manual for details.
24356 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
24357 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
24360 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
24361 control over simplification.
24364 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
24367 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
24371 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
24374 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
24377 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
24378 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
24379 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
24382 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
24383 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
24386 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
24390 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
24391 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
24394 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
24395 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
24398 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
24402 A history of where mails have been split is available.
24405 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
24408 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
24409 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
24412 A new function for citing in Message has been
24413 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
24416 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
24419 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
24423 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
24424 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
24427 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
24428 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
24431 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
24434 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
24438 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
24439 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
24441 New features in Gnus 5.8:
24446 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
24447 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
24449 If you used procmail like in
24452 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
24453 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
24454 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
24455 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
24458 this now has changed to
24462 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
24466 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
24467 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
24470 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
24471 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
24474 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
24475 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
24478 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
24479 called to position point.
24482 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
24483 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
24486 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
24487 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
24490 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
24491 subtly different manner.
24494 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
24495 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
24496 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
24499 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
24507 @section The Manual
24511 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
24512 either @code{texi2dvi}
24514 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
24515 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
24517 to get what you hold in your hands now.
24519 The following conventions have been used:
24524 This is a @samp{string}
24527 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
24530 This is a @file{file}
24533 This is a @code{symbol}
24537 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
24541 (setq flargnoze "yes")
24544 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
24547 (setq flumphel 'yes)
24550 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
24551 ever get them confused.
24555 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
24556 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
24557 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
24558 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
24559 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
24560 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
24561 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
24567 @node On Writing Manuals
24568 @section On Writing Manuals
24570 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
24571 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
24572 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
24573 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
24574 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
24575 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
24578 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
24579 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
24580 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
24583 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
24584 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
24589 @section Terminology
24591 @cindex terminology
24596 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
24597 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
24598 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
24599 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
24600 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
24604 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
24605 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
24606 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
24607 not posting, and replying is not following up.
24611 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
24615 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
24620 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
24621 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
24622 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
24623 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
24624 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
24625 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
24626 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
24627 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
24628 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
24630 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
24631 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
24632 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
24633 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
24634 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
24637 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
24638 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
24639 access the articles.
24641 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
24642 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
24643 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
24648 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
24649 default, way of getting news.
24653 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
24654 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
24659 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
24660 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
24664 A message that has been posted as news.
24667 @cindex mail message
24668 A message that has been mailed.
24672 A mail message or news article
24676 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
24681 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
24686 A line from the head of an article.
24690 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24691 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24695 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24696 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24697 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24698 normal @sc{head} format.
24702 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24703 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24704 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24705 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24706 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24707 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24709 @item killed groups
24710 @cindex killed groups
24711 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24712 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24714 @item zombie groups
24715 @cindex zombie groups
24716 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24719 @cindex active file
24720 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24721 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24722 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24725 @cindex bogus groups
24726 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24727 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24728 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24731 @cindex activating groups
24732 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24733 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24734 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24738 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24740 @item select method
24741 @cindex select method
24742 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24745 @item virtual server
24746 @cindex virtual server
24747 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24748 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24749 whole is a virtual server.
24753 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24754 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24757 @item ephemeral groups
24758 @cindex ephemeral groups
24759 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24760 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24761 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24764 @cindex solid groups
24765 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24766 group buffer are solid groups.
24768 @item sparse articles
24769 @cindex sparse articles
24770 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24771 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24775 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24776 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24780 @cindex thread root
24781 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24782 articles in the thread.
24786 An article that has responses.
24790 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24794 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24795 specified by RFC 1153.
24801 @node Customization
24802 @section Customization
24803 @cindex general customization
24805 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24806 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24807 for some quite common situations.
24810 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24811 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24812 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24813 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24817 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24818 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24820 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24821 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24822 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24826 @item gnus-read-active-file
24827 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24828 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24829 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24830 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24831 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24833 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24834 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24835 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24836 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24840 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24841 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24843 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24844 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24845 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24849 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24850 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24851 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24852 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24853 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24855 @item gnus-visible-headers
24856 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24857 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24858 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24859 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24861 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24863 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24864 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24865 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24868 @item gnus-use-full-window
24869 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24870 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24871 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24872 want to read them anyway.
24874 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24875 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24879 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24880 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24881 lines, which might save some time.
24885 @node Little Disk Space
24886 @subsection Little Disk Space
24889 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24890 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24894 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24895 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24896 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24897 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24900 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24901 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24902 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24903 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24906 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24907 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24908 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24909 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24910 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24916 @subsection Slow Machine
24917 @cindex slow machine
24919 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24920 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24922 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24923 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24925 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24926 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24927 summary buffer faster.
24931 @node Troubleshooting
24932 @section Troubleshooting
24933 @cindex troubleshooting
24935 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24943 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24946 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24947 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24951 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24952 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
24953 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
24954 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24957 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24961 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24962 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24963 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24964 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24965 something like that.
24968 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24971 @cindex reporting bugs
24973 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24975 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24976 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24977 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24978 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24980 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24981 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24982 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24983 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24986 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24987 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24988 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24989 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24990 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24991 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24993 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24994 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24995 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24999 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
25000 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
25003 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
25004 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
25005 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
25006 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
25007 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
25008 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
25009 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
25010 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
25011 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
25012 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
25013 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
25014 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
25015 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
25016 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
25021 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
25022 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
25023 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
25024 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
25025 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
25026 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
25027 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
25028 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
25029 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
25030 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET message}. Then perform
25031 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
25032 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
25033 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
25034 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
25035 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
25036 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
25037 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
25038 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
25040 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
25041 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
25043 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
25044 @cindex ding mailing list
25045 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@email{ding@@gnus.org}.
25046 Write to @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
25050 @node Gnus Reference Guide
25051 @section Gnus Reference Guide
25053 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
25054 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
25055 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
25056 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
25059 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
25060 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
25061 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
25062 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
25063 and general methods of operation.
25066 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
25067 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
25068 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
25069 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
25070 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
25071 * Group Info:: The group info format.
25072 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
25073 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
25074 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
25078 @node Gnus Utility Functions
25079 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
25080 @cindex Gnus utility functions
25081 @cindex utility functions
25083 @cindex internal variables
25085 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
25086 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
25087 Below is a list of the most common ones.
25091 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
25092 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
25093 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
25095 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
25096 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
25097 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
25099 @item gnus-group-real-name
25100 @findex gnus-group-real-name
25101 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
25104 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
25105 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
25106 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
25107 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
25109 @item gnus-get-info
25110 @findex gnus-get-info
25111 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
25113 @item gnus-group-unread
25114 @findex gnus-group-unread
25115 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
25119 @findex gnus-active
25120 The active entry for @var{group}.
25122 @item gnus-set-active
25123 @findex gnus-set-active
25124 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
25126 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25127 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
25128 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
25131 @item gnus-continuum-version
25132 @findex gnus-continuum-version
25133 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
25134 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
25137 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
25138 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
25139 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
25141 @item gnus-news-group-p
25142 @findex gnus-news-group-p
25143 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
25145 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25146 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
25147 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
25149 @item gnus-server-to-method
25150 @findex gnus-server-to-method
25151 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
25153 @item gnus-server-equal
25154 @findex gnus-server-equal
25155 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
25157 @item gnus-group-native-p
25158 @findex gnus-group-native-p
25159 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
25161 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
25162 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
25163 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
25165 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
25166 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
25167 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
25169 @item group-group-find-parameter
25170 @findex group-group-find-parameter
25171 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
25172 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
25174 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
25175 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
25176 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
25178 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
25179 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
25180 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
25182 @item gnus-check-backend-function
25183 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
25184 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
25185 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
25188 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
25192 @item gnus-read-method
25193 @findex gnus-read-method
25194 Prompts the user for a select method.
25199 @node Back End Interface
25200 @subsection Back End Interface
25202 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
25203 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
25204 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
25205 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
25206 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
25207 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
25209 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
25210 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
25211 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
25212 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
25213 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
25214 been opened, the function should fail.
25216 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
25217 name. Take this example:
25221 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
25222 (nntp-port-number 4324))
25225 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
25226 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
25228 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
25229 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
25230 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
25232 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
25233 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
25234 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
25236 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
25237 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
25238 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
25239 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
25240 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
25241 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
25244 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
25245 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
25246 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
25247 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
25250 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
25251 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
25252 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
25253 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
25254 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
25255 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
25256 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
25257 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
25258 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
25259 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
25261 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
25262 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
25263 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
25264 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
25265 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
25266 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
25267 of numbers as long as possible.
25269 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
25270 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
25271 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
25273 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
25276 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
25279 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
25280 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
25281 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
25282 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
25283 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
25284 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
25288 @node Required Back End Functions
25289 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
25293 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
25295 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
25296 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
25297 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
25298 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
25300 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
25301 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
25302 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
25303 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
25305 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
25306 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
25307 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
25308 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
25309 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
25310 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
25311 number, do maximum fetches.
25313 Here's an example HEAD:
25316 221 1056 Article retrieved.
25317 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
25318 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
25319 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
25320 Subject: Re: Something very droll
25321 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
25322 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
25324 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
25325 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
25326 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
25330 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
25331 these in the data buffer.
25333 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
25337 head = error / valid-head
25338 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
25339 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
25340 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
25341 header = <text> eol
25345 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
25347 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
25348 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
25352 nov-buffer = *nov-line
25353 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
25354 field = <text except TAB>
25357 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
25361 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
25363 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
25364 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
25366 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
25367 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
25368 server. In fact, it should do so.
25370 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
25371 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
25374 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
25376 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
25377 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
25380 There should be no data returned.
25383 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
25385 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
25386 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
25387 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
25388 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
25390 There should be no data returned.
25393 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
25395 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
25396 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
25397 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
25398 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
25400 There should be no data returned.
25403 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
25405 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
25407 There should be no data returned.
25410 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
25412 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
25413 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
25414 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
25415 it would be nice if that were possible.
25417 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
25418 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
25419 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
25420 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
25421 into its article buffer.
25423 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
25424 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
25425 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
25426 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
25427 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
25428 on successful article retrieval.
25431 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
25433 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
25434 making @var{group} the current group.
25436 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
25439 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
25442 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
25445 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
25446 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
25447 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
25448 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
25449 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
25450 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
25451 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
25452 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
25453 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
25457 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
25458 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
25459 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
25463 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25465 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
25466 a no-op on most back ends.
25468 There should be no data returned.
25471 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
25473 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
25476 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
25479 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
25480 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
25483 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
25484 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
25485 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
25486 and the highest as 0.
25489 active-file = *active-line
25490 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
25492 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
25495 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
25496 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
25497 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
25500 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
25502 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
25503 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
25504 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
25505 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
25506 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
25507 clear if the posting could not be completed.
25509 There should be no result data from this function.
25514 @node Optional Back End Functions
25515 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
25519 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
25521 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
25522 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
25523 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
25525 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
25526 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
25527 former is in the same format as the data from
25528 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
25529 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
25532 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
25536 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
25538 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
25539 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
25540 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
25541 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
25542 should return a non-@code{nil} value.
25544 There should be no result data from this function.
25547 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
25549 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
25550 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
25551 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
25552 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
25553 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
25554 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
25555 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
25556 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
25558 There should be no result data from this function.
25561 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
25563 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
25564 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
25565 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
25566 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
25567 propagate the mark information to the server.
25569 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
25572 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
25575 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
25576 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
25577 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
25578 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
25579 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
25580 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
25581 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
25582 possible, not limit itself to these.
25584 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
25585 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
25586 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
25587 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
25589 An example action list:
25592 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
25593 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
25594 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
25597 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
25598 mark on (currently not used for anything).
25600 There should be no result data from this function.
25602 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
25604 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
25605 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
25606 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
25607 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
25608 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
25610 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
25611 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
25612 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
25615 There should be no result data from this function.
25618 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
25620 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
25621 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
25622 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
25623 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
25624 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
25625 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
25626 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
25628 There should be no result data from this function.
25631 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
25633 The result data from this function should be a description of
25637 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
25639 description = <text>
25642 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
25644 The result data from this function should be the description of all
25645 groups available on the server.
25648 description-buffer = *description-line
25652 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
25654 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
25655 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
25656 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
25657 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
25658 in the active buffer format.
25660 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
25661 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
25662 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
25663 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
25664 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
25665 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
25666 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
25669 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25671 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
25673 There should be no return data.
25676 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
25678 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
25679 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
25680 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
25681 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
25682 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
25685 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
25688 There should be no result data returned.
25691 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
25693 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25694 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25696 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25697 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25698 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25699 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25700 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25701 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25703 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25704 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25707 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25708 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25710 There should be no data returned.
25713 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25715 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25716 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25717 this function in short order.
25719 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25720 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25722 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25723 article for that group.
25725 There should be no data returned.
25728 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25730 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25731 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25733 There should be no data returned.
25736 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25738 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25739 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25740 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25742 There should be no data returned.
25745 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25747 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25748 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25750 There should be no data returned.
25755 @node Error Messaging
25756 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25758 @findex nnheader-report
25759 @findex nnheader-get-report
25760 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25761 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25762 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25763 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25764 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25765 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25768 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25770 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25773 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25774 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25775 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25776 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25778 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25779 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25780 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25783 @node Writing New Back Ends
25784 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25786 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25787 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25788 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25789 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25790 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25793 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25794 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25795 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25797 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25798 package called @code{nnoo}.
25800 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25801 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25807 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25808 parameters. For instance:
25811 (nnoo-declare nndir
25815 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25816 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25819 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25820 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25821 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25823 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25824 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25825 a function in those back ends.
25828 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25829 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25830 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25833 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25834 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25835 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25837 @item nnoo-define-basics
25838 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25842 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25846 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25847 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25848 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25850 @item nnoo-map-functions
25851 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25852 functions from the parent back ends.
25855 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25856 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25857 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25860 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25861 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25862 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25863 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25866 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25867 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25868 haven't already been defined.
25874 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25878 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25879 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25880 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25885 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25888 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25889 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25893 (require 'nnheader)
25897 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25899 (nnoo-declare nndir
25902 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25903 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25904 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25906 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25907 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25910 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25912 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25913 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25914 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25916 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25917 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25919 ;;; Interface functions.
25921 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25923 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25924 (setq nndir-directory
25925 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25927 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25928 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25929 (push `(nndir-current-group
25930 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25931 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25933 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25934 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25936 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25938 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25939 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25940 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25941 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25942 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25946 nnmh-status-message
25948 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25954 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25955 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25957 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25958 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25959 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25960 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25961 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25963 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25964 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25969 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25972 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25974 The abilities can be:
25978 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25980 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25982 This back end supports both mail and news.
25984 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25987 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25988 articles and groups.
25990 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25991 true for almost all back ends.
25992 @item prompt-address
25993 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25994 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25995 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25999 @node Mail-like Back Ends
26000 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
26002 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
26003 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
26004 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
26005 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
26008 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
26009 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
26010 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
26013 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
26014 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
26017 This function takes four parameters.
26021 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
26024 @item exit-function
26025 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
26027 @item temp-directory
26028 Where the temporary files should be stored.
26031 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
26032 performed for one group only.
26035 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
26036 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
26037 find the article number assigned to this article.
26039 The function also uses the following variables:
26040 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
26041 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
26042 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
26043 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
26047 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
26048 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
26052 @node Score File Syntax
26053 @subsection Score File Syntax
26055 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
26056 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
26057 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
26059 Here's a typical score file:
26063 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
26070 BNF definition of a score file:
26073 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
26074 element = rule / atom
26075 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
26076 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
26077 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
26078 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
26080 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
26081 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
26082 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
26083 date-header = "date"
26084 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26085 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26086 score = "nil" / <integer>
26087 date = "nil" / <natural number>
26088 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
26089 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
26090 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
26091 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
26092 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26093 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26094 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
26095 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
26096 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
26097 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
26098 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
26099 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
26100 exclude-files / read-only / touched
26101 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
26102 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
26103 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
26104 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
26105 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
26106 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
26107 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
26108 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
26109 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
26110 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
26111 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
26112 eval = "eval" space <form>
26113 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
26116 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
26119 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
26120 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
26121 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
26122 one looong line, then that's ok.
26124 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
26125 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
26129 @subsection Headers
26131 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
26132 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
26133 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
26134 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
26136 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
26137 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
26138 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
26139 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
26140 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
26141 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
26142 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
26144 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
26145 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
26146 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
26147 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
26148 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
26150 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
26151 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
26157 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
26158 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
26160 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
26161 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
26162 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
26163 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
26165 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
26169 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
26172 is transformed into
26175 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
26178 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
26179 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
26182 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
26185 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
26186 is slightly tricky:
26189 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
26195 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
26198 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
26204 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
26211 and is equal to the previous range.
26213 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
26214 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
26215 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
26219 range = simple-range / normal-range
26220 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
26221 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
26222 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
26223 number *[ " " contents ]
26226 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
26227 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
26228 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
26229 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
26230 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
26235 @subsection Group Info
26237 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
26238 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
26239 describes the group.
26241 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
26242 second is a more complex one:
26245 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
26247 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
26248 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
26250 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
26253 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
26254 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
26255 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
26256 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
26257 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
26258 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
26259 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
26260 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
26261 this section is about.
26263 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
26264 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
26265 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
26267 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
26270 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
26271 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
26272 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
26273 group = quote <string> quote
26274 ralevel = rank / level
26275 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
26276 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
26277 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
26279 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
26280 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
26281 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
26282 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
26285 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
26286 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
26289 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
26290 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
26293 @item gnus-info-group
26294 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
26295 @findex gnus-info-group
26296 @findex gnus-info-set-group
26297 Get/set the group name.
26299 @item gnus-info-rank
26300 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
26301 @findex gnus-info-rank
26302 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
26303 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
26305 @item gnus-info-level
26306 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
26307 @findex gnus-info-level
26308 @findex gnus-info-set-level
26309 Get/set the group level.
26311 @item gnus-info-score
26312 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
26313 @findex gnus-info-score
26314 @findex gnus-info-set-score
26315 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
26317 @item gnus-info-read
26318 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
26319 @findex gnus-info-read
26320 @findex gnus-info-set-read
26321 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
26323 @item gnus-info-marks
26324 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
26325 @findex gnus-info-marks
26326 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
26327 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
26329 @item gnus-info-method
26330 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
26331 @findex gnus-info-method
26332 @findex gnus-info-set-method
26333 Get/set the group select method.
26335 @item gnus-info-params
26336 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
26337 @findex gnus-info-params
26338 @findex gnus-info-set-params
26339 Get/set the group parameters.
26342 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
26343 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
26345 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
26346 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
26347 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
26348 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
26351 @node Extended Interactive
26352 @subsection Extended Interactive
26353 @cindex interactive
26354 @findex gnus-interactive
26356 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
26357 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
26358 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
26361 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
26362 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
26367 The best thing to do would have been to implement
26368 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
26369 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
26370 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
26371 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
26372 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
26373 @code{interactive}.
26375 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
26380 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
26381 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
26385 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
26386 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
26387 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
26390 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
26394 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
26398 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
26404 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
26405 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
26409 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
26410 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
26411 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
26413 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
26414 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
26415 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
26416 Gnus, that's very useful.
26418 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
26419 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
26420 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
26421 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
26422 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
26423 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
26424 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
26425 following function:
26428 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
26432 (,function ,@@args))
26436 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
26437 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
26438 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
26441 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
26442 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
26443 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
26445 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
26446 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
26447 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
26450 @node Various File Formats
26451 @subsection Various File Formats
26454 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
26455 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
26459 @node Active File Format
26460 @subsubsection Active File Format
26462 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
26463 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
26466 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
26469 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
26470 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
26471 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
26472 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
26473 no.general 1000 900 y
26476 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
26479 active = *group-line
26480 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
26481 group = <non-white-space string>
26483 high-number = <non-negative integer>
26484 low-number = <positive integer>
26485 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
26488 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
26489 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
26492 @node Newsgroups File Format
26493 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
26495 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
26496 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
26497 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
26500 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
26501 Here's the definition:
26505 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
26506 group = <non-white-space string>
26508 description = <string>
26513 @node Emacs for Heathens
26514 @section Emacs for Heathens
26516 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
26517 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
26518 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
26519 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
26520 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
26521 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
26522 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
26526 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
26527 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
26532 @subsection Keystrokes
26536 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
26539 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
26542 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
26543 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
26544 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
26545 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
26546 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
26547 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
26549 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
26550 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
26551 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
26552 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
26553 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
26554 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
26555 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
26557 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
26558 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
26559 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
26560 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
26561 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
26562 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
26563 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
26565 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
26566 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
26567 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
26568 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
26569 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
26575 @subsection Emacs Lisp
26577 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
26578 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
26579 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
26580 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
26582 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
26583 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
26584 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
26585 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
26586 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
26587 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
26588 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
26591 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
26592 write the following:
26595 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
26598 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
26599 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
26600 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
26603 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
26604 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
26605 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
26606 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
26607 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
26609 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
26610 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
26611 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
26615 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
26619 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
26622 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
26623 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
26626 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
26629 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
26630 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
26633 @include gnus-faq.texi
26653 @c Local Variables:
26655 @c coding: iso-8859-1
26657 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
26658 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
26659 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
26660 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
26661 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref