1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
4 @settitle September Gnus Manual
11 @setchapternewpage odd
15 \documentclass[twoside,a4paper,openright]{book}
16 \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
17 % \usepackage{fontenc}
19 \usepackage{pagestyle}
21 % \usepackage{ifitricks}
22 \fontfamily{bembo}\selectfont
27 \newcommand{\gnuschaptername}{}
28 \newcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
30 \newcommand{\gnusbackslash}{/}
32 \newcommand{\gnusxref}[1]{See ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
33 \newcommand{\gnuspxref}[1]{see ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
35 \newcommand{\gnuskindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
36 \newcommand{\gnusindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
38 \newcommand{\gnustt}[1]{{\textbf{\textsf{#1}}}}
39 \newcommand{\gnuscode}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
40 \newcommand{\gnussamp}[1]{``\gnustt{#1}''}
41 \newcommand{\gnuslisp}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
42 \newcommand{\gnuskbd}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
43 \newcommand{\gnusfile}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
44 \newcommand{\gnusdfn}[1]{\textit{#1}}
45 \newcommand{\gnusi}[1]{\textit{#1}}
46 \newcommand{\gnusstrong}[1]{\textbf{#1}}
47 \newcommand{\gnusemph}[1]{\textit{#1}}
48 \newcommand{\gnusvar}[1]{\textsl{\textsf{#1}}}
49 \newcommand{\gnussc}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
50 \newcommand{\gnustitle}[1]{{\huge\textbf{#1}}}
51 \newcommand{\gnusauthor}[1]{{\large\textbf{#1}}}
53 \newcommand{\gnusbullet}{{${\bullet}$}}
54 \newcommand{\gnusdollar}{\$}
55 \newcommand{\gnusampersand}{\&}
56 \newcommand{\gnuspercent}{\%}
57 \newcommand{\gnushash}{\#}
58 \newcommand{\gnushat}{\symbol{"5E}}
59 \newcommand{\gnusunderline}{\symbol{"5F}}
60 \newcommand{\gnustilde}{\symbol{"7E}}
61 \newcommand{\gnusless}{{$<$}}
62 \newcommand{\gnusgreater}{{$>$}}
64 \newcommand{\gnushead}{\raisebox{-1cm}{\epsfig{figure=gnus-head.eps,height=1cm}}}
65 \newcommand{\gnusinteresting}{
66 \marginpar[\hspace{2.5cm}\gnushead]{\gnushead}
69 \newcommand{\gnuschapter}[1]{
70 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
72 \renewcommand{\gnuschaptername}{#1}
74 % \epsfig{figure=gnus-herd-\arabic{chapter}.eps,height=15cm}
78 \newcommand{\gnusitemx}[1]{\vspace{-\itemsep}\item#1}
80 \newcommand{\gnussection}[1]{
81 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{#1}
85 \newenvironment{codelist}%
90 \newenvironment{kbdlist}%
96 \newenvironment{dfnlist}%
101 \newenvironment{stronglist}%
106 \newenvironment{samplist}%
111 \newenvironment{varlist}%
116 \newenvironment{emphlist}%
128 \makebox[\headtextwidth]{
130 \textbf{\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}}
131 \textbf{\gnussectionname\hfill\arabic{page}}
139 \makebox[\headtextwidth]{
140 \textbf{\arabic{page}\hfill\gnuschaptername}
149 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
151 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=gnus-big-logo.eps,height=1cm}}
165 %\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-5cm}
166 %\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-5cm}
168 \addtolength{\textheight}{2cm}
170 \gnustitle{\gnustitlename}\\
173 \hspace*{-1cm}\epsfig{figure=gnus-big-logo.eps,height=15cm}
176 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
183 \thispagestyle{empty}
185 Copyright \copyright{} 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
187 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
188 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
189 are preserved on all copies.
191 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
192 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
193 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
194 permission notice identical to this one.
196 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
197 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
206 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
208 Copyright (C) 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
210 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
211 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
212 are preserved on all copies.
215 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
216 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
217 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
218 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
221 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
222 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
223 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
224 permission notice identical to this one.
226 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
227 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
233 @title September Gnus Manual
235 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
238 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
239 Copyright @copyright{} 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
241 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
242 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
243 are preserved on all copies.
245 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
246 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
247 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
248 permission notice identical to this one.
250 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
251 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
260 @top The Gnus Newsreader
264 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
265 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
266 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
274 \thispagestyle{empty}
277 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
278 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
280 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
281 being accused of plagiarism:
283 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
284 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
285 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
286 even read news with it!
288 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
289 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
290 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
291 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
292 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
299 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
300 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
301 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
302 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
303 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
304 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
305 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
306 * Various:: General purpose settings.
307 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
308 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
309 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
310 * Key Index:: Key Index.
315 @chapter Starting Gnus
320 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
321 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
324 @findex gnus-other-frame
325 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
326 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
327 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
329 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
333 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
334 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
335 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
336 * Slave Gnusii:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
337 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
338 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
339 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
340 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
341 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
342 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
346 @node Finding the News
347 @section Finding the News
349 @vindex gnus-select-method
351 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
352 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
353 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
354 native method. All groups that are not fetched with this method are
357 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
358 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
361 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
364 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
367 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
370 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
371 certainly be much faster.
373 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
375 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
376 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
377 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
378 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
379 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
380 that fails as well, Gnus will will try to use the machine that is
381 running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long-shot, though.
383 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
384 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
385 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
386 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
388 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
389 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
390 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
391 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
392 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
393 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
395 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
397 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
398 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
399 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
400 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
401 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
402 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
404 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
406 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
407 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
408 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
409 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
410 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
411 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
414 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read you mail, you
415 would typically set this variable to
418 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
423 @section The First Time
424 @cindex first time usage
426 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
427 be subscribed by default.
429 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
430 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
431 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
432 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
435 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few randomly picked
436 groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Random} is here defined as
437 @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
439 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
440 help you with most common problems.
442 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
443 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
447 @node The Server is Down
448 @section The Server is Down
449 @cindex server errors
451 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
452 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
453 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
455 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
456 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
457 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
458 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
459 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
460 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
461 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
463 @findex gnus-no-server
465 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
466 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
467 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
468 if you're in a hurry as well.
472 @section Slave Gnusiï
475 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
476 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (eg., if you
477 are using the two different Gnusiï to read from two different servers),
478 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
480 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusiï that use the same
483 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
484 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
485 @dfn{servants}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
486 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
487 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
488 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
489 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
491 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
492 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusiï should be started with
493 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
494 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contains information only
495 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
496 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
497 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
498 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
500 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
501 information in the normal (i. e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
504 @node Fetching a Group
505 @section Fetching a Group
507 @findex gnus-fetch-group
508 It it sometime convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
509 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
510 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
511 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
512 It takes the group name as a parameter.
519 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
520 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
521 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
523 This variable should contain a function. Some handy pre-fab values
528 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
529 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
530 Make all new groups zombies. You can browse the zombies later (with
531 @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly, or subscribe to them.
534 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
535 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
536 Subscribe all new groups randomly.
538 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
539 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
540 Subscribe all new groups alphabetically.
542 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
543 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
544 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically.
546 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
547 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
548 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
549 you about @strong{all} new groups.
551 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
552 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
557 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
558 A closely related variable is
559 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
560 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
561 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
562 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
565 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above to
566 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
567 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
569 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
570 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
571 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
574 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
577 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
578 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
579 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
580 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
581 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
582 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
583 subscribing these groups.
584 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
585 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
587 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
588 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
589 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
590 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
591 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
592 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
593 and if the the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
594 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
596 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
597 Yet another variable that meddles here is
598 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
599 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
600 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
601 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
602 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
603 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
604 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
605 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
607 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
608 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
609 you could set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
610 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
611 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
612 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
613 is @code{t} by default.
615 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
616 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
617 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
618 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
619 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster &
620 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
621 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
622 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
623 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
624 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
626 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
627 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
628 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
629 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
630 few days. If any do, then it works. If any don't, then it doesn't
631 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
632 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
633 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
634 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
635 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
636 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
638 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
639 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
640 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
641 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
642 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
643 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
647 @section Startup Files
648 @cindex startup files
651 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
652 information is traditionally stored in this file.
654 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
655 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
656 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
657 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
658 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
659 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
660 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
662 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
663 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
664 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
665 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file.
667 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
668 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
669 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
670 the file and save some space, as well as making exit from Gnus faster.
671 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
672 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
674 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
675 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
676 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
677 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
678 will also means that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
679 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
680 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
681 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
684 @vindex gnus-startup-file
685 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
686 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
687 file being whatever that one is with a @samp{.eld} appended.
689 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
690 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
691 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
692 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
693 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
694 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
695 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
696 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
697 control on or off. Version control is off by default when saving the
706 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
707 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
708 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
709 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
710 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
713 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
714 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
717 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
718 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
719 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
721 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
722 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
723 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
724 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
725 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
726 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
729 @node The Active File
730 @section The Active File
732 @cindex ignored groups
734 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
735 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
736 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
738 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
739 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
740 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
741 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
742 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
743 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
744 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
747 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
748 @c if you set it to anything else.
750 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
752 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
753 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
754 reading the active file. This variable is @code{t} by default.
756 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
757 you actually subscribe to.
759 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
760 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
761 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
762 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
764 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
765 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
766 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
767 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
768 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
769 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
771 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
772 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
773 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
774 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
775 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
776 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
778 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
779 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
782 @node Startup Variables
783 @section Startup Variables
788 @vindex gnus-load-hook
789 A hook that is run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
790 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
791 times you start Gnus.
793 @item gnus-startup-hook
794 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
795 A hook that is run after starting up Gnus successfully.
797 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
798 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
799 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
800 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
801 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
802 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
803 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
804 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
806 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
807 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
808 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
809 your boss might not notice that you are reading news instead of doing
812 @item gnus-no-groups-message
813 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
814 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
818 @node The Group Buffer
819 @chapter The Group Buffer
822 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
823 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
824 long as Gnus is active.
827 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
828 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
829 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
830 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
831 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
832 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
833 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
834 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
835 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
836 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
837 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
838 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
839 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what if has to offer.
840 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
841 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
842 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
846 @node Group Buffer Format
847 @section Group Buffer Format
848 @cindex group buffer format
851 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
852 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
853 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
857 @node Group Line Specification
858 @subsection Group Line Specification
860 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
861 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
863 Here's a couple of example group lines:
866 25: news.announce.newusers
867 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
872 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
873 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
874 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
875 asterisk at the beginning of the line?)
877 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
878 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
879 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
880 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
881 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
882 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
884 The default value that produced those lines above is
885 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n}.
887 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
888 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
889 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
890 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
893 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
894 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
895 instead of wasting time reading news.)
897 Here's a list of all available format characters:
902 Only marked articles.
905 Whether the group is subscribed.
908 Level of subscribedness.
911 Number of unread articles.
914 Number of dormant articles.
917 Number of ticked articles.
920 Number of read articles.
923 Total number of articles.
926 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
929 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
938 Newsgroup description.
941 @samp{m} if moderated.
944 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
953 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
957 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
960 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
961 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
962 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
963 The default is @code{1}.
966 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
967 be a letter. @sc{gnus} will call the function
968 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
969 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current headers as
970 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
971 into the buffer just like information from any other specifier.
975 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
976 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
977 group, or a bogus (or semi-bogus) native group.
980 @node Group Modeline Specification
981 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
983 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
984 The mode line can be changed by setting
985 (@code{gnus-group-mode-line-format}). It doesn't understand that many
990 The native news server.
992 The native select method.
996 @node Group Highlighting
997 @subsection Group Highlighting
999 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1000 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1001 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1002 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1003 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1005 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1009 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1011 ,(custom-face-lookup "Red" nil nil t nil nil))
1012 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) .
1013 ,(custom-face-lookup "SeaGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1015 ,(custom-face-lookup "SpringGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1017 ,(custom-face-lookup "SteelBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1019 ,(custom-face-lookup "SkyBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1023 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1030 The number of unread articles in the group.
1034 Whether the group is a mail group.
1036 The level of the group.
1038 The score of the group.
1040 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1043 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1044 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1045 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1047 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1048 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1049 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1050 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1051 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1054 @node Group Maneuvering
1055 @section Group Maneuvering
1056 @cindex group movement
1058 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1059 expected, hopefully.
1065 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1066 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1067 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1074 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1075 Go to the previous group group that has unread articles
1076 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1080 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1081 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1085 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1086 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1090 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1091 Go to the next unread group on the same level (or lower)
1092 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1096 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1097 Go to the previous unread group on the same level (or lower)
1098 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1101 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1107 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1108 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1109 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1114 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1115 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1116 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1120 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1121 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1122 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1125 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1126 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1127 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1128 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1132 @node Selecting a Group
1133 @section Selecting a Group
1134 @cindex group selection
1139 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1140 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1141 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1142 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1143 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1144 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1145 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, Gnus
1146 will fetch @var{N} number of articles. If @var{N} is positive, fetch
1147 the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is negative, fetch the
1148 @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1152 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1153 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1154 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1155 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1156 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1160 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1161 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1162 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1163 minimum amount off fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1164 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1165 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1166 enter some humongous groups.
1169 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1170 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1171 This is yet one more command that does the same as the one above, but
1172 this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1173 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1177 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1178 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1179 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1180 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1181 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is when catching up a group from
1186 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1187 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1188 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1191 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1192 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1193 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1194 unread articles than this, Gnus will query the user before entering the
1195 group. The user can then specify how many articles should be fetched
1196 from the server. If the user specifies a negative number (@code{-n}),
1197 the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it is positive, the
1198 @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will be fetched.
1200 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1201 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1202 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1203 automatically when entering a group.
1208 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1209 full summary buffer.
1212 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1215 Select the most high-scored article in the group when entering the
1219 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1220 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1221 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1224 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
1225 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
1226 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
1227 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
1228 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
1229 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
1230 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
1231 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
1232 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
1233 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
1234 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
1235 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
1236 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
1237 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
1239 Each function takes two threads and return non-@code{nil} if the first
1240 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
1241 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
1242 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
1243 in the list. You should probably always include
1244 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
1245 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
1246 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
1247 ascending article order.
1249 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
1250 number, you could do something like:
1253 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
1254 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
1255 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
1256 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
1259 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
1260 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
1261 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
1262 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
1263 which the articles arrived.
1265 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
1269 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
1271 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
1272 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
1275 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
1276 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
1277 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
1278 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
1281 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
1282 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
1283 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
1284 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
1285 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
1286 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
1287 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
1288 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
1289 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
1290 is uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
1291 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
1292 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
1293 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
1295 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
1299 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
1300 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
1301 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
1305 @node Subscription Commands
1306 @section Subscription Commands
1315 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1316 Toggle subscription to the current group
1317 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1323 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1324 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1325 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1326 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1332 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1333 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1339 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1340 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1343 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1344 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1345 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1346 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1347 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1353 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1354 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1358 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1359 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1362 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1363 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1364 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1365 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1366 be used with some caution. The only thing where this command comes in
1367 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1368 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level @code{7} will
1369 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1370 @file{.newsrc} file.
1374 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1378 @section Group Levels
1381 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1382 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1383 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1384 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1385 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1391 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1392 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1393 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1394 prompted for a level.
1397 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1398 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1399 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1400 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1401 Gnus considers groups on between levels 1 and
1402 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1403 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1404 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1405 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1406 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (default 9),
1407 completely dead. Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly
1408 the same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what
1409 articles you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and
1410 living groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely
1411 for reasons of efficiency.
1413 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1414 low levels (eg. 1 or 2).
1416 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1417 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1418 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1420 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1421 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1422 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1423 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1424 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1425 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1426 relevant legal ranges.
1428 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1429 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1430 will only move to groups that are of the same level (or lower). In
1431 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1432 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1433 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1436 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1437 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1438 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1441 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1442 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1443 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1444 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1447 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1448 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1449 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1450 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1452 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1453 Gnus will normally just activate groups that are on level
1454 @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to activate
1455 unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable to
1460 @section Group Score
1463 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1464 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1465 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1468 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1469 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1470 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1471 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1472 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1473 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1474 part and the score is the least significant part.)
1476 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1477 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1478 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1479 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1480 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1481 action after each summary exit, you can add
1482 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1483 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1484 slow things down somewhat.
1487 @node Marking Groups
1488 @section Marking Groups
1489 @cindex marking groups
1491 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1492 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1493 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1494 bidding on those groups.
1496 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1497 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1498 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1506 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1507 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1513 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1514 Remove the mark from the current group
1515 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1519 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1520 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1524 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1525 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1529 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1530 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1534 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1535 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1536 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1539 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1541 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1542 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1543 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1544 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1545 the command to be executed.
1548 @node Foreign Groups
1549 @section Foreign Groups
1551 Here are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1552 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1553 special-purpose groups:
1559 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1560 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1561 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1562 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1566 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1567 Rename the current group to something else
1568 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is legal only on some groups --
1569 mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow on some
1574 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1575 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1576 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1580 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1581 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1582 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1586 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1587 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1588 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1592 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1593 Make a directory group. You will be prompted for a directory name
1594 (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1598 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1599 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1603 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1604 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1605 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1606 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1607 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1608 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1609 group will be created from from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1613 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1614 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1615 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1616 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1620 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1621 Read a random directory as if with were a newsgroup with the
1622 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1626 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1627 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1628 Make a group based on some file or other
1629 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1630 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1631 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1632 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs}, and
1633 @code{forward}. If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will
1634 guess at the file type.
1637 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1638 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1639 This function will delete the current group
1640 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1641 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1642 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1643 aboslutely sure of what you are doing.
1647 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1648 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1649 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}).
1653 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1654 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1655 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1658 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1661 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1662 If the @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1663 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1664 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1665 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers.
1668 @node Group Parameters
1669 @section Group Parameters
1670 @cindex group parameters
1672 Gnus stores all information on a group in a list that is usually known
1673 as the @dfn{group info}. This list has from three to six elements.
1674 Here's an example info.
1677 ("nnml:mail.ding" 3 ((1 . 232) 244 (256 . 270)) ((tick 246 249))
1678 (nnml "private") ((to-address . "ding@@ifi.uio.no")))
1681 The first element is the @dfn{group name}, as Gnus knows the group,
1682 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
1683 normally is a small integer. The third element is a list of ranges of
1684 read articles. The fourth element is a list of lists of article marks
1685 of various kinds. The fifth element is the select method (or virtual
1686 server, if you like). The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group
1687 parameters}, which is what this section is about.
1689 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
1690 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
1691 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
1693 The group parameters store information local to a particular group:
1698 If the group parameter list contains an element that looks like
1699 @code{(to-address . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used by
1700 the backend when doing followups and posts. This is primarily useful in
1701 mail groups that represent closed mailing lists---mailing lists where
1702 it's expected that everybody that writes to the mailing list is
1703 subscribed to it. Since using this parameter ensures that the mail only
1704 goes to the mailing list itself, it means that members won't receive two
1705 copies of your followups.
1707 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1708 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1709 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1710 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1711 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1712 list address instead.
1716 If the group parameter list has an element that looks like
1717 @code{(to-list . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used when
1718 doing a @kbd{a} in any group. It is totally ignored when doing a
1719 followup---except that if it is present in a news group, you'll get mail
1720 group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
1722 @item broken-reply-to
1723 @cindex broken-reply-to
1724 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
1725 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
1726 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
1727 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
1728 broken behavior. So there!
1732 If the group parameter list contains an element like @code{(to-group
1733 . "some.group.name")}, all posts will be sent to that group.
1737 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, all articles that
1738 are read will be marked as expirable. For an alternative approach,
1739 @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
1742 @cindex total-expire
1743 If this symbol is present, all read articles will be put through the
1744 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
1749 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
1750 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
1751 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
1752 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
1753 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
1754 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
1757 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
1758 @samp{file} into the current score file for the group in question. This
1759 means that all score commands you issue will end up in that file.
1762 When unsubscribing to a mailing list you should never send the
1763 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
1764 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
1765 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
1768 This parameter allows you to enter a random comment on the group.
1770 @item @var{(variable form)}
1771 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
1772 are entering. Say you want to turn threading off in
1773 @samp{news.answers}. You'd then put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in
1774 the group parameters of that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be
1775 made into a local variable in the summary buffer you enter, and the form
1776 @code{nil} will be @code{eval}ed there.
1778 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
1779 If you want to hear a beep when you enter the group
1780 @samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, you could put something like
1781 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group.
1782 @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the @code{(ding)}
1783 form, but who cares?
1787 If you want to change the group info you can use the @kbd{G E} command
1788 to enter a buffer where you can edit it.
1790 You usually don't want to edit the entire group info, so you'd be better
1791 off using the @kbd{G p} command to just edit the group parameters.
1794 @node Listing Groups
1795 @section Listing Groups
1796 @cindex group listing
1798 These commands all list various slices of the groups that are available.
1806 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
1807 List all groups that have unread articles
1808 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
1809 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
1810 only lists groups of level five or lower (i.e., just subscribed groups).
1816 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
1817 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
1818 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
1819 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
1820 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
1821 unsubscribed groups).
1825 @findex gnus-group-list-level
1826 List all unread groups on a specific level
1827 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
1828 with no unread articles.
1832 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
1833 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
1834 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
1835 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
1840 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
1841 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
1845 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
1846 List all subscribed groups with unread articles that match a regexp
1847 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
1851 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
1852 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
1856 @findex gnus-group-list-active
1857 List absolutely all groups that are in the active file(s) of the
1858 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
1859 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
1860 to do a @kbd{A m} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
1865 @findex gnus-group-apropos
1866 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
1867 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
1871 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
1872 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
1873 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
1877 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
1878 @cindex visible group parameter
1879 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
1880 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
1881 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
1882 get the same effect.
1884 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
1885 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
1886 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
1887 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
1888 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
1891 @node Sorting Groups
1892 @section Sorting Groups
1893 @cindex sorting groups
1895 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
1896 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
1897 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
1898 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
1899 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
1900 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
1905 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
1906 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
1907 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
1909 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
1910 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
1911 Sort by group level.
1913 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
1914 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
1915 Sort by group score.
1917 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
1918 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
1919 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
1920 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}.
1922 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
1923 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
1924 Sort by number of unread articles.
1926 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
1927 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
1928 Sort by alphabetically on the select method.
1933 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
1934 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
1938 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
1939 some sorting criteria:
1943 @kindex G S a (Group)
1944 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
1945 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
1946 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
1949 @kindex G S u (Group)
1950 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
1951 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
1952 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
1955 @kindex G S l (Group)
1956 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
1957 Sort the group buffer by group level
1958 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
1961 @kindex G S v (Group)
1962 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
1963 Sort the group buffer by group score
1964 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}).
1967 @kindex G S r (Group)
1968 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
1969 Sort the group buffer by group level
1970 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}).
1973 @kindex G S m (Group)
1974 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
1975 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
1976 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
1980 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
1983 @node Group Maintenance
1984 @section Group Maintenance
1985 @cindex bogus groups
1990 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
1991 Find bogus groups and delete them
1992 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
1996 @findex gnus-find-new-newsgroups
1997 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-find-new-newsgroups}). If
1998 given a prefix, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server for
2002 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2003 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2004 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2005 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2008 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2009 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2010 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2011 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2016 @node Browse Foreign Server
2017 @section Browse Foreign Server
2018 @cindex foreign servers
2019 @cindex browsing servers
2024 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2025 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2026 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2027 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2030 @findex gnus-browse-server-mode
2031 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2032 will be use the @code{gnus-browse-server-mode}. This buffer looks a bit
2033 (well, a lot) like a normal group buffer, but with one major difference
2034 - you can't enter any of the groups. If you want to read any of the
2035 news available on that server, you have to subscribe to the groups you
2036 think may be interesting, and then you have to exit this buffer. The
2037 new groups will be added to the group buffer, and then you can read them
2038 as you would any other group.
2040 Future versions of Gnus may possibly permit reading groups straight from
2043 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2048 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2049 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2053 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2054 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2057 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2058 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2059 Enter the current group and display the first article
2060 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2063 @kindex RET (Browse)
2064 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2065 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2069 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2070 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2071 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2077 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2078 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2082 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2083 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2084 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2089 @section Exiting Gnus
2090 @cindex exiting Gnus
2092 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2097 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2098 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2099 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2100 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2104 @findex gnus-group-exit
2105 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2109 @findex gnus-group-quit
2110 Quit Gnus without saving any startup files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2113 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2114 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2115 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2116 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2117 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2122 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2123 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2124 trying to customize meta-variables.
2129 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, feels her feet go
2130 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2131 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2137 @section Group Topics
2140 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2141 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2142 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2143 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2144 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2145 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2147 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2149 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2150 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2151 is a toggling command.)
2153 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2154 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2155 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2156 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2159 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2160 the hook for the group mode:
2163 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2167 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2168 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2169 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2173 @node Topic Variables
2174 @subsection Topic Variables
2175 @cindex topic variables
2177 @vindex gnus-topic-unique
2178 If @code{gnus-topic-unique} is non-@code{nil}, each group will be member
2179 of (tops) one topic each. If this is @code{nil}, each group might end
2180 up being a member of several topics.
2182 Now, if you select a topic, if will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2183 really neat, I think.
2185 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2186 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2187 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
2188 Elements allowed are:
2200 Number of groups in the topic.
2202 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2204 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2207 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2208 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2209 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2210 The default is @code{2}.
2212 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2213 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2216 @node Topic Commands
2217 @subsection Topic Commands
2218 @cindex topic commands
2220 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2221 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2222 definitions slightly.
2228 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2229 Create a new topic (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}). You will be
2230 prompted for a topic name and the name of the parent topic.
2234 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2235 Move the current group to some other topic
2236 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command understands the
2237 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2241 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2242 Copy the current group to some other topic
2243 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command understands the
2244 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2248 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2249 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2250 This command understands the process/prefix convention
2251 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2255 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2256 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2257 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2261 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2262 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2263 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2267 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2269 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2270 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2271 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2272 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2273 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2274 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2278 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2279 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2280 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2281 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2285 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2286 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}).
2290 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2291 Yank the previously killed group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}).
2292 Note that all topics will be yanked before all groups.
2296 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2297 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2300 @kindex T DEL (Group)
2301 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2302 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2306 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2307 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2308 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2313 @node Topic Topology
2314 @subsection Topic Topology
2315 @cindex topic topology
2318 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2324 2: alt.religion.emacs
2327 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2329 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2330 13: comp.sources.unix
2333 So, here we have one top-level topic, two topics under that, and one
2334 sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always just one (1)
2335 top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as follows:
2339 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2340 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2344 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2345 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2346 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2347 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2348 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2349 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2351 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2352 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2353 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2356 @node Misc Group Stuff
2357 @section Misc Group Stuff
2360 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2361 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2362 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2369 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2370 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}). @xref{The
2375 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2376 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). The current
2377 group name will be used as the default.
2381 @findex gnus-group-mail
2382 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2386 Variables for the group buffer:
2390 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2391 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2392 @code{gnus-group-mode-hook} is called after the group buffer has been
2395 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2396 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2397 @code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} is called after the group buffer is
2398 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2404 @node Scanning New Messages
2405 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2406 @cindex new messages
2407 @cindex scanning new news
2413 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2414 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2415 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2416 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2417 command will force a total rereading of the active file(s) from the
2422 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2423 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2424 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2425 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}). The
2426 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} variable controls whether
2427 this command is to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t}
2430 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
2431 @cindex activating groups
2433 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
2434 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
2439 @findex gnus-group-restart
2440 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}).
2444 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
2445 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
2448 @node Group Information
2449 @subsection Group Information
2450 @cindex group information
2451 @cindex information on groups
2457 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
2460 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
2461 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
2462 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
2463 remote machine. @code{ange-ftp} will be used for fetching the file.
2467 @cindex describing groups
2468 @cindex group description
2469 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
2470 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
2471 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
2475 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
2476 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
2477 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
2482 @findex gnus-version
2483 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
2487 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
2488 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
2491 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
2494 @findex gnus-info-find-node
2495 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
2500 @subsection File Commands
2501 @cindex file commands
2507 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
2508 @vindex gnus-init-file
2509 @cindex reading init file
2510 Read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
2511 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
2515 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
2516 @cindex savind .newsrc
2517 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
2518 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
2519 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
2523 @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
2524 Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
2529 @node The Summary Buffer
2530 @chapter The Summary Buffer
2531 @cindex summary buffer
2533 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
2534 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
2537 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
2538 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
2539 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
2540 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
2541 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
2542 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
2543 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
2544 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
2545 * Threading:: How threads are made.
2546 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
2547 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
2548 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
2549 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
2550 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
2551 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
2552 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
2553 * Summary Sorting:: You can sort the summary buffer four ways.
2554 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
2555 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
2556 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
2557 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
2558 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
2559 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
2563 @node Summary Buffer Format
2564 @section Summary Buffer Format
2565 @cindex summary buffer format
2568 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
2569 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
2570 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
2573 @findex mail-extract-address-components
2574 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
2575 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
2576 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
2577 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
2578 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined function exist:
2579 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
2580 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
2581 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
2584 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
2585 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
2586 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
2587 with those specs that require it. The default is @samp{}.
2590 @node Summary Buffer Lines
2591 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
2593 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
2594 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
2595 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
2596 lines a a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions.
2598 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
2600 The following format specification characters are understood:
2608 Subject if the article is the root, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject}
2611 Full @code{From} line.
2613 The name (from the @code{From} header).
2615 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
2616 spec in that it uses @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is
2617 slower, but may be more thorough.
2619 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
2622 Number of lines in the article.
2624 Number of characters in the article.
2626 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
2628 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
2629 pushes everything after it off the screen).
2631 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{\[}, but can also be @samp{<}
2632 for adopted articles.
2634 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{\]}, but can also be @samp{>}
2635 for adopted articles.
2637 One space for each thread level.
2639 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
2647 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
2648 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
2649 default level. If the difference between
2650 @code{gnus-summary-default-level} and the score is less than
2651 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
2663 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
2664 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
2666 A single character will be displayed if the article has any children.
2668 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
2669 be a letter. @sc{gnus} will call the function
2670 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
2671 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
2672 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
2673 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
2676 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
2677 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
2678 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
2679 that. This means that it is illegal to have these specs after a
2680 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
2681 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
2683 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
2684 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
2686 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
2689 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
2690 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
2692 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
2693 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar. Set
2694 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you like. Here are the
2695 elements you can play with:
2701 Unprefixed group name.
2703 Current article number.
2707 Number of unread articles in this group.
2709 Number of unselected articles in this group.
2711 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
2712 either as @samp{<%U(+%u) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
2713 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
2714 and no unselected ones.
2716 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
2717 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
2719 Subject of the current article.
2723 Name of the current score file.
2725 Number of dormant articles.
2727 Number of ticked articles.
2729 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
2731 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
2735 @node Summary Highlighting
2736 @subsection Summary Highlighting
2740 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
2741 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
2742 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
2743 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
2744 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
2746 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
2747 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
2748 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
2749 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
2751 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
2752 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
2753 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) that is used to
2754 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
2756 @item gnus-summary-highlight
2757 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
2758 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
2759 list where the elements are on the format @code{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
2760 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
2761 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
2763 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
2764 ((> score default) . bold))
2766 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
2767 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
2771 @node Summary Maneuvering
2772 @section Summary Maneuvering
2773 @cindex summary movement
2775 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
2776 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
2778 None of these commands select articles.
2783 @kindex M-n (Summary)
2784 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
2785 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
2786 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
2787 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
2791 @kindex M-p (Summary)
2792 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
2793 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
2794 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
2795 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
2800 @kindex G g (Summary)
2801 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
2802 Ask for an article number and then go to this summary line
2803 (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
2806 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
2807 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
2808 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
2809 to the group buffer.
2811 Variables related to summary movement:
2815 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
2816 @item gnus-auto-select-next
2817 If you are at the end of the group and issue one of the movement
2818 commands, Gnus will offer to go to the next group. If this variable is
2819 @code{t} and the next group is empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and
2820 return to the group buffer. If this variable is neither @code{t} nor
2821 @code{nil}, Gnus will select the next group, no matter whether it has
2822 any unread articles or not. As a special case, if this variable is
2823 @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
2824 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same will
2825 happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
2826 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
2827 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
2828 @pxref{Group Levels}.
2830 @item gnus-auto-select-same
2831 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
2832 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
2833 article with the same subject as the current. This variable is not
2834 particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
2836 @item gnus-summary-check-current
2837 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
2838 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
2839 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
2840 Instead, they will choose the current article.
2842 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
2843 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
2844 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
2845 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
2846 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
2847 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
2848 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
2849 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
2855 @node Choosing Articles
2856 @section Choosing Articles
2857 @cindex selecting articles
2859 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
2860 and they all select and display an article.
2864 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
2865 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
2866 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
2867 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
2872 @kindex G n (Summary)
2873 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
2874 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
2879 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
2880 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
2885 @kindex G N (Summary)
2886 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
2887 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
2892 @kindex G P (Summary)
2893 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
2894 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
2897 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
2898 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
2899 Go to the next article with the same subject
2900 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
2903 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
2904 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
2905 Go to the previous article with the same subject
2906 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
2910 @kindex G f (Summary)
2912 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
2913 Go to the first unread article
2914 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
2918 @kindex G b (Summary)
2920 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
2921 Go to the article with the highest score
2922 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
2927 @kindex G l (Summary)
2928 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
2929 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
2932 @kindex G p (Summary)
2933 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
2934 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
2935 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
2936 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
2937 history as you like.
2940 Some variables that are relevant for moving and selecting articles:
2943 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
2944 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
2945 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
2946 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
2947 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
2948 the server and display it in the article buffer.
2950 @item gnus-select-article-hook
2951 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
2952 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
2953 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
2955 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
2956 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
2957 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
2958 be used for marking articles as read.
2963 @node Paging the Article
2964 @section Scrolling the Article
2965 @cindex article scrolling
2970 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
2971 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
2972 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
2973 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
2974 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
2977 @kindex DEL (Summary)
2978 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
2979 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
2982 @kindex RET (Summary)
2983 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
2984 Scroll the current article one line forward
2985 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
2990 @kindex A < (Summary)
2991 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
2992 Scroll to the beginning of the article
2993 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
2998 @kindex A > (Summary)
2999 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3000 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3003 @kindex A s (Summary)
3004 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3005 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3006 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3011 @node Reply Followup and Post
3012 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3015 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3016 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3017 * Summary Mail and Post Commands:: Sending both news and mail.
3021 @node Summary Mail Commands
3022 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3024 @cindex composing mail
3026 Commands for composing a mail message:
3032 @kindex S r (Summary)
3034 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3035 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3036 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3041 @kindex S R (Summary)
3042 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3043 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3044 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3045 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3048 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3049 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3050 Forward the current article to some other person
3051 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}).
3054 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3055 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3056 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3057 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
3062 @kindex S m (Summary)
3063 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3064 Send a mail to some other person
3065 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3068 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3069 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3070 @vindex gnus-bounced-headers-junk
3071 @cindex bouncing mail
3072 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3073 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3074 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3075 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3076 sending the mail off again. The headers that match the regexp
3077 @code{gnus-bounced-headers-junk} (default @samp{^Received:}) are
3078 automatically deleted first. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3079 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3080 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3081 very well fail, though.
3084 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3085 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3086 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3087 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3088 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3089 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3090 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3091 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3092 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3093 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3095 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3096 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3097 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3098 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3099 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
3102 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3103 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3104 Digest the current series and forward the result using mail
3105 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3106 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3109 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3110 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3111 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3112 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}).
3116 @node Summary Post Commands
3117 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3119 @cindex composing news
3121 Commands for posting an article:
3127 @kindex S p (Summary)
3128 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3129 Post an article to the current group
3130 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3135 @kindex S f (Summary)
3136 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3137 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3141 @kindex S F (Summary)
3143 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3144 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3145 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3146 process/prefix convention.
3149 @kindex S u (Summary)
3150 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3151 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3152 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3156 @node Summary Mail and Post Commands
3157 @subsection Summary Mail and Post Commands
3158 @cindex mail and post
3159 @cindex post and mail
3161 Commands for sending mail and post at the same time:
3165 @kindex S b (Summary)
3166 @findex gnus-summary-followup-and-reply
3167 Post a followup and send a reply to the current article
3168 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-and-reply}).
3171 @kindex S B (Summary)
3172 @findex gnus-summary-followup-and-reply-with-original
3173 Post a followup and send a reply to the current article and include the
3174 original message (@code{gnus-summary-followup-and-reply-with-original}).
3175 This command uses the process/prefix convention.
3179 @node Canceling and Superseding
3180 @section Canceling Articles
3181 @cindex canceling articles
3182 @cindex superseding articles
3184 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3185 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3187 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3189 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3191 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3192 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3193 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3194 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3196 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3197 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3200 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3201 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3202 your original article.
3204 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3206 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3207 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3208 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3211 @vindex gnus-delete-supersedes-headers
3212 You probably want to delete some of the old headers before sending the
3213 superseding article---@code{Path} and @code{Date} are probably
3214 incorrect. Set @code{gnus-delete-supersedes-headers} to a regexp to
3215 match the lines you want removed. The default is
3216 @samp{^Path:\\|^Date}.
3218 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3219 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3220 have posted almost the same article twice.
3222 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3223 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3224 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3225 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*post-buf*}). There you will
3226 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3227 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3228 header by substituting one of those words for @code{Message-ID}. Then
3229 just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as you would do normally.
3230 The previous article will be canceled/superseded.
3232 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
3235 @node Marking Articles
3236 @section Marking Articles
3237 @cindex article marking
3238 @cindex article ticking
3241 There are several marks you can set on an article.
3243 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readed-ness} (whoo, neato-keano
3244 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
3245 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
3247 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
3250 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
3251 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
3252 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
3256 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
3260 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
3261 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
3265 @node Unread Articles
3266 @subsection Unread Articles
3268 The following marks mark articles as unread, in one form or other.
3270 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3271 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
3274 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
3275 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
3276 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
3277 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
3278 article forever, you'll have to save it. Ticked articles have a
3279 @samp{!} (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}) in the first column.
3282 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3283 A @dfn{dormant} article is marked with a @samp{?}
3284 (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}), and will only appear in the summary buffer
3285 if there are followups to it.
3288 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
3289 An @dfn{unread} article is marked with a @samp{SPACE}
3290 (@code{gnus-unread-mark}). These are articles that haven't been read at
3296 @subsection Read Articles
3297 @cindex expirable mark
3299 All the following marks mark articles as read.
3304 @vindex gnus-del-mark
3305 Articles that are marked as read. They have a @samp{r}
3306 (@code{gnus-del-mark}) in the first column. These are articles that the
3307 user has marked as read more or less manually.
3310 @vindex gnus-read-mark
3311 Articles that are actually read are marked with @samp{R}
3312 (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
3315 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
3316 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions are now
3317 @dfn{old} and marked with @samp{O} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
3320 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
3321 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
3324 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
3325 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
3328 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
3329 Marked as read by having a too low score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
3332 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
3333 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
3336 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
3337 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
3340 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
3341 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}).
3344 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
3345 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}).
3348 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
3349 They are interpreted differently by the adaptive scoring scheme,
3352 One more special mark, though:
3356 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
3357 You can also mark articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as
3358 such automatically). That doesn't make much sense in normal groups,
3359 because a user does not control the expiring of news articles, but in
3360 mail groups, for instance, articles that are marked as @dfn{expirable}
3361 can be deleted by Gnus at any time. Expirable articles are marked with
3362 @samp{E} (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
3367 @subsection Other Marks
3368 @cindex process mark
3371 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
3377 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
3378 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
3379 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
3380 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
3381 encounters the article.
3384 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
3385 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
3386 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
3387 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
3390 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
3391 Articles that are stored in the article cache will be marked with an
3392 @samp{*} in the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}).
3395 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
3396 Articles that are ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
3397 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
3398 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}.
3401 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
3402 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
3403 It the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
3404 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
3405 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
3408 @vindex gnus-process-mark
3409 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}. A
3410 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
3411 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
3412 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
3413 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
3417 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
3418 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
3419 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
3421 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
3422 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
3423 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
3427 @subsection Setting Marks
3428 @cindex setting marks
3430 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
3436 @kindex M t (Summary)
3437 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
3438 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
3443 @kindex M ? (Summary)
3444 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
3445 Mark the current article as dormant
3446 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}).
3450 @kindex M d (Summary)
3452 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
3453 Mark the current article as read
3454 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
3459 @kindex M k (Summary)
3460 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
3461 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
3462 and then select the next unread article
3463 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
3467 @kindex M K (Summary)
3468 @kindex C-k (Summary)
3469 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
3470 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
3471 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
3474 @kindex M C (Summary)
3475 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
3476 Mark all unread articles in the group as read
3477 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
3480 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
3481 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
3482 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
3483 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
3486 @kindex M H (Summary)
3487 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
3488 Catchup the current group to point
3489 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
3492 @kindex C-w (Summary)
3493 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
3494 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
3495 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
3498 @kindex M V k (Summary)
3499 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
3500 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
3501 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
3505 @kindex M c (Summary)
3506 @kindex M-u (Summary)
3507 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
3508 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
3509 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}).
3513 @kindex M e (Summary)
3515 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
3516 Mark the current article as expirable
3517 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
3520 @kindex M b (Summary)
3521 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
3522 Set a bookmark in the current article
3523 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
3526 @kindex M B (Summary)
3527 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
3528 Remove the bookmark from the current article
3529 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
3532 @kindex M V c (Summary)
3533 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
3534 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
3535 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
3538 @kindex M V u (Summary)
3539 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
3540 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
3541 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
3544 @kindex M V m (Summary)
3545 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
3546 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
3547 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
3548 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
3551 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
3552 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
3553 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
3554 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
3555 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
3556 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
3557 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
3558 The default is @code{t}.
3561 @node Setting Process Marks
3562 @subsection Setting Process Marks
3563 @cindex setting process marks
3570 @kindex M P p (Summary)
3571 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
3572 Mark the current article with the process mark
3573 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
3574 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
3578 @kindex M P u (Summary)
3579 @kindex M-# (Summary)
3580 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
3581 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
3584 @kindex M P U (Summary)
3585 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
3586 Remove the process mark from all articles
3587 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
3590 @kindex M P R (Summary)
3591 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
3592 Mark articles by a regular expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
3595 @kindex M P r (Summary)
3596 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
3597 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
3600 @kindex M P t (Summary)
3601 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
3602 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
3603 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
3606 @kindex M P T (Summary)
3607 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
3608 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
3609 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
3612 @kindex M P v (Summary)
3613 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
3614 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
3615 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
3618 @kindex M P s (Summary)
3619 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
3620 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
3623 @kindex M P S (Summary)
3624 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
3625 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
3626 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
3629 @kindex M P a (Summary)
3630 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
3631 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
3634 @kindex M P b (Summary)
3635 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
3636 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
3637 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
3645 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
3646 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
3647 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
3654 @kindex / / (Summary)
3655 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
3656 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
3657 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
3660 @kindex / a (Summary)
3661 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
3662 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
3663 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
3667 @kindex / u (Summary)
3669 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
3670 Limit the summary buffer to articles that are not marked as read
3671 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
3672 buffer to articles that are strictly unread. This means that ticked and
3673 dormant articles will also be excluded.
3676 @kindex / m (Summary)
3677 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
3678 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have not been marked
3679 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
3682 @kindex / n (Summary)
3683 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
3684 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
3685 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
3686 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3689 @kindex / w (Summary)
3690 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
3691 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
3692 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
3696 @kindex / v (Summary)
3697 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
3698 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
3699 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
3703 @kindex M S (Summary)
3704 @kindex / E (Summary)
3705 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
3706 Display all expunged articles
3707 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
3710 @kindex / D (Summary)
3711 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
3712 Display all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
3715 @kindex / d (Summary)
3716 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
3717 Hide all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
3720 @kindex / c (Summary)
3721 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
3722 Hide all dormant articles that have no children
3723 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
3726 @kindex / C (Summary)
3727 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
3728 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
3729 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
3730 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
3738 @cindex article threading
3740 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put replies to
3741 articles directly after the articles they reply to---in a hierarchical
3745 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
3746 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
3750 @node Customizing Threading
3751 @subsection Customizing Threading
3752 @cindex customizing threading
3758 @item gnus-show-threads
3759 @vindex gnus-show-threads
3760 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
3761 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
3762 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
3763 slower and more awkward.
3765 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
3766 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
3767 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
3768 more old headers---headers to articles that are marked as read. If you
3769 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
3770 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
3771 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
3772 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
3773 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
3774 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
3775 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
3776 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
3778 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
3779 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
3780 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
3781 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
3782 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
3783 articles that belong in the same thread together. This will leave
3784 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
3785 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
3786 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
3787 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
3788 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
3789 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
3790 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
3791 @code{nil} by default.
3793 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
3794 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
3795 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
3796 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
3797 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
3798 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
3799 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subjects lines. If
3800 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
3801 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
3802 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
3803 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
3805 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
3806 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
3807 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects.
3809 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
3810 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
3811 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
3812 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
3813 simplification is used.
3815 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
3816 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
3817 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
3818 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
3820 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
3822 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
3825 (mapconcat 'identity
3827 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
3828 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
3829 "answer" "reference" "announce"
3830 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
3835 (mapconcat 'identity
3836 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
3838 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
3841 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
3844 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
3845 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
3846 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
3847 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
3848 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
3849 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
3850 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process. The
3851 default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
3853 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
3854 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
3855 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
3856 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
3857 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
3858 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
3859 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever includes unrelated
3860 articles, but it's also means that people who have posted with broken
3861 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
3865 @item gnus-summary-gather-threads-by-subject
3866 @findex gnus-summary-gather-threads-by-subject
3867 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
3868 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
3870 @item gnus-summary-gather-threads-by-references
3871 @findex gnus-summary-gather-threads-by-references
3872 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
3875 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
3879 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
3880 'gnus-summary-gather-threads-by-references)
3883 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
3884 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
3885 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
3886 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
3887 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
3888 read or killed the root in a previous session.
3890 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
3891 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
3892 There are four possible values:
3894 @cindex adopting articles
3899 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
3900 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
3901 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
3902 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
3905 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
3906 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
3907 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
3908 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
3909 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
3910 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
3911 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
3914 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
3915 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
3916 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
3920 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
3921 display them after one another.
3924 Don't gather loose threads.
3927 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
3928 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
3929 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
3932 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
3933 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
3934 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
3937 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
3938 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
3939 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
3940 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
3941 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
3944 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
3945 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
3946 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
3947 The default is @code{4}.
3951 @node Thread Commands
3952 @subsection Thread Commands
3953 @cindex thread commands
3959 @kindex T k (Summary)
3960 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
3961 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
3962 Mark all articles in the current sub-thread as read
3963 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
3964 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
3969 @kindex T l (Summary)
3970 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
3971 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
3972 Lower the score of the current thread
3973 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
3976 @kindex T i (Summary)
3977 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
3978 Increase the score of the current thread
3979 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
3982 @kindex T # (Summary)
3983 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
3984 Set the process mark on the current thread
3985 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
3988 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
3989 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
3990 Remove the process mark from the current thread
3991 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
3994 @kindex T T (Summary)
3995 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
3996 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
3999 @kindex T s (Summary)
4000 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4001 Expose the thread hidden under the current article, if any
4002 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4005 @kindex T h (Summary)
4006 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4007 Hide the current (sub)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4010 @kindex T S (Summary)
4011 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4012 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4015 @kindex T H (Summary)
4016 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
4017 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
4020 @kindex T t (Summary)
4021 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
4022 Re-thread the thread the current article is part of
4023 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
4024 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
4027 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
4028 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
4029 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
4030 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}.
4034 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
4035 understand the numeric prefix.
4040 @kindex T n (Summary)
4041 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
4042 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
4045 @kindex T p (Summary)
4046 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
4047 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
4050 @kindex T d (Summary)
4051 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
4052 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
4055 @kindex T u (Summary)
4056 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
4057 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
4060 @kindex T o (Summary)
4061 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
4062 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
4065 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
4066 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
4067 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
4068 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
4069 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
4070 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
4071 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If is
4072 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
4073 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
4074 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
4075 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
4076 that have subjects that are fuzzily equal will be included.
4079 @node Asynchronous Fetching
4080 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
4081 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
4083 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
4084 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
4085 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
4086 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
4087 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
4089 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
4090 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
4092 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
4093 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
4094 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
4095 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
4096 connection is blocked.
4098 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
4099 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
4100 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
4101 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
4103 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
4104 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
4105 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
4106 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
4109 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
4112 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
4113 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
4114 happen automatically.
4116 @vindex nntp-async-number
4117 You can control how many articles that are to be pre-fetched by setting
4118 @code{nntp-async-number}. This is five by default, which means that when
4119 you read an article in the group, @code{nntp} will pre-fetch the next
4120 five articles. If this variable is @code{t}, @code{nntp} will pre-fetch
4121 all the articles that it can without bound. If it is @code{nil}, no
4122 pre-fetching will be made.
4124 @vindex gnus-asynchronous-article-function
4125 You may wish to create some sort of scheme for choosing which articles
4126 that @code{nntp} should consider as candidates for pre-fetching. For
4127 instance, you may wish to pre-fetch all articles with high scores, and
4128 not pre-fetch low-scored articles. You can do that by setting the
4129 @code{gnus-asynchronous-article-function}, which will be called with an
4130 alist where the keys are the article numbers. Your function should
4131 return an alist where the articles you are not interested in have been
4132 removed. You could also do sorting on article score and the like.
4135 @node Article Caching
4136 @section Article Caching
4137 @cindex article caching
4140 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
4141 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
4142 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
4143 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
4144 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
4146 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
4148 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
4149 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
4150 @vindex gnus-use-cache
4151 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
4152 all articles that are ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
4153 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
4154 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
4155 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
4157 When re-select a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
4158 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
4159 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
4160 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
4161 as dormant, and don't worry.
4163 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
4165 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
4166 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
4167 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
4168 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
4169 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
4170 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
4171 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
4172 articles that are marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
4173 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
4174 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
4176 @findex gnus-jog-cache
4177 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
4178 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
4179 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, and store them in
4180 the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this command if 1)
4181 your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really, really slow
4182 and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk. Seriously.
4184 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
4185 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
4186 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
4187 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
4188 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
4189 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
4190 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
4193 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
4194 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
4195 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
4196 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
4197 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
4198 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
4199 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
4200 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
4201 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
4205 @node Persistent Articles
4206 @section Persistent Articles
4207 @cindex persistent articles
4209 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
4210 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
4211 useful in my opinion.
4213 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
4214 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
4215 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
4216 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
4217 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
4218 the expiry going on at the news server.
4220 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
4221 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
4222 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
4228 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
4229 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
4232 @kindex M-* (Summary)
4233 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
4234 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
4235 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
4239 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
4241 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
4242 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
4243 interested in persistent articles:
4246 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
4250 @node Article Backlog
4251 @section Article Backlog
4253 @cindex article backlog
4255 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
4256 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
4257 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
4258 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
4259 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
4260 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
4261 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
4262 increase memory usage some.
4264 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
4265 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
4266 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
4267 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
4268 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will group without
4269 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
4270 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
4272 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
4275 @node Saving Articles
4276 @section Saving Articles
4277 @cindex saving articles
4279 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
4280 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
4281 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
4282 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
4283 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
4285 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
4286 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
4287 unwanted headers before saving the article.
4289 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
4290 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
4291 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
4292 deleted before saving.
4298 @kindex O o (Summary)
4300 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
4301 Save the current article using the default article saver
4302 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
4305 @kindex O m (Summary)
4306 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
4307 Save the current article in mail format
4308 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
4311 @kindex O r (Summary)
4312 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
4313 Save the current article in rmail format
4314 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
4317 @kindex O f (Summary)
4318 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
4319 Save the current article in plain file format
4320 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
4323 @kindex O b (Summary)
4324 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
4325 Save the current article body in plain file format
4326 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
4329 @kindex O h (Summary)
4330 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
4331 Save the current article in mh folder format
4332 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
4335 @kindex O p (Summary)
4336 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
4337 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
4338 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
4341 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
4342 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
4343 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
4344 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
4345 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
4346 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
4347 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
4348 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
4349 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
4350 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
4351 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
4352 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
4356 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
4357 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
4358 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
4359 functions below, or you can create your own.
4363 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
4364 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
4365 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
4366 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
4367 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
4368 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4369 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
4371 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
4372 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
4373 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
4374 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
4375 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4376 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
4378 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
4379 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
4380 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
4381 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
4382 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
4383 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4384 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
4386 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
4387 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
4388 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
4389 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
4390 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
4392 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
4393 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
4394 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
4395 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
4396 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
4399 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
4400 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
4401 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
4402 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
4403 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}. The former creates capitilized names, and
4404 the latter does not.
4406 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
4407 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
4408 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
4409 reader to use this setting.
4412 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
4413 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
4414 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
4415 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
4418 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
4419 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
4420 available functions that generate names:
4424 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
4425 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
4426 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
4428 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
4429 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
4430 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
4432 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
4433 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
4434 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
4436 @item gnus-plain-save-name
4437 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
4438 Generates file names that look like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
4441 @vindex gnus-split-methods
4442 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking regexp into
4443 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
4444 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
4445 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
4449 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
4450 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
4451 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
4452 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
4455 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
4456 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
4457 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
4458 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function); or it
4459 can be a list (which will be @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions
4460 have a non-@code{nil} result, the @dfn{file} will be used as a default
4461 prompt. In addition, the result of the operation itself will be used if
4462 the function or form called returns a string or a list of strings.
4464 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
4465 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
4466 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
4467 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
4469 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
4470 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
4471 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
4474 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
4475 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
4476 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
4477 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
4478 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
4479 all the files in the toplevel directory
4480 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
4481 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
4482 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
4483 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
4485 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
4486 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
4487 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
4488 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
4489 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
4492 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
4496 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
4497 (setq gnus-default-article-save 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
4500 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
4501 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
4502 the toplevel directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
4503 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
4506 @node Decoding Articles
4507 @section Decoding Articles
4508 @cindex decoding articles
4510 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
4511 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
4514 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
4515 * Shared Articles:: Unshar articles.
4516 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
4517 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
4518 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
4521 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
4522 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
4523 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
4524 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
4525 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
4527 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
4528 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
4529 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
4531 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
4532 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
4533 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
4535 Subjects that are nonstandard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
4536 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
4537 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
4540 @node Uuencoded Articles
4541 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
4543 @cindex uuencoded articles
4548 @kindex X u (Summary)
4549 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
4550 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
4553 @kindex X U (Summary)
4554 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
4555 Uudecodes and saves the current series
4556 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
4559 @kindex X v u (Summary)
4560 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
4561 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
4564 @kindex X v U (Summary)
4565 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
4566 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
4567 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
4570 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
4571 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to uncode and save an
4572 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
4573 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
4574 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
4576 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
4577 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
4578 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
4579 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
4582 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
4583 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
4584 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
4585 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
4586 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
4587 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
4591 @node Shared Articles
4592 @subsection Shared Articles
4594 @cindex shared articles
4599 @kindex X s (Summary)
4600 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
4601 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
4604 @kindex X S (Summary)
4605 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
4606 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
4609 @kindex X v s (Summary)
4610 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
4611 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
4614 @kindex X v S (Summary)
4615 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
4616 Unshars, views and saves the current series
4617 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
4621 @node PostScript Files
4622 @subsection PostScript Files
4628 @kindex X p (Summary)
4629 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
4630 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
4633 @kindex X P (Summary)
4634 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
4635 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
4636 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
4639 @kindex X v p (Summary)
4640 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
4641 View the current PostScript series
4642 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
4645 @kindex X v P (Summary)
4646 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
4647 View and save the current PostScript series
4648 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
4652 @node Decoding Variables
4653 @subsection Decoding Variables
4655 Adjective, not verb.
4658 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
4659 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
4660 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
4664 @node Rule Variables
4665 @subsubsection Rule Variables
4666 @cindex rule variables
4668 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
4669 variables are on the form
4672 (list '(regexp1 command2)
4679 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
4680 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
4682 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
4683 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
4686 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
4687 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
4690 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
4691 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
4692 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
4693 user and default view rules.
4695 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
4696 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
4697 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
4702 @node Other Decode Variables
4703 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
4706 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
4708 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
4709 All functions in this list will be called right each file has been
4710 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
4711 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
4712 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
4716 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
4717 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
4720 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
4721 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
4722 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
4725 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
4726 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
4727 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
4729 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
4730 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
4731 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
4732 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
4733 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
4736 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
4737 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
4738 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
4740 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
4741 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
4742 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
4743 looking for files to display.
4745 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
4746 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
4747 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
4750 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
4751 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
4752 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
4755 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
4756 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
4757 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
4760 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
4761 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
4762 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
4765 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
4766 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
4767 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark articles that were
4768 unsuccessfully decoded as unread.
4770 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
4771 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
4772 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
4773 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
4775 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
4776 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
4778 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
4779 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
4780 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
4781 @code{metamail} for viewing.
4783 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
4784 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
4785 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
4786 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
4787 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
4788 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
4789 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
4790 simply dropped them.
4795 @node Uuencoding and Posting
4796 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
4800 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
4801 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
4802 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
4803 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
4804 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
4805 for you when you post the article.
4807 @item gnus-uu-post-length
4808 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
4809 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
4810 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
4812 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
4813 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
4814 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
4815 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen are able
4816 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
4817 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
4818 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
4820 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
4821 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
4822 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
4823 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
4824 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
4825 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
4826 Default is @code{t}.
4832 @subsection Viewing Files
4833 @cindex viewing files
4834 @cindex pseudo-articles
4836 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
4837 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
4838 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
4839 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
4840 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
4841 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
4842 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
4844 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
4845 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
4846 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
4847 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
4849 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
4850 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
4851 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
4853 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
4854 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
4855 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
4856 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
4857 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
4859 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
4860 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
4861 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
4862 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
4863 a list of parameters to that command.
4865 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
4866 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
4867 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
4869 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
4870 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
4871 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
4874 @node Article Treatment
4875 @section Article Treatment
4877 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
4878 object of newsreaders are to actually, like, read what people have
4879 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
4880 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
4881 these articles easier.
4884 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
4885 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
4886 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
4887 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
4888 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
4892 @node Article Highlighting
4893 @subsection Article Highlighting
4896 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
4897 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
4902 @kindex W H a (Summary)
4903 @findex gnus-article-highlight
4904 Highlight the current article (@code{gnus-article-highlight}).
4907 @kindex W H h (Summary)
4908 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
4909 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
4910 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
4911 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
4912 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
4913 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
4914 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name and
4915 @var{content} is the face for highlighting the header value. The first
4916 match made will be used. Note that @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^}
4917 prepended---Gnus will add one.
4920 @kindex W H c (Summary)
4921 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
4922 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
4924 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
4927 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
4929 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
4930 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
4931 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
4933 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
4934 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
4935 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
4937 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
4938 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
4939 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
4941 @item gnus-cite-face-list
4942 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
4943 List of faces used for highlighting citations. When there are citations
4944 from multiple articles in the same message, Gnus will try to give each
4945 citation from each article its own face. This should make it easier to
4948 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
4949 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
4950 Regexp matching normal SuperCite attribution lines.
4952 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
4953 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
4954 Regexp matching mangled SuperCite attribution lines.
4956 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
4957 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
4958 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
4959 that it's a citation.
4961 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
4962 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
4963 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
4965 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
4966 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
4967 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
4969 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
4970 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
4971 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
4972 cited text belonging to the attribution.
4978 @kindex W H s (Summary)
4979 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
4980 @vindex gnus-signature-face
4981 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
4982 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
4983 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} in an article will be
4984 considered a signature and will be highlighted with
4985 @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by default.
4990 @node Article Hiding
4991 @subsection Article Hiding
4992 @cindex article hiding
4994 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
4995 too much cruft in most articles.
5000 @kindex W W a (Summary)
5001 @findex gnus-article-hide
5002 Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}).
5005 @kindex W W h (Summary)
5006 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
5007 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
5011 @kindex W W b (Summary)
5012 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
5013 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
5014 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
5017 @kindex W W s (Summary)
5018 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
5019 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}).
5022 @kindex W W p (Summary)
5023 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
5024 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}).
5027 @kindex W W c (Summary)
5028 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
5029 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
5030 customizing the hiding:
5034 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
5035 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
5036 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
5037 50), hide the cited text.
5039 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
5040 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
5041 The cited text must be have at least this length (default 10) before it
5044 @item gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
5045 @vindex gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
5046 Gnus adds buttons show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
5047 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
5048 by this format-like variable. These specs are legal:
5052 Start point of the hidden text.
5054 End point of the hidden text.
5056 Length of the hidden text.
5059 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
5060 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
5061 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
5066 @kindex W W C (Summary)
5067 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
5068 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
5069 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
5070 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
5071 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
5075 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
5076 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
5077 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
5079 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
5080 citation customization.
5082 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
5083 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
5084 signature. If it is a number, no signature may not be longer (in
5085 characters) than that number. If it is a function, the function will be
5086 called without any parameters, and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no
5087 signature in the buffer. If it is a string, it will be used as a
5088 regexp. If it matches, the text in question is not a signature.
5091 @node Article Washing
5092 @subsection Article Washing
5094 @cindex article washing
5096 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
5097 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
5099 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
5100 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
5106 @kindex W l (Summary)
5107 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
5108 Remove page breaks from the current article
5109 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}).
5112 @kindex W r (Summary)
5113 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
5114 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
5115 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
5118 @kindex A g (Summary)
5119 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5120 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5121 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5122 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5123 the way it came from the server.
5126 @kindex W t (Summary)
5127 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
5128 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
5129 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
5132 @kindex W v (Summary)
5133 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
5134 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
5135 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
5138 @kindex W m (Summary)
5139 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
5140 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
5141 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
5144 @kindex W o (Summary)
5145 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
5146 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
5149 @kindex W w (Summary)
5150 @findex gnus-article-word-wrap
5151 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-word-wrap}).
5154 @kindex W c (Summary)
5155 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
5156 Remove CR (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
5159 @kindex W L (Summary)
5160 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
5161 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
5162 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
5165 @kindex W q (Summary)
5166 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
5167 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
5170 @kindex W f (Summary)
5172 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
5173 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
5174 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
5175 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
5176 Look for and display any X-Face headers
5177 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
5178 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If
5179 this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell.
5180 If it is a function, this function will be called with the face as the
5181 argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp)
5182 matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
5185 @kindex W b (Summary)
5186 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
5187 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
5190 @kindex W B (Summary)
5191 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
5192 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
5193 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
5198 @node Article Buttons
5199 @subsection Article Buttons
5202 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
5203 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
5204 with the minimum of fuzz.
5206 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
5207 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
5208 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
5213 @item gnus-button-alist
5214 @vindex gnus-button-alist
5215 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
5218 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
5224 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
5225 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that match embedded URLs:
5226 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
5229 Gnus has to know which parts of the match is to be highlighted. This is
5230 a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp that is to be
5231 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use @code{0} here.
5234 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
5235 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
5236 avoid false matches.
5239 This function will be called when you click on this button.
5242 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
5243 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
5247 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
5250 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
5253 @item gnus-header-button-alist
5254 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
5255 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
5256 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
5257 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
5260 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
5263 @var{header} is a regular expression.
5265 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
5266 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
5267 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
5268 default values of the variables above.
5270 @item gnus-article-button-face
5271 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
5272 Face used on bottons.
5274 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
5275 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
5276 Face is used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
5282 @subsection Article Date
5284 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
5285 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
5286 when the article was sent.
5291 @kindex W T u (Summary)
5292 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
5293 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
5294 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
5297 @kindex W T l (Summary)
5298 @findex gnus-article-date-local
5299 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
5302 @kindex W T e (Summary)
5303 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
5304 Say how much time has (e)lapsed between the article was posted and now
5305 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}).
5308 @kindex W T o (Summary)
5309 @findex gnus-article-date-original
5310 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
5311 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and is
5312 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
5313 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
5314 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
5319 @node Summary Sorting
5320 @section Summary Sorting
5321 @cindex summary sorting
5323 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
5324 can't really see why you'd want that.
5329 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
5330 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
5331 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
5334 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
5335 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
5336 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
5339 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
5340 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
5341 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
5344 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
5345 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
5346 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
5349 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
5350 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
5351 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
5354 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
5355 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
5356 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
5357 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
5358 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
5362 @node Finding the Parent
5363 @section Finding the Parent
5364 @cindex parent articles
5365 @cindex referring articles
5367 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
5369 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
5370 displayed in the article buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
5371 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
5372 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
5373 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
5374 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
5375 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
5376 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
5378 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
5379 @kindex A R (Summary)
5380 You can have Gnus fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References}
5381 header of the article by pushing @kbd{A R}
5382 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
5384 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
5385 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
5386 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
5387 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
5388 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
5389 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long thingies that look
5390 something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You have to get
5391 it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
5393 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
5394 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
5395 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
5396 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
5397 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the same
5398 as the one that keeps the spool you are reading from updated, but that's
5399 not really necessary.
5401 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
5402 not do a particularly excellent job of it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
5403 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
5404 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
5405 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
5406 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
5409 @node Alternative Approaches
5410 @section Alternative Approaches
5412 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
5413 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
5416 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
5417 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
5422 @subsection Pick and Read
5423 @cindex pick and read
5425 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{nn}) use a two-phased
5426 reading interface. The user first marks the articles she wants to read
5427 from a summary buffer. Then she starts reading the articles with just
5428 an article buffer displayed.
5430 @findex gnus-pick-mode
5431 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
5432 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
5433 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
5434 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
5435 it makes one additional command for switching to the summary buffer
5438 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
5442 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
5443 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5444 Pick the article (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5448 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5449 Unpick the article (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5453 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5454 Unpick all articles (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5458 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5459 Pick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5463 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5464 Unpick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5468 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5469 Pick the region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5473 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
5474 Unpick the region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
5478 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-regexp
5479 Pick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-regexp}).
5483 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-regexp
5484 Unpick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-regexp}).
5488 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5489 Pick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5493 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-buffer
5494 Unpick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-buffer}).
5498 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
5499 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
5500 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
5501 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
5502 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
5503 will still be visible when you are reading.
5507 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
5510 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
5513 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
5514 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
5518 @subsection Binary Groups
5519 @cindex binary groups
5521 @findex gnus-binary-mode
5522 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
5523 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
5524 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
5525 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
5526 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
5527 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
5530 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
5531 In fact, the only way to see the actual articles if you have turned this
5532 mode on is the @kbd{g} command (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
5534 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
5535 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
5539 @section Tree Display
5542 @vindex gnus-use-trees
5543 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
5544 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
5545 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
5548 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
5551 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
5552 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
5553 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
5555 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
5556 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
5557 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers. The default
5558 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}. For a list of legal specs, @pxref{Summary
5561 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
5562 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
5563 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
5564 default is @code{modeline}.
5566 @item gnus-tree-line-format
5567 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
5568 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
5569 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
5570 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
5571 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
5572 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
5578 The name of the poster.
5580 The @code{From} header.
5582 The number of the article.
5584 The opening bracket.
5586 The closing bracket.
5591 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
5593 Variables related to the display are:
5596 @item gnus-tree-brackets
5597 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
5598 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
5599 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
5600 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
5601 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}))}.
5603 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
5604 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
5605 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
5606 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
5610 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
5611 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
5612 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
5613 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
5614 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
5615 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}.
5617 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
5618 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
5619 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
5620 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
5621 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
5622 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
5623 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
5627 Here's and example from a horizontal tree buffer:
5630 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
5640 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
5644 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
5645 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
5647 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
5649 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
5655 @node Mail Group Commands
5656 @section Mail Group Commands
5657 @cindex mail group commands
5659 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
5660 illegal in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
5662 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
5663 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5668 @kindex B e (Summary)
5669 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
5670 Expire all expirable articles in the group
5671 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
5674 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
5675 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
5676 Expunge all the expirable articles in the group
5677 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
5678 articles that are eligible for expiry in the current group will
5679 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
5682 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
5683 @findex gnus-summary-delete-articles
5684 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
5685 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
5686 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
5689 @kindex B m (Summary)
5691 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
5692 Move the article from one mail group to another
5693 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
5696 @kindex B c (Summary)
5698 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
5699 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
5700 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
5703 @kindex B C (Summary)
5704 @cindex crosspost mail
5705 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
5706 Crosspost the current article to some other group
5707 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
5708 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
5709 be properly updated.
5712 @kindex B i (Summary)
5713 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
5714 Import a random file into the current mail newsgroup
5715 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
5716 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
5718 Something similar can be done by just starting to compose a mail
5719 message. Instead of typing @kbd{C-c C-c} to mail it off, you can type
5720 @kbd{C-c M-C-p} instead. This will put the message you have just created
5721 into the current mail group.
5724 @kindex B r (Summary)
5725 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
5726 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
5730 @kindex B w (Summary)
5732 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
5733 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
5734 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
5735 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
5736 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}).
5739 @kindex B q (Summary)
5740 @findex gnus-summary-fancy-query
5741 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
5742 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
5743 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-fancy-query}).
5746 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
5747 @cindex moving articles
5748 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
5749 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
5750 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
5751 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
5752 suggestions you find reasonable.
5755 @node Various Summary Stuff
5756 @section Various Summary Stuff
5759 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
5760 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
5761 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
5765 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
5766 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
5767 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
5769 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
5770 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
5771 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
5772 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
5773 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
5774 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
5777 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
5778 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
5779 Is is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
5780 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
5781 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
5786 @node Summary Group Information
5787 @subsection Summary Group Information
5792 @kindex H f (Summary)
5793 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
5794 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
5795 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
5796 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
5797 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
5798 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
5799 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
5800 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} probably will be used for
5804 @kindex H d (Summary)
5805 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
5806 Give a brief description of the current group
5807 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
5808 rereading the description from the server.
5811 @kindex H h (Summary)
5812 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
5813 Give a very brief description of the most important summary keystrokes
5814 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
5817 @kindex H i (Summary)
5818 @findex gnus-info-find-node
5819 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
5823 @node Searching for Articles
5824 @subsection Searching for Articles
5829 @kindex M-s (Summary)
5830 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
5831 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
5832 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
5835 @kindex M-r (Summary)
5836 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
5837 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
5838 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
5842 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
5843 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
5844 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
5845 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}).
5848 @kindex M-& (Summary)
5849 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
5850 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
5851 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
5855 @node Really Various Summary Commands
5856 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
5861 @kindex A D (Summary)
5862 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
5863 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
5864 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
5865 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
5866 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
5867 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
5868 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages on
5869 some format, you @kbd{A D} and read these messages in a more convenient
5873 @kindex C-t (Summary)
5874 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
5875 Toggle truncation of summary lines (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}).
5879 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
5880 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
5881 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
5885 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
5886 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
5887 @cindex summary exit
5888 @cindex exiting groups
5890 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
5891 group and return you to the group buffer.
5897 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
5899 @findex gnus-summary-exit
5900 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
5901 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
5902 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
5903 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
5904 called before doing much of the exiting, and calls
5905 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
5906 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exiting
5911 @kindex Z E (Summary)
5913 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
5914 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
5915 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
5919 @kindex Z c (Summary)
5921 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
5922 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
5923 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
5926 @kindex Z C (Summary)
5927 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
5928 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
5929 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
5932 @kindex Z n (Summary)
5933 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
5934 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
5935 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
5938 @kindex Z R (Summary)
5939 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
5940 Exit this group, and then enter it again
5941 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
5942 all articles, both read and unread.
5946 @kindex Z G (Summary)
5947 @kindex M-g (Summary)
5948 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
5949 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
5950 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
5951 articles, both read and unread.
5954 @kindex Z N (Summary)
5955 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
5956 Exit the group and go to the next group
5957 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
5960 @kindex Z P (Summary)
5961 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
5962 Exit the group and go to the previous group
5963 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
5966 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
5967 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
5970 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
5971 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
5972 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
5973 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
5974 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
5975 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
5976 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
5977 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
5978 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
5979 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
5980 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
5981 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
5983 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
5985 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
5986 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
5987 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
5988 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
5989 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
5990 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
5991 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
5992 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
5993 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups.
5997 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
5998 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
5999 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
6000 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
6001 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
6004 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
6005 separately to several groups is not.
6007 @cindex cross-posting
6010 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
6011 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
6012 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
6013 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
6014 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
6015 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
6016 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
6017 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
6018 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
6019 the cross reference mechanism.
6021 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
6022 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
6023 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
6029 @node The Article Buffer
6030 @chapter The Article Buffer
6031 @cindex article buffer
6033 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
6034 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
6035 tell Gnus otherwise.
6038 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
6039 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
6040 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
6041 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer
6042 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
6046 @node Hiding Headers
6047 @section Hiding Headers
6048 @cindex hiding headers
6049 @cindex deleting headers
6051 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
6052 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
6054 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
6055 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
6056 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
6057 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
6058 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
6059 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
6060 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
6061 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
6062 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
6064 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
6068 @item gnus-visible-headers
6069 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
6070 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
6071 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
6072 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
6074 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
6075 the article and the subject, you'd say:
6078 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
6081 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers that are to
6084 @item gnus-ignored-headers
6085 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
6086 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
6087 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
6088 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
6089 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
6091 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
6092 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
6095 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
6098 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers that are to
6101 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
6102 variable will have no effect.
6106 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
6107 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
6108 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
6109 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
6110 the headers are to be displayed.
6112 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
6113 and then the subject, you might say something like:
6116 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
6119 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
6120 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers that
6121 are listed in this variable.
6123 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6124 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
6125 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
6126 You can hide further boring headers by entering
6127 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
6128 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
6129 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
6130 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
6131 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
6133 These conditions are:
6136 Remove all empty headers.
6138 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
6141 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
6142 @code{Newsgroups} header.
6144 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
6147 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
6151 To include the four first elements, you could say something like;
6154 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
6155 '(empty newsgroups followup-to reply-to))
6158 This is also the default value for this variable.
6162 @section Using @sc{mime}
6165 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
6166 while people stand around yawning.
6168 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
6169 while all newsreaders die of fear.
6171 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
6172 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
6173 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
6175 @vindex gnus-show-mime
6176 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
6177 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
6178 @findex metamail-buffer
6179 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by shoving the articles through
6180 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
6181 default. Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
6182 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
6183 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
6184 @sc{mime} headers in the article.
6186 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
6187 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
6188 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
6189 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
6190 comes streaming out out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
6191 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
6192 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
6193 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
6194 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
6196 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
6199 @node Customizing Articles
6200 @section Customizing Articles
6201 @cindex article customization
6203 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
6204 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
6205 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
6206 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
6208 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6209 By default it contains @code{gnus-article-hide-headers},
6210 @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}, and
6211 @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight}, but there are thousands, nay
6212 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
6213 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
6214 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
6217 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
6218 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
6219 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
6220 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
6221 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
6224 @node Article Keymap
6225 @section Article Keymap
6227 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
6228 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
6229 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
6230 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
6233 A few additional keystrokes are available:
6238 @kindex SPACE (Article)
6239 @findex gnus-article-next-page
6240 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
6243 @kindex DEL (Article)
6244 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
6245 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
6248 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
6249 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
6250 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
6251 @kbd{r}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
6252 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
6255 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
6256 @findex gnus-article-mail
6257 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
6258 given a prefix, include the mail.
6262 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
6263 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
6264 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
6268 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
6269 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
6270 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
6273 @kindex TAB (Article)
6274 @findex gnus-article-next-button
6275 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}. This
6276 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
6279 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
6280 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
6281 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}.
6287 @section Misc Article
6291 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
6292 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
6293 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
6294 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
6297 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
6298 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
6299 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
6300 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
6301 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
6302 the contents of the article buffer.
6304 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
6305 @item gnus-article-display-hook
6306 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
6307 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
6308 hiding headers, and the like.
6310 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
6311 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
6312 Hook called in article mode buffers.
6314 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
6315 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
6316 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
6317 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. It accepts exactly the same
6318 format specifications as that variable.
6319 @vindex gnus-break-pages
6321 @item gnus-break-pages
6322 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
6323 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
6324 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
6325 paging will not be done.
6327 @item gnus-page-delimiter
6328 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
6329 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
6334 @node Composing Messages
6335 @chapter Composing Messages
6340 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
6341 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a post or mail
6342 buffer where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
6343 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. If you are in a foreign news group,
6344 and you wish to post the article using the foreign server, you can give
6345 a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c} to make Gnus try to post using the foreign
6349 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
6350 * Post:: Posting and following up.
6351 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
6352 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
6353 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
6354 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to configure some key elements.
6355 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
6356 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
6359 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
6360 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
6366 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
6369 @item gnus-reply-to-function
6370 @vindex gnus-reply-to-function
6371 Gnus uses the normal methods to determine where replies are to go, but
6372 you can change the behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with this
6375 If you want the replies to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
6376 @code{From} in the group @samp{mail.stupid-list}, you could do something
6380 (setq gnus-reply-to-function
6382 (cond ((string= group "mail.stupid-list")
6383 (mail-fetch-field "sender"))
6388 This function will be called narrowed to the head of the article that is
6391 As you can see, this function should return a string if it has an
6392 opinion as to what the To header should be. If it does not, it should
6393 just return @code{nil}, and the normal methods for determining the To
6394 header will be used.
6396 This function can also return a list. In that case, each list element
6397 should be a cons, where the car should be the name of an header
6398 (eg. @code{Cc}) and the cdr should be the header value
6399 (eg. @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no}). All these headers will be inserted into
6400 the head of the outgoing mail.
6402 @item gnus-mail-send-method
6403 @vindex gnus-mail-send-method
6404 @vindex send-mail-function
6405 @findex sendmail-send-it
6406 This variable says how a mail should be mailed. It uses the function in
6407 the @code{send-mail-function} variable as the default, which usually is
6408 @code{sendmail-send-it}.
6410 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
6411 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
6412 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
6413 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
6415 @item gnus-mail-hook
6416 @vindex gnus-mail-hook
6417 Hook called as the last thing after setting up a mail buffer.
6419 @item gnus-required-mail-headers
6420 @vindex gnus-required-mail-headers
6422 Gnus will generate headers in all outgoing mail instead of letting
6423 @code{sendmail} do it for us. This makes it possible to do more neat
6424 stuff, like putting mail without sending it, do hairy @code{Fcc}
6425 handling, and much more. This variable controls what headers Gnus will
6426 generate, and is of the exact same form as @code{gnus-required-headers},
6427 which does the same for news articles (@pxref{Post}).
6430 The @code{Newsgroups} header is illegal in this list, while @code{To} is
6431 required, and @code{X-Mailer} can be added if you so should want.
6433 @vindex gnus-forward-start-separator
6434 @item gnus-forward-start-separator
6435 Delimiter inserted before forwarded messages.
6437 @vindex gnus-forward-end-separator
6438 @item gnus-forward-end-separator
6439 Delimiter inserted after forwarded messages.
6441 @vindex gnus-signature-before-forwarded-message
6442 @item gnus-signature-before-forwarded-message
6443 If this variable is @code{t}, which it is by default, your personal
6444 signature will be inserted before the forwarded message. If not, the
6445 forwarded message will be inserted first in the new mail.
6447 @item gnus-forward-included-headers
6448 @vindex gnus-forward-included-headers
6449 Regexp matching header lines to be included in forwarded messages. It
6450 uses the same regexp as @code{gnus-visible-headers} by default.
6454 @kindex C-c M-C-c (Mail)
6455 @kindex C-c M-C-p (Mail)
6456 @findex gnus-put-message
6457 You normally send a mail message by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. However,
6458 you may wish to just put the mail message you have just written in your
6459 own local mail group instead of sending it. Sounds quite unlikely, but
6460 I found that useful, so you can now also press @kbd{C-c M-C-p} to
6461 @dfn{put} the article in the current mail group, or, if there is no such
6462 thing, you will be prompted for a mail group, and then the article will
6463 be put there. This means that the article is @dfn{not} mailed.
6465 @findex gnus-kill-message-buffer
6466 @cindex kill mail buffer
6467 @kindex C-x k (Mail)
6468 @kindex C-x k (Post)
6469 If enter a mail (or post) buffer and then decide not to compose a
6470 message after all, you'd normally just kill the buffer with @kbd{C-x k}.
6471 However, since the mail and post buffers are associated with articles in
6472 the draft group, this will leave lots of rubbish articles in the draft
6473 group. To avoid that problem, kill mail and post buffer with @kbd{C-c
6474 C-k} (@code{gnus-kill-message-buffer}) instead. This will make sure
6475 that everything is properly cleaned up before the buffer is killed.
6477 @vindex gnus-mail-method
6478 There are three ``methods'' for handling all mail. The default is
6479 @code{sendmail}. Some people like what @code{mh} does better, and some
6480 people prefer @code{vm}. Set @code{gnus-mail-method} to the one you
6481 think is way koolest.
6483 Three variables for customizing what to use when:
6487 @vindex gnus-mail-reply-method
6488 @item gnus-mail-reply-method
6489 This function is used to compose replies. The three functions available
6492 @findex gnus-mail-reply-using-vm
6493 @findex gnus-mail-reply-using-mhe
6494 @findex gnus-mail-reply-using-mail
6497 @code{gnus-mail-reply-using-mail} (sendmail)
6499 @code{gnus-mail-reply-using-mhe} (mh)
6501 @code{gnus-mail-reply-using-vm} (vm)
6504 @vindex gnus-mail-forward-method
6505 @item gnus-mail-forward-method
6506 This function is used to forward messages. The three functions available
6509 @findex gnus-mail-forward-using-vm
6510 @findex gnus-mail-forward-using-mhe
6511 @findex gnus-mail-forward-using-mail
6514 @code{gnus-mail-forward-using-mail} (sendmail)
6516 @code{gnus-mail-forward-using-mhe} (mh)
6518 @code{gnus-mail-forward-using-vm} (vm)
6521 @vindex gnus-mail-other-window-method
6522 @item gnus-mail-other-window-method
6523 This function is used to send mails. The three functions available are:
6525 @findex gnus-mail-other-window-using-vm
6526 @findex gnus-mail-other-window-using-mhe
6527 @findex gnus-mail-other-window-using-mail
6530 @code{gnus-mail-other-window-using-mail} (sendmail)
6532 @code{gnus-mail-other-window-using-mhe} (mh)
6534 @code{gnus-mail-other-window-using-vm} (vm)
6543 Variables for composing news articles:
6545 @vindex gnus-required-headers
6546 @code{gnus-required-headers} a list of header symbols. These headers
6547 will either be automatically generated, or, if that's impossible, they
6548 will be prompted for. The following symbols are legal:
6554 @findex gnus-inews-user-name
6555 @vindex gnus-user-from-line
6556 @vindex gnus-user-login-name
6557 @vindex gnus-local-domain
6558 @vindex user-mail-address
6559 This required header will be filled out with the result of the
6560 @code{gnus-inews-user-name} function, which depends on the
6561 @code{gnus-user-from-line}, @code{gnus-user-login-name},
6562 @code{gnus-local-domain} and @code{user-mail-address} variables.
6566 This required header will be prompted for if not present already.
6570 This required header says which newsgroups the article is to be posted
6571 to. If it isn't present already, it will be prompted for.
6574 @cindex organization
6575 @vindex gnus-local-organization
6576 @vindex gnus-organization-file
6577 This optional header will be filled out depending on the
6578 @code{gnus-local-organization} variable. @code{gnus-organization-file}
6579 will be used if that variable is nil.
6583 This optional header will be computed by Gnus.
6587 This required header will be generated by Gnus. A unique ID will be
6588 created based on date, time, user name and system name.
6591 @cindex X-Newsreader
6592 This optional header will be filled out with the Gnus version numbers.
6595 @vindex gnus-article-expires
6597 This extremely optional header will be inserted according to the
6598 @code{gnus-article-expires} variable. It is highly deprecated and
6599 shouldn't be used unless you know what you're doing.
6602 @cindex Distribution
6603 @findex gnus-distribution-function
6604 This optional header is filled out according to the
6605 @code{gnus-distribution-function} variable. It is a deprecated and much
6606 misunderstood header.
6610 @vindex gnus-use-generic-path
6611 This extremely optional header should probably not ever be used.
6612 However, some @emph{very} old servers require that this header is
6613 present. @code{gnus-use-generic-path} further controls how this
6614 @code{Path} header is to look. If is is @code{nil}, the the server name
6615 as the leaf node. If is is a string, use the string. If it is neither
6616 a string nor @code{nil}, use the user name only. However, it is highly
6617 unlikely that you should need to fiddle with this variable at all.
6621 @cindex Mime-Version
6622 In addition, you can enter conses into this list. The car of this cons
6623 should be a symbol. This symbol's name is the name of the header, and
6624 the cdr can either be a string to be entered verbatim as the value of
6625 this header, or it can be a function to be called. This function should
6626 return a string to be inserted. For instance, if you want to insert
6627 @code{Mime-Version: 1.0}, you should enter @code{(Mime-Version . "1.0")}
6628 into the list. If you want to insert a funny quote, you could enter
6629 something like @code{(X-Yow . yow)} into the list. The function
6630 @code{yow} will then be called without any arguments.
6632 The list contains a cons where the car of the cons is @code{optional},
6633 the cdr of this cons will only be inserted if it is non-@code{nil}.
6635 Other variables for customizing outgoing articles:
6638 @item nntp-news-default-headers
6639 @vindex nntp-news-default-headers
6640 If non-@code{nil}, this variable will override
6641 @code{mail-default-headers} when posting. This variable should then be
6642 a string. This string will be inserted, as is, in the head of all
6645 @item gnus-use-followup-to
6646 @vindex gnus-use-followup-to
6647 If @code{nil}, always ignore the Followup-To header. If it is @code{t},
6648 use its value, but ignore the special value @samp{poster}, which will
6649 send the followup as a reply mail to the person you are responding to.
6650 If it is the symbol @code{ask}, query the user before posting.
6651 If it is the symbol @code{use}, always use the value.
6653 @item gnus-followup-to-function
6654 @vindex gnus-followup-to-function
6655 This variable is most useful in mail groups, where ``following up''
6656 really means sending a mail to a list address. Gnus uses the normal
6657 methods to determine where follow-ups are to go, but you can change the
6658 behavior to suit your needs by fiddling with this variable.
6660 If you want the followups to go to the @code{Sender} instead of the
6661 @code{From} in the group @samp{mail.stupid-list}, you could do something
6665 (setq gnus-followup-to-function
6667 (cond ((string= group "mail.stupid-list")
6668 (mail-fetch-field "sender"))
6673 This function will be called narrowed to header of the article that is
6676 @item gnus-removable-headers
6677 @vindex gnus-removable-headers
6678 @cindex NNTP-Posting-Host
6679 Some headers that are generated are toxic to the @sc{nntp} server.
6680 These include the @code{NNTP-Posting-Host}, @code{Bcc} and @code{Xref},
6681 so these headers are deleted if they are present in this list of
6684 @item gnus-deletable-headers
6685 @vindex gnus-deletable-headers
6686 Headers in this list that were previously generated by Gnus will be
6687 deleted before posting. Let's say you post an article. Then you decide
6688 to post it again to some other group, you naughty boy, so you jump back
6689 to the @code{*post-buf*} buffer, edit the @code{Newsgroups} line, and
6690 ship it off again. By default, this variable makes sure that the old
6691 generated @code{Message-ID} is deleted, and a new one generated. If
6692 this isn't done, the entire empire would probably crumble, anarchy would
6693 prevail, and cats would start walking on two legs and rule the world.
6696 @item gnus-signature-function
6697 @vindex gnus-signature-function
6698 If non-@code{nil}, this variable should be a function that returns a
6699 signature file name. The function will be called with the name of the
6700 group being posted to. If the function returns a string that doesn't
6701 correspond to a file, the string itself is inserted. If the function
6702 returns @code{nil}, the @code{gnus-signature-file} variable will be used
6705 @item gnus-post-prepare-function
6706 @vindex gnus-post-prepare-function
6707 This function is called with the name of the current group after the
6708 post buffer has been initialized, and can be used for inserting a
6709 signature. Nice if you use different signatures in different groups.
6711 @item gnus-post-prepare-hook
6712 @vindex gnus-post-prepare-hook
6713 @findex gnus-inews-insert-signature
6714 This hook is called after a post buffer has been prepared. If you want
6715 to insert a signature at this point, you could put
6716 @code{gnus-inews-insert-signature} into this hook.
6718 @item news-reply-header-hook
6719 @vindex news-reply-header-hook
6720 A related variable when following up and replying is this variable,
6721 which inserts the @dfn{quote line}. The default value is:
6724 (defvar news-reply-header-hook
6726 (insert "In article " news-reply-yank-message-id
6727 " " news-reply-yank-from " writes:\n\n")))
6730 This will create lines like:
6733 In article <zngay8jrql@@eyesore.no> Lars Mars <lars@@eyesore.no> writes:
6736 Having the @code{Message-ID} in this line is probably overkill, so I
6737 would suggest this hook instead:
6740 (setq news-reply-header-hook
6741 (lambda () (insert news-reply-yank-from " writes:\n\n")))
6744 @item gnus-prepare-article-hook
6745 @vindex gnus-prepare-article-hook
6746 This hook is called before the headers have been prepared.
6748 @item gnus-inews-article-function
6749 @vindex gnus-inews-article-function
6750 This function is used to do the actual article processing and header
6751 checking/generation.
6753 @item gnus-inews-article-hook
6754 @vindex gnus-inews-article-hook
6755 This hook is called right before the article is posted. By default it
6756 handles FCC processing (i.e., saving the article to a file.) You can
6757 also have this hook add a score to all followups to the article you've
6758 written (@pxref{Followups To Yourself}).
6760 @item gnus-inews-article-header-hook
6761 @vindex gnus-inews-article-header-hook
6763 This hook is called after inserting the required headers in an article
6764 to be posted. The hook is called from the @code{*post-news*} buffer,
6765 narrowed to the head, and is intended for people who would like to
6766 insert additional headers, or just change headers in some way or other.
6768 @item gnus-check-before-posting
6769 @vindex gnus-check-before-posting
6770 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to check the legality of the
6771 headers, as well as some other stuff, before posting. You can control
6772 the granularity of the check by adding or removing elements from this
6773 list. Legal elements are:
6777 Check the subject for commands.
6780 Insert a new @code{Sender} header if the @code{From} header looks odd.
6781 @item multiple-headers
6782 Check for the existence of multiple equal headers.
6785 Check for the existence of version and sendsys commands.
6787 Check whether the @code{Message-ID} looks ok.
6789 Check whether the @code{From} header seems nice.
6792 Check for too long lines.
6794 Check for illegal characters.
6796 Check for excessive size.
6798 Check whether there is any new text in the messages.
6800 Check the length of the signature.
6803 Check whether the article has an @code{Approved} header, which is
6804 something only moderators should include.
6806 Check whether the article is empty.
6812 @node Posting Server
6813 @section Posting Server
6815 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
6816 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
6818 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
6820 @vindex gnus-post-method
6822 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
6823 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
6824 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
6825 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
6826 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
6829 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
6832 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
6833 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
6834 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
6835 the ``current'' server for posting.
6837 If you give a zero prefix (i. e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
6838 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
6840 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
6841 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
6846 @section Mail and Post
6848 Here's a list of variables that are relevant to both mailing and
6852 @item gnus-signature-file
6853 @itemx mail-signature
6854 @vindex mail-signature
6855 @vindex gnus-signature-file
6856 @cindex double signature
6858 If @code{gnus-signature-file} is non-@code{nil}, it should be the name
6859 of a file containing a signature (@file{~/.signature} by default). This
6860 signature will be appended to all outgoing post. Most people find it
6861 more convenient to use @code{mail-signature}, which (sort of) does the
6862 same, but inserts the signature into the buffer before you start editing
6863 the post (or mail). So---if you have both of these variables set, you
6864 will get two signatures. Note that @code{mail-signature} does not work
6865 the same way as @code{gnus-signature-file}, which is a bit confusing.
6866 If @code{mail-signature} is @code{t}, it will insert
6867 @file{~/.signature}. If it is a string, this string will be inserted.
6869 Note that RFC1036 says that a signature should be preceded by the three
6870 characters @samp{-- } on a line by themselves. This is to make it
6871 easier for the recipient to automatically recognize and process the
6872 signature. So don't remove those characters, even though you might feel
6873 that they ruin you beautiful design, like, totally.
6875 Also note that no signature should be more than four lines long.
6876 Including ASCII graphics is an efficient way to get everybody to believe
6877 that you are silly and have nothing important to say.
6879 @item mail-yank-prefix
6880 @vindex mail-yank-prefix
6883 When you are replying to or following up an article, you normally want
6884 to quote the person you are answering. Inserting quoted text is done by
6885 @dfn{yanking}, and each quoted line you yank will have
6886 @code{mail-yank-prefix} prepended to it. This is @code{nil} by default,
6887 which isn't very pretty---the prefix will just be some spaces. Most
6888 everybody prefers that lines are prepended with @samp{> }, so
6889 @code{(setq mail-yank-prefix "> ")} in your @file{.emacs} file.
6891 @item mail-yank-ignored-headers
6892 @vindex mail-yank-ignored-headers
6893 When you yank a message, you do not want to quote any headers, so
6894 @code{(setq mail-yank-ignored-headers "^")}.
6896 @item user-mail-address
6897 @vindex user-mail-address
6898 @vindex gnus-user-login-name
6899 @vindex gnus-use-generic-from
6900 @vindex gnus-local-domain
6901 If all of @code{gnus-user-login-name}, @code{gnus-use-generic-from} and
6902 @code{gnus-local-domain} are @code{nil}, Gnus will use
6903 @code{user-mail-address} as the address part of the @code{From} header.
6905 @item gnus-local-domain
6906 @vindex gnus-local-domain
6908 The local domain name excluding the host name. If your host is called
6909 @samp{narfi.ifi.uio.no}, then this variable should be
6912 @item gnus-local-domain
6913 @vindex gnus-local-domain
6915 The local domain name excluding the host name. If your host is called
6916 @samp{narfi.ifi.uio.no}, then this variable should be
6919 @item gnus-user-from-line
6920 @vindex gnus-user-from-line
6921 Your full, complete e-mail address with name. This variable overrides
6922 the other Gnus variables if it is non-@code{nil}.
6924 Here are two example values of this variable: @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no
6925 (Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen)} and @samp{Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
6926 <larsi@@ifi.uio.no>}. The latter version is recommended in news (and is
6927 probably illegal in mail), but the name has to be quoted if it contains
6928 non-alpha-numerical characters---@samp{\"Lars M. Ingebrigtsen\"
6929 <larsi@@ifi.uio.no>}.
6931 @item mail-default-headers
6932 @vindex mail-default-headers
6933 This is a string that will be inserted into the header of all outgoing
6934 mail messages and news articles. Convenient to use to insert standard
6935 headers. If @code{nntp-news-default-headers} is non-@code{nil}, that
6936 variable will override this one when posting articles.
6938 @item gnus-auto-mail-to-author
6939 @vindex gnus-auto-mail-to-author
6940 If @code{ask}, you will be prompted for whether you want to send a mail
6941 copy to the author of the article you are following up. If
6942 non-@code{nil} and not @code{ask}, Gnus will send a mail with a copy of
6943 all follow-ups to the authors of the articles you follow up. It's nice
6944 in one way---you make sure that the person you are responding to gets
6945 your response. Other people loathe this method and will hate you dearly
6946 for it, because it means that they will first get a mail, and then have
6947 to read the same article later when they read the news. It is
6948 @code{nil} by default.
6950 @item gnus-mail-courtesy-message
6951 @vindex gnus-mail-courtesy-message
6952 This is a string that will be prepended to all mails that are the result
6953 of using the variable described above.
6955 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
6956 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
6957 @cindex mailing lists
6959 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists that are
6960 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
6961 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
6962 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
6963 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
6964 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that match the groups that
6965 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
6966 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
6967 still a pain, though.
6969 @item mail-citation-hook
6970 @vindex mail-citation-hook
6971 This hook is run after yankning a message, both in mail and post
6972 buffers. Point will be at the beginning of the yanked message and mark
6973 will be at the end. If this hook is non-@code{nil} the yanked text
6974 won't be indended automatically---you have to do that explicitly.
6976 For instance, if you want to remove signatures automatically, you could
6980 (add-hook 'mail-citation-hook 'gnus-inews-remove-signature)
6983 This function indents the cited message and then removes the
6984 signature. If you decide you want to include the signature after all,
6985 you can just press the @code{undo} key.
6989 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
6990 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
6991 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
6993 @vindex news-inews-hook
6995 @findex ispell-message
6997 (add-hook 'news-inews-hook 'ispell-message) ;For news posts
6998 (add-hook 'mail-send-hook 'ispell-message) ;for mail posts via sendmail
7001 @findex gnus-inews-insert-mime-headers
7002 If you want to insert some @sc{mime} headers into the articles you post,
7003 without doing any actual encoding, you could add
7004 @code{gnus-inews-insert-mime-headers} to @code{gnus-inews-article-hook}.
7007 @node Archived Messages
7008 @section Archived Messages
7009 @cindex archived messages
7010 @cindex sent messages
7012 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail you send.
7013 The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to store
7016 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
7017 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
7018 use to store sent messages. It is @code{(nnfolder "archive"
7019 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive/"))} by default, but you can use any
7020 mail select method (@code{nnml}, @code{nnmbox}, etc.). However,
7021 @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method for doing this sort of
7022 thing. If you don't like the default directory chosen, you could say
7026 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
7027 '((nnfolder "archive"
7028 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
7029 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/sent-mail/active")
7030 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/"))))
7033 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
7035 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
7036 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
7037 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
7039 This variable can be:
7043 Messages will be saved in that group.
7044 @item a list of strings
7045 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
7046 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
7047 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
7052 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
7054 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
7057 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
7059 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
7062 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
7064 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7065 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
7066 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
7067 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
7072 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7073 '((if (eq major-mode news-reply-mode)
7078 This is the default.
7080 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
7081 messages in one file per month:
7084 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7085 '((if (eq major-mode news-reply-mode)
7087 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
7088 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
7091 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
7092 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
7093 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
7094 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
7095 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
7096 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
7097 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
7098 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something nice --
7099 @samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
7100 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
7102 That's the default method of archiving sent mail. Gnus also offers two
7103 other variables for the people who don't like the default method. In
7104 that case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to
7105 @code{nil}; this will disable archiving.
7108 @item gnus-author-copy
7109 @vindex gnus-author-copy
7111 This is a file name, and all outgoing articles will be saved in that
7112 file. Initialized from the @code{AUTHORCOPY} environment variable.
7114 If this variable begins with the character @samp{|}, outgoing articles
7115 will be piped to the named program. It is possible to save an article in
7116 an MH folder as follows:
7119 (setq gnus-author-copy
7120 "|/usr/local/lib/mh/rcvstore +Article")
7123 If the first character is not a pipe, articles are saved using the
7124 function specified by the @code{gnus-author-copy-saver} variable.
7126 @item gnus-author-copy-saver
7127 @vindex gnus-author-copy-saver
7128 @findex rmail-output
7129 A function called to save outgoing articles. This function will be
7130 called with the same of the file to store the article in. The default
7131 function is @code{rmail-output} which saves in the Unix mailbox format.
7133 @item gnus-mail-self-blind
7134 @vindex gnus-mail-self-blind
7135 Non-@code{nil} means insert a BCC header in all outgoing articles
7136 pointing to yourself. This will result you receiving a copy of the
7137 article mailed to yourself. The BCC header is inserted when the post
7138 buffer is initialized, so you can remove or alter the BCC header to
7139 override the default.
7141 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
7142 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
7143 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
7144 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
7145 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
7148 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
7149 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
7150 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
7155 @node Posting Styles
7156 @section Posting Styles
7157 @cindex posting styles
7160 All them variables, they make my head swim.
7162 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
7163 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
7164 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
7167 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
7168 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
7169 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
7170 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
7171 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
7176 (signature . "Peace and happiness")
7177 (organization . "What me?"))
7179 (signature . "Death to everybody"))
7180 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
7181 (organization . "Emacs is it")))
7184 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
7185 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
7186 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
7187 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
7188 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
7189 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
7190 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
7191 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
7193 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
7194 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
7195 If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
7196 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
7197 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
7198 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
7201 Each style may contain a random amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
7202 attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
7203 can be one of @code{signature}, @code{organization} or @code{from}.
7204 The attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be
7205 used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of
7208 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
7209 return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
7210 list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
7212 So here's a new example:
7215 (setq gnus-posting-styles
7217 (signature . "~/.signature")
7218 (from . "user@@foo (user)")
7219 ("X-Home-Page" . (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
7220 (organization . "People's Front Against MWM"))
7222 (signature . my-funny-signature-randomizer))
7223 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
7224 (signature . my-quote-randomizer))
7225 (posting-from-work-p
7226 (signature . "~/.work-signature")
7227 (from . "user@@bar.foo (user)")
7228 (organization . "Important Work, Inc"))
7230 (signature . "~/.mail-signature"))))
7238 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
7239 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
7240 craazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save the
7241 message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some other
7242 day, and send it when you feel its finished.
7244 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
7245 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
7246 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
7247 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
7248 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
7252 @vindex gnus-draft-group-directory
7253 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
7254 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
7255 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{gnus-draft-group-directory}
7256 controls both the name of the group and the location---the leaf element
7257 in the path will be used as the name of the group. What makes this
7258 group special is that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any
7259 articles as read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
7261 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
7264 @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
7265 @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
7266 @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
7267 @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
7268 @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
7269 @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
7270 If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
7271 encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
7272 (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
7273 interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
7274 and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
7275 (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
7276 If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
7277 @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
7279 @vindex gnus-use-draft
7280 To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
7281 @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
7283 @findex gnus-summary-send-draft
7284 @kindex S D c (Summary)
7285 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
7286 draft group and push @kbd{S D c} (@code{gnus-summary-send-draft}) to do
7287 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
7289 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
7292 @findex gnus-summary-send-all-drafts
7293 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
7294 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{S D a} command
7295 (@code{gnus-summary-send-all-drafts}). This command understands the
7296 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7299 @node Rejected Articles
7300 @section Rejected Articles
7301 @cindex rejected articles
7303 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
7304 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
7305 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
7306 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
7308 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
7309 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
7310 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
7311 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
7312 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
7314 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
7315 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
7316 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
7319 @node Select Methods
7320 @chapter Select Methods
7321 @cindex foreign groups
7322 @cindex select methods
7324 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group that is not read by the usual (or
7325 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
7326 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
7327 personal mail group.
7329 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
7330 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
7331 list where the first element says what backend to use (eg. @code{nntp},
7332 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
7333 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
7334 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
7336 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
7337 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
7339 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
7342 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
7343 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
7344 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group, in
7345 all circumstances, @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the
7346 @code{nntp} backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
7348 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
7351 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
7352 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
7353 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
7354 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
7355 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
7359 @node The Server Buffer
7360 @section The Server Buffer
7362 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
7363 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
7364 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
7365 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
7366 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
7367 backend represents a virtual server.
7369 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
7370 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
7371 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
7372 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
7374 These select methods specifications can sometimes become quite
7375 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
7376 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number @code{13}, which
7377 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
7378 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
7379 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
7380 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
7382 To enter the server buffer, user the @kbd{^}
7383 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
7386 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
7387 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
7388 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
7389 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
7390 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
7391 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
7394 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
7395 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
7398 @node Server Buffer Format
7399 @subsection Server Buffer Format
7400 @cindex server buffer format
7402 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
7403 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
7404 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
7405 variable, with some simple extensions:
7410 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
7413 The name of this server.
7416 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
7419 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
7422 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
7423 The mode line can also be customized by using the
7424 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable. The following specs are
7435 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
7438 @node Server Commands
7439 @subsection Server Commands
7440 @cindex server commands
7446 @findex gnus-server-add-server
7447 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
7451 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
7452 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
7455 @kindex SPACE (Server)
7456 @findex gnus-server-read-server
7457 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
7461 @findex gnus-server-exit
7462 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
7466 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
7467 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
7471 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
7472 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
7476 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
7477 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
7481 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
7482 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
7487 @node Example Methods
7488 @subsection Example Methods
7490 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
7493 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
7496 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
7502 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
7503 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
7506 After these two elements, there may be a random number of @var{(variable
7509 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
7510 port @code{15} from that machine. This is what the select method should
7514 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
7517 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
7518 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example.
7520 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
7521 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
7522 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
7526 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
7529 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
7532 Here's the method for a public spool:
7536 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
7537 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
7541 @node Creating a Virtual Server
7542 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
7544 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
7545 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
7547 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
7548 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
7549 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
7551 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
7553 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
7554 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
7555 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
7556 will contain the following:
7566 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
7567 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
7568 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
7571 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
7572 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
7573 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
7576 @node Servers and Methods
7577 @subsection Servers and Methods
7579 Wherever you would normally use a select method
7580 (eg. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
7581 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
7582 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
7586 @node Unavailable Servers
7587 @subsection Unavailable Servers
7589 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
7590 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
7591 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
7592 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
7593 actually the case or not.
7595 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
7596 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to the server
7597 @samp{nepholococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
7598 away from you, the machine is quite, so it takes 1 minute just to find
7599 out that it refuses connection from you today. If Gnus were to attempt
7600 to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't attempt to do
7601 that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'', it will
7602 regard that server as ``down''.
7604 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
7605 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
7607 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
7608 with the following commands:
7614 @findex gnus-server-open-server
7615 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
7616 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
7620 @findex gnus-server-close-server
7621 Close the connection (if any) to the server
7622 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
7626 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
7627 Mark the current server as unreachable
7628 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
7632 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
7633 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from all servers
7634 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
7640 @section Getting News
7641 @cindex reading news
7642 @cindex news backends
7644 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
7645 only two methods of getting news -- it can read from an @sc{nntp}
7646 server, or it can read from a local spool.
7649 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
7650 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
7655 @subsection @sc{nntp}
7658 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
7659 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
7660 server as the, uhm, address.
7662 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
7663 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
7664 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
7665 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
7667 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
7668 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
7669 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
7671 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
7676 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
7677 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
7678 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
7680 @cindex authentification
7681 @cindex nntp authentification
7682 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
7683 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
7684 @code{nntp-server-opened-hook} is run after a connection has been made.
7685 It can be used to send commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has
7686 been contacted. By default is sends the command @code{MODE READER} to
7687 the server with the @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. Another
7688 popular function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which will prompt you for
7689 an @sc{nntp} password and stuff.
7691 @item nntp-server-action-alist
7692 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
7693 This is an list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
7694 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
7695 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
7698 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
7702 You probably don't want to do that, though.
7704 The default value is
7707 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
7708 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook nntp-send-mode-reader)))
7711 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
7712 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
7714 @item nntp-maximum-request
7715 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
7716 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
7717 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
7718 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
7719 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
7720 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
7721 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
7723 @item nntp-connection-timeout
7724 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
7725 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
7726 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
7727 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
7728 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
7729 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
7730 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
7731 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
7732 no timeouts are done.
7734 @item nntp-server-hook
7735 @vindex nntp-server-hook
7736 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
7739 @c @findex nntp-open-rlogin
7740 @c @findex nntp-open-network-stream
7741 @c @item nntp-open-server-function
7742 @c @vindex nntp-open-server-function
7743 @c This function is used to connect to the remote system. Two pre-made
7744 @c functions are @code{nntp-open-network-stream}, which is the default, and
7745 @c simply connects to some port or other on the remote system. The other
7746 @c is @code{nntp-open-rlogin}, which does an rlogin on the remote system,
7747 @c and then does a telnet to the @sc{nntp} server available there.
7749 @c @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
7750 @c @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
7751 @c If you use @code{nntp-open-rlogin} as the
7752 @c @code{nntp-open-server-function}, this list will be used as the
7753 @c parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
7755 @c @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
7756 @c @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
7757 @c User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
7761 @vindex nntp-address
7762 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
7764 @item nntp-port-number
7765 @vindex nntp-port-number
7766 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
7769 @item nntp-buggy-select
7770 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
7771 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
7773 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
7774 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
7775 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
7776 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks whether @sc{nov}
7777 can be used automatically.
7779 @item nntp-xover-commands
7780 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
7783 List of strings that are used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
7784 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
7788 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
7789 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
7790 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
7791 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
7792 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
7793 lines that you do not want, and will not use. This variable says how
7794 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
7795 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
7796 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
7797 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
7798 @code{nntp} will never split requests.
7800 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
7801 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
7802 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
7804 @item nntp-async-number
7805 @vindex nntp-async-number
7806 How many articles should be pre-fetched when in asynchronous mode. If
7807 this variable is @code{t}, @code{nntp} will pre-fetch all the articles
7808 that it can without bound. If it is @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be
7811 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
7812 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
7813 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
7814 server closes connection.
7820 @subsection News Spool
7824 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
7825 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups like
7826 @samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}.
7828 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @samp{} (or
7829 anything else) as the address.
7831 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
7832 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
7833 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
7834 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
7838 @item nnspool-inews-program
7839 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
7840 Program used to post an article.
7842 @item nnspool-inews-switches
7843 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
7844 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
7846 @item nnspool-spool-directory
7847 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
7848 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
7849 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
7851 @item nnspool-nov-directory
7852 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
7853 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
7854 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
7856 @item nnspool-lib-dir
7857 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
7858 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
7860 @item nnspool-active-file
7861 @vindex nnspool-active-file
7862 The path of the active file.
7864 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
7865 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
7866 The path of the group descriptions file.
7868 @item nnspool-history-file
7869 @vindex nnspool-history-file
7870 The path of the news history file.
7872 @item nnspool-active-times-file
7873 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
7874 The path of the active date file.
7876 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
7877 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
7878 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
7881 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
7882 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
7884 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
7885 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
7886 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
7892 @section Getting Mail
7893 @cindex reading mail
7896 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
7900 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
7901 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
7902 * Mail Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
7903 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
7904 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
7905 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
7906 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
7907 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
7908 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
7909 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
7913 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
7914 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
7916 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
7917 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
7918 and things will happen automatically.
7920 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a one file per
7921 mail backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
7924 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
7925 '((nnml "private")))
7928 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
7929 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
7930 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
7931 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
7932 like any other group.
7934 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
7937 (setq nnmail-split-methods
7938 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
7939 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
7943 This will result in three new mail groups being created:
7944 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
7945 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
7948 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
7949 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though,
7950 especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
7953 @node Splitting Mail
7954 @subsection Splitting Mail
7955 @cindex splitting mail
7956 @cindex mail splitting
7958 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
7959 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
7960 to be split into groups.
7963 (setq nnmail-split-methods
7964 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
7965 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
7969 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
7970 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
7971 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
7972 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
7973 determine if it belongs in this mail group.
7975 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
7976 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
7977 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
7978 mail belongs in that group.
7980 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
7981 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any
7982 mails that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps.
7984 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
7985 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
7986 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
7987 message. The function should return a list of groups names that it
7988 thinks should carry this mail message.
7990 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent
7991 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
7992 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
7993 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
7995 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
7996 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
7997 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
7998 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
7999 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
8001 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
8004 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
8005 the crossposted articles. However, not all files systems support hard
8006 links. If that's the case for you, set
8007 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
8008 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
8010 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
8011 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
8012 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
8013 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
8014 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
8015 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
8016 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
8017 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
8021 @node Mail Variables
8022 @subsection Mail Variables
8024 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
8028 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
8029 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
8030 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
8031 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
8033 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
8034 @item nnmail-spool-file
8038 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
8039 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
8040 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
8041 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
8042 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
8043 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
8044 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
8045 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
8046 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
8047 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
8049 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
8050 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
8051 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
8052 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
8053 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
8054 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
8056 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
8057 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
8058 @item nnmail-use-procmail
8059 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
8060 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
8061 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
8062 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
8065 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
8066 @item nnmail-crash-box
8067 When the mail backends read a spool file, it is first moved to this
8068 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
8069 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
8072 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
8073 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
8074 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
8075 used for, well, anything, really.
8077 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
8078 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
8079 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
8080 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
8081 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
8082 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
8083 starting to handle the new mail) and
8084 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
8085 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
8086 default file modes the new mail files get:
8089 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
8090 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
8092 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
8093 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
8096 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
8097 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
8098 This variable says where to move the incoming mail to while processing
8099 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
8100 inhabits (i.e., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
8101 it will be used instead.
8103 @item nnmail-movemail-program
8104 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
8105 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
8106 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
8108 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
8109 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
8110 @cindex incoming mail files
8111 @cindex deleting incoming files
8112 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
8113 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{nil} by
8114 default for reasons of security.
8116 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
8117 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
8118 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
8119 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories like
8120 @file{mail.misc/}. If it is @code{nil}, the same group will end up in
8123 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
8124 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
8126 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
8131 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
8132 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
8133 @cindex mail splitting
8134 @cindex fancy mail splitting
8136 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
8137 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
8138 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
8139 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
8140 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
8141 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
8143 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
8146 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
8147 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
8148 ;; from real errors.
8149 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
8151 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
8152 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
8153 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
8154 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
8155 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
8156 ;; Other mailing lists...
8157 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
8158 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
8160 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen"))
8161 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
8165 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
8166 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
8167 the four possible split syntaxes:
8172 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name.
8174 @item (FIELD VALUE SPLIT)
8175 If the split is a list, and the first element is a string, then that
8176 means that if header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp),
8177 then store the message as specified by SPLIT.
8180 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
8181 bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them matches. A SPLIT is
8182 said to match if it will cause the mail message to be stored in one or
8186 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then process
8187 all SPLITs in the list.
8190 In these splits, FIELD must match a complete field name. VALUE must
8191 match a complete word according to the fundamental mode syntax table.
8192 You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial field names or
8195 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
8196 FIELD and VALUE can also be lisp symbols, in that case they are expanded
8197 as specified by the variable @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is
8198 an alist of cons cells, where the car of the cells contains the key, and
8199 the cdr contains a string.
8202 @node Mail and Procmail
8203 @subsection Mail and Procmail
8208 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
8209 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
8210 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
8211 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
8212 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
8214 This also means that you probably don't want to set
8215 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
8218 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
8219 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
8220 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends (except
8221 @code{nnmh}) actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
8222 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
8223 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
8225 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) what groups
8228 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example.
8230 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
8231 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
8233 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
8234 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
8235 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
8236 to include all your mail groups.
8238 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
8239 method will be created automatically.
8241 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
8242 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
8243 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
8244 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
8245 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
8246 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
8247 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
8248 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
8250 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
8251 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
8252 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
8253 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
8254 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
8256 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
8257 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directory into an @code{nnmh}
8258 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
8259 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
8260 ever expiring the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is quite,
8264 @node Incorporating Old Mail
8265 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
8267 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
8268 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
8269 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
8272 Doing so can be quite easy.
8274 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
8275 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
8276 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
8277 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
8278 your @code{nnml} groups.
8284 Go to the group buffer.
8287 Type `G f' and give the path of the mbox file when prompted to create an
8288 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8291 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
8294 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group (@pxref{Setting
8298 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
8299 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
8302 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
8303 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
8304 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
8305 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
8306 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
8308 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
8309 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
8310 using the new mail backend.
8314 @subsection Expiring Mail
8315 @cindex article expiry
8317 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
8318 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
8319 different approach to mail reading.
8321 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
8322 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
8323 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
8324 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
8325 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
8326 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
8329 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
8330 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
8331 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
8332 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
8333 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
8334 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
8335 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
8336 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
8338 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
8339 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
8340 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
8341 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
8342 articles that are marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
8343 column in the summary buffer.
8345 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
8346 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
8349 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
8350 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
8353 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
8354 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
8356 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
8357 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
8358 expirable article has to live. The default is seven days.
8360 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
8361 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
8362 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
8363 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
8366 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
8368 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
8370 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
8372 ((string= group "mail.junk")
8374 ((string= group "important")
8380 The group names that this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
8381 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
8383 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
8384 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can be either a number (not
8385 necessarily an integer) or the symbols @code{immediate} or
8388 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
8389 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8391 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
8392 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
8393 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
8394 easier for procmail users.
8396 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
8397 By the way, that line up there about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
8398 articles is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
8399 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
8400 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
8401 caution. Even more dangerous is the
8402 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
8403 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
8404 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
8405 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
8406 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
8407 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
8408 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
8413 @subsection Duplicates
8415 @vindex nnmail-delete-duplicates
8416 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
8417 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
8418 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
8419 @cindex duplicate mails
8420 If you are a member of a couple of mailing list, you will sometime
8421 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
8422 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
8423 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s -
8424 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
8425 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
8426 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
8427 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
8428 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
8429 @code{nnmail-delete-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
8430 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
8431 will generate a brand new @code{Message-ID} for the mail and insert a
8432 warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks that this is a
8433 duplicate of a different message.
8435 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
8436 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
8437 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
8438 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
8440 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
8443 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
8444 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
8448 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
8449 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
8450 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
8451 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
8452 (any mail "mail.misc")
8459 (setq nnmail-split-methods
8460 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
8465 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
8466 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
8467 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
8468 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
8469 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
8472 @node Not Reading Mail
8473 @subsection Not Reading Mail
8475 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
8476 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
8477 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
8479 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
8480 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
8482 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
8483 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
8484 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
8485 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
8486 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
8487 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
8488 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
8489 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
8490 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
8491 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
8492 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
8494 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
8495 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
8499 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
8500 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
8502 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
8503 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
8504 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
8507 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
8508 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
8509 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
8510 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
8511 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
8516 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
8518 @cindex unix mail box
8520 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
8521 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
8522 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
8523 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
8524 which group it belongs in.
8526 Virtual server settings:
8529 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
8530 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
8531 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
8533 @item nnmbox-active-file
8534 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
8535 The name of the active file for the mail box.
8537 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
8538 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
8539 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
8545 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
8549 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
8550 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
8551 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
8552 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
8553 article to say which group it belongs in.
8555 Virtual server settings:
8558 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
8559 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
8560 The name of the rmail mbox file.
8562 @item nnbabyl-active-file
8563 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
8564 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
8566 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
8567 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
8568 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
8573 @subsubsection Mail Spool
8575 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
8577 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
8578 format. It should be used with some caution.
8580 @vindex nnml-directory
8581 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files;
8582 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the correct
8583 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
8584 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
8586 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
8589 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
8590 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
8591 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
8592 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
8593 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
8594 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
8595 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
8596 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
8598 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
8599 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
8600 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes is the fastest
8601 backend when it comes to reading mail.
8603 Virtual server settings:
8606 @item nnml-directory
8607 @vindex nnml-directory
8608 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
8610 @item nnml-active-file
8611 @vindex nnml-active-file
8612 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
8614 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
8615 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
8616 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
8619 @item nnml-get-new-mail
8620 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
8621 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
8623 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
8624 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
8625 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
8627 @item nnml-nov-file-name
8628 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
8629 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
8631 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
8632 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
8633 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
8637 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
8638 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
8639 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
8640 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
8641 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
8642 might take a while to complete.
8646 @subsubsection MH Spool
8648 @cindex mh-e mail spool
8650 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
8651 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
8652 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
8653 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
8655 Virtual server settings:
8658 @item nnmh-directory
8659 @vindex nnmh-directory
8660 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
8662 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
8663 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
8664 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
8667 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
8668 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
8669 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
8670 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
8671 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
8672 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
8673 to set this variable to @code{t}.
8678 @subsubsection Mail Folders
8680 @cindex mbox folders
8681 @cindex mail folders
8683 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
8684 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
8685 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
8688 Virtual server settings:
8691 @item nnfolder-directory
8692 @vindex nnfolder-directory
8693 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
8695 @item nnfolder-active-file
8696 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
8697 The name of the active file.
8699 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
8700 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
8701 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
8703 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
8704 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
8705 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
8708 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
8709 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
8710 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
8711 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
8712 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
8713 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
8717 @section Other Sources
8719 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
8720 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
8724 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
8725 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
8726 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
8727 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
8731 @node Directory Groups
8732 @subsection Directory Groups
8734 @cindex directory groups
8736 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
8737 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
8740 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp}, that most
8741 wonderful of all wonderful Emacs packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I
8742 didn't think much about it---a backend to read directories. Big deal.
8744 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
8745 enter @file{"/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/"} as the the
8746 directory name, ange-ftp will actually allow you to read this directory
8747 over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
8749 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
8751 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
8752 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
8753 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
8754 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
8757 @node Anything Groups
8758 @subsection Anything Groups
8761 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
8762 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
8763 pretends that any random directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but true.
8765 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
8766 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
8767 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
8768 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
8769 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
8770 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
8771 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
8772 If this is just some random file without a head (eg. a C source file),
8773 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
8774 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
8777 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
8778 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
8779 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
8780 in the article buffer, just as usual.
8782 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
8783 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
8784 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
8785 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
8787 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
8788 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
8789 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
8790 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
8791 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
8792 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
8793 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
8794 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
8799 @item nneething-map-file-directory
8800 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
8801 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
8802 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
8804 @item nneething-exclude-files
8805 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
8806 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
8807 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
8809 @item nneething-map-file
8810 @vindex nneething-map-file
8811 Name of the map files.
8815 @node Document Groups
8816 @subsection Document Groups
8818 @cindex documentation group
8821 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
8822 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
8829 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
8834 The standard Unix mbox file.
8836 @cindex MMDF mail box
8838 The MMDF mail box format.
8841 Several news articles appended into a file.
8844 @cindex rnews batch files
8845 The rnews batch transport format.
8846 @cindex forwarded messages
8855 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
8856 @cindex RFC 341 digest
8857 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
8859 @item standard-digest
8860 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
8863 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
8866 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
8867 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
8868 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
8871 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
8872 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
8873 group. And that's it.
8875 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
8876 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
8877 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
8878 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
8879 @code{nndoc}, set the process mark on all the articles in the buffer
8880 (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r}) using
8881 @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL} file is
8882 now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can delete
8883 that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
8885 Virtual server variables:
8888 @item nndoc-article-type
8889 @vindex nndoc-article-type
8890 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
8891 @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{news}, @code{rnews},
8892 @code{mime-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, or @code{guess}.
8894 @item nndoc-post-type
8895 @vindex nndoc-post-type
8896 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
8897 a mail group. There are two legal values: @code{mail} (the default)
8907 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
8908 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
8909 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
8911 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
8912 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
8913 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
8916 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
8917 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
8918 that interested in doing things properly.
8920 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
8921 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
8927 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
8928 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie, or you can use Gnus to create the
8929 packet with the @kbd{O s} command.
8932 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
8935 You put the packet in your home directory.
8938 You fire up Gnus using the @code{nnsoup} backend as the native server.
8941 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
8945 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
8949 You transfer this packet to the server.
8952 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
8955 You then repeat until you die.
8959 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
8960 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
8963 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
8964 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
8965 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
8970 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
8974 @kindex G s b (Group)
8975 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
8976 Pack all unread articles in the current group
8977 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
8978 process/prefix convention.
8981 @kindex G s w (Group)
8982 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
8983 Save all data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
8986 @kindex G s s (Group)
8987 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
8988 Send all replies from the replies packet
8989 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
8992 @kindex G s p (Group)
8993 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
8994 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
8997 @kindex G s r (Group)
8998 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
8999 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
9002 @kindex O s (Summary)
9003 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
9004 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
9005 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
9011 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
9016 @item gnus-soup-directory
9017 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
9018 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
9019 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
9021 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
9022 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
9023 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
9024 reply packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/}.
9026 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
9027 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
9028 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
9031 @item gnus-soup-packer
9032 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
9033 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
9034 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
9036 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
9037 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
9038 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
9039 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
9041 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
9042 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
9043 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
9045 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
9046 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
9047 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
9048 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
9054 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
9057 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
9058 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
9059 you can read them at leisure.
9061 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
9065 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
9066 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
9067 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
9068 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
9070 @item nnsoup-directory
9071 @vindex nnsoup-directory
9072 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
9073 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
9075 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
9076 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
9077 All replies will stored in this directory before being packed into a
9078 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
9080 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
9081 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
9082 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
9083 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
9084 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
9086 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
9087 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
9088 The index type of the replies packet. The is @samp{?n}, which means
9089 ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
9091 @item nnsoup-active-file
9092 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
9093 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
9094 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
9095 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
9096 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
9099 @vindex nnsoup-packer
9100 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
9101 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
9103 @item nnsoup-unpacker
9104 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
9105 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
9106 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
9108 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
9109 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
9110 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
9113 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
9114 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
9115 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
9122 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
9124 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
9125 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
9126 more for that to happen.
9128 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
9129 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
9130 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
9133 In specific, this is what it does:
9136 (setq gnus-inews-article-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
9137 (setq send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
9140 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
9141 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
9142 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
9145 @node Combined Groups
9146 @section Combined Groups
9148 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
9152 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
9153 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
9157 @node Virtual Groups
9158 @subsection Virtual Groups
9160 @cindex virtual groups
9162 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
9165 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small group, you can
9166 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
9167 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
9169 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
9170 regexp to match component groups.
9172 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
9173 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
9174 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
9175 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
9178 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
9179 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
9182 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
9185 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
9186 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
9188 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
9189 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
9190 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
9191 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
9194 "^nntp+some.server.jp:soc.motss$\\|^nntp+some.server.no:soc.motss$"
9197 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
9198 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
9199 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
9200 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
9201 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}.
9203 One limitation, however---all groups that are included in a virtual
9204 group has to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
9205 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
9207 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
9208 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
9209 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
9210 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
9211 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
9212 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
9213 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
9214 effect if you have two virtual groups that contain the same component
9215 group. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
9216 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
9217 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
9220 @node Kibozed Groups
9221 @subsection Kibozed Groups
9225 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
9226 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
9227 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
9228 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
9230 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
9231 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
9232 @code{nnkiboze} group. There most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
9233 and @code{nnvirtual} ends.
9235 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
9236 must have a score file to say what articles that are to be included in
9237 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
9239 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
9240 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
9241 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
9242 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
9243 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
9244 all the articles in all the components groups and run them through the
9245 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
9246 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
9248 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
9249 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
9250 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
9251 Stranger things have happened.
9253 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
9254 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
9256 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
9257 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
9258 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
9259 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
9260 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
9261 on what groups that have been searched through to find component
9264 Articles that are marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have their
9265 @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
9272 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
9273 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
9274 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
9277 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
9278 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
9279 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
9280 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
9281 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
9283 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
9284 before generating the summary buffer.
9286 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
9287 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
9288 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
9290 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
9291 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
9292 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
9293 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
9296 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
9297 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
9298 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
9299 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
9300 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
9301 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus *knows* what you read.
9302 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
9303 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
9304 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
9305 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
9306 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
9310 @node Summary Score Commands
9311 @section Summary Score Commands
9312 @cindex score commands
9314 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
9315 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
9316 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
9317 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
9318 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
9320 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
9321 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
9322 some other score file (eg. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
9323 score file the current one.
9325 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
9330 @kindex V s (Summary)
9331 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
9332 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
9335 @kindex V S (Summary)
9336 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
9337 Display the score of the current article
9338 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
9341 @kindex V t (Summary)
9342 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
9343 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
9344 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
9347 @cindex V R (Summary)
9348 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
9349 Run the current summary through the scoring process
9350 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
9351 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
9352 effect you're having.
9355 @kindex V a (Summary)
9356 @findex gnus-summary-score-entry
9357 Add a new score entry, and allow specifying all elements
9358 (@code{gnus-summary-score-entry}).
9361 @kindex V c (Summary)
9362 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
9363 Make a different score file the current
9364 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
9367 @kindex V e (Summary)
9368 @findex gnus-score-edit-alist
9369 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-alist}). You will be
9370 popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File
9374 @kindex V f (Summary)
9375 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
9376 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
9377 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
9380 @kindex V C (Summary)
9381 @findex gnus-score-customize
9382 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
9383 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
9386 @kindex I C-i (Summary)
9387 @findex gnus-summary-raise-score
9388 Increase the score of the current article
9389 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-score}).
9392 @kindex L C-l (Summary)
9393 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
9394 Lower the score of the current article
9395 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-score}).
9398 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
9403 @kindex V m (Summary)
9404 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
9405 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
9406 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
9409 @kindex V E (Summary)
9410 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
9411 Expunge all articles with a score below the default score (or the
9412 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
9415 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
9416 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
9421 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
9422 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
9424 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
9429 Score on the author name.
9432 Score on the subject line.
9435 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
9438 Score on thread---the References line.
9444 Score on the number of lines.
9447 Score on the Message-ID.
9460 The third key is the match type. Which match types are legal depends on
9461 what headers you are scoring on.
9505 Greater than number.
9510 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
9511 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
9512 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
9516 Temporary score entry.
9519 Permanent score entry.
9522 Immediately scoring.
9527 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
9528 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
9529 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
9530 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
9532 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
9533 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
9534 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
9535 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
9536 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
9538 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
9539 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
9540 pretend they are keymaps or not.
9543 @node Group Score Commands
9544 @section Group Score Commands
9545 @cindex group score commands
9547 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
9553 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
9554 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
9555 all the time. This command will flush the cache
9556 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
9561 @node Score Variables
9562 @section Score Variables
9563 @cindex score variables
9567 @item gnus-use-scoring
9568 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
9569 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
9570 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
9572 @item gnus-kill-killed
9573 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
9574 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
9575 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
9576 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
9577 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
9578 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
9579 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
9581 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
9582 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
9583 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
9584 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
9585 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
9587 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
9588 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
9589 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
9590 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
9592 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
9593 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
9595 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
9596 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
9597 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files that are
9598 unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
9599 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
9600 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
9601 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
9604 @item gnus-save-score
9605 @vindex gnus-save-score
9606 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
9607 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
9608 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
9610 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
9611 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
9612 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
9613 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
9614 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
9615 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
9616 manually entered data.
9618 @item gnus-summary-default-score
9619 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
9620 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
9622 @item gnus-score-over-mark
9623 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
9624 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
9625 default. Default is @samp{+}.
9627 @item gnus-score-below-mark
9628 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
9629 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
9630 default. Default is @samp{-}.
9632 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
9633 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
9634 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
9635 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
9637 Predefined functions available are:
9640 @item gnus-score-find-single
9641 @findex gnus-score-find-single
9642 Only apply the group's own score file.
9644 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
9645 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
9646 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
9647 default. For instance, if the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus},
9648 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
9649 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
9650 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
9651 then a regexp match is done.
9653 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
9654 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
9656 If @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} is non-@code{nil}, this won't work
9657 very will. It will find stuff like @file{gnu/all/SCORE}, but will not
9658 find files like @file{not/gnu/all/SCORE}.
9660 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
9661 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
9662 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
9663 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE} or @file{all.emacs.SCORE},
9664 but you can have @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and
9665 @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
9668 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
9669 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
9670 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
9671 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
9672 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
9673 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
9676 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
9677 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
9678 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
9679 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
9680 are expired. It's 7 by default.
9682 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
9683 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
9684 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
9685 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
9686 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
9687 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
9688 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
9694 @node Score File Format
9695 @section Score File Format
9696 @cindex score file format
9698 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
9699 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
9700 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
9702 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
9706 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
9708 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
9710 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
9712 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
9717 (mark-and-expunge -10)
9721 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
9722 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
9723 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
9724 (gnus-summary-make-false-root 'empty))
9728 This example demonstrates absolutely everything about a score file.
9730 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
9731 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
9732 has to be legal syntactically, if not semantically.
9734 Six keys are supported by this alist:
9739 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
9740 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
9741 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
9742 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
9743 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
9744 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
9745 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
9746 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
9747 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
9748 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
9749 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
9750 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
9751 to articles that matches these score entries.
9753 Following this key is a random number of score entries, where each score
9754 entry has one to four elements.
9758 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
9759 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
9763 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
9764 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
9765 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
9766 is successful. If this element is not present, the
9767 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
9768 instead. This is 1000 by default.
9771 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
9772 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
9773 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
9774 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
9775 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 ce.
9778 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
9779 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
9780 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
9781 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
9784 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
9785 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp) as
9786 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types and @code{e} and
9787 @code{E} (exact match) types. If this element is not present, Gnus will
9788 assume that substring matching should be used. @code{R} and @code{S}
9789 differ from the other two in that the matches will be done in a
9790 case-sensitive manner. All these one-letter types are really just
9791 abbreviations for the @code{regexp}, @code{string} and @code{exact}
9792 types, which you can use instead, if you feel like.
9795 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
9796 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
9799 For the Date header we have three match types: @code{before}, @code{at}
9800 and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this ever being useful, but,
9801 like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide this function. Just in
9802 case. You never know. Better safe than sorry. Once burnt, twice shy.
9803 Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have sex on a first date.
9805 @item Head, Body, All
9806 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
9810 This match key will add a score entry on all articles that followup to
9811 some author. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header uses.
9814 This match key will add a score entry on all articles that are part of
9815 a thread. Uses the same match types as the @code{References} header
9821 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
9822 lower than this number will be marked as read.
9825 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
9826 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
9828 @item mark-and-expunge
9829 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
9830 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
9833 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
9834 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
9835 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
9836 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
9837 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
9840 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
9841 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
9845 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. This files will
9846 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
9850 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
9851 ignored when handling global score files.
9854 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
9855 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}).
9858 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
9859 parents will get this number added to their scores.
9862 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
9863 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
9864 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
9865 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
9866 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
9867 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
9868 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
9869 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
9870 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
9871 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
9872 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
9876 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
9877 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
9878 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
9879 file for a number of groups.
9882 @cindex local variables
9883 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
9884 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
9885 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
9886 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
9891 @node Score File Editing
9892 @section Score File Editing
9894 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
9895 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
9896 with a mode for that.
9898 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
9899 additional commands:
9904 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
9905 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
9906 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
9907 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
9910 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
9911 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
9912 Insert the current date in numerical format
9913 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
9917 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
9918 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
9919 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
9920 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
9921 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
9926 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
9927 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
9930 @node Adaptive Scoring
9931 @section Adaptive Scoring
9932 @cindex adaptive scoring
9934 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
9935 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
9936 stupidity, to be precise.
9938 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
9939 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
9940 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
9941 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
9942 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
9945 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
9946 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
9947 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. By default, it
9948 looks something like this:
9951 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
9952 '((gnus-unread-mark)
9953 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
9954 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
9955 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
9956 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
9957 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
9958 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
9959 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
9961 (gnus-low-score-mark)
9962 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
9965 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
9966 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
9967 a random number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
9968 pairs following the key, not adaptive scoring will be done on articles
9969 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
9970 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
9973 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
9974 will be applied to each article.
9976 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
9977 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
9978 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
9979 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
9981 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
9982 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
9983 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
9984 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
9986 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
9987 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
9988 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
9989 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
9990 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
9991 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
9993 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
9994 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
9995 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
9996 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
9997 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
9998 aspirins afterwards.)
10000 If you use this scheme, you should set @code{mark-below} to something
10001 small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random changes result
10002 in articles getting marked as read.
10004 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
10005 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
10006 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
10008 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
10009 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
10010 let you use different rules in different groups.
10012 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
10013 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
10014 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
10017 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
10018 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
10019 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
10020 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
10021 the length of the match is less than
10022 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
10023 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
10027 @node Followups To Yourself
10028 @section Followups To Yourself
10030 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
10031 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
10032 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
10033 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
10034 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
10035 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
10039 @item gnus-score-followup-article
10040 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
10041 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
10044 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
10045 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
10046 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
10050 @vindex gnus-inews-article-hook
10051 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
10052 @code{gnus-inews-article-hook}.
10056 @section Scoring Tips
10057 @cindex scoring tips
10063 @cindex scoring crossposts
10064 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
10065 the @code{Xref} header.
10067 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
10070 @item Multiple crossposts
10071 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
10072 more than, say, 3 groups:
10074 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
10077 @item Matching on the body
10078 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
10079 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
10080 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
10081 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
10082 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
10083 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
10084 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
10087 @item Marking as read
10088 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
10089 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
10090 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
10094 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
10096 @item Negated character classes
10097 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
10098 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
10099 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
10103 @node Reverse Scoring
10104 @section Reverse Scoring
10105 @cindex reverse scoring
10107 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
10108 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
10109 like this in your score file:
10113 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
10118 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
10119 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
10122 @node Global Score Files
10123 @section Global Score Files
10124 @cindex global score files
10126 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
10127 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
10128 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
10130 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
10131 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
10132 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
10134 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
10135 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
10136 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
10137 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
10138 files are applicable to which group.
10140 Say you want to use all score files in the
10141 @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory and the single score
10142 file @file{/ftp@@ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE}:
10145 (setq gnus-global-score-files
10146 '("/ftp@@ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
10147 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
10150 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
10151 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
10152 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
10153 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
10154 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
10156 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
10157 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
10159 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
10160 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
10161 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
10162 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
10163 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
10164 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
10166 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
10172 Articles that are heavily crossposted are probably junk.
10174 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
10176 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
10178 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
10179 lowered out of existence.
10181 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
10182 articles completely.
10185 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
10186 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
10187 old articles for a long time.
10190 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
10191 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
10192 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
10193 holding our breath yet?
10197 @section Kill Files
10200 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
10201 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
10202 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
10204 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
10205 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
10206 files into score files.
10208 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
10209 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
10210 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
10211 that isn't a very good idea.
10213 XCNormal kill files look like this:
10216 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
10217 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
10221 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove them from
10222 the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
10224 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
10225 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
10228 Two functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
10233 @kindex M-k (Summary)
10234 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
10235 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
10238 @kindex M-K (Summary)
10239 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
10240 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
10243 Kill file variables:
10246 @item gnus-kill-file-name
10247 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
10248 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
10249 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
10250 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
10251 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
10252 course) is called just @file{KILL}.
10254 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
10255 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
10256 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
10257 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
10260 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
10261 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
10262 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
10263 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you don't want kill files
10264 to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
10266 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
10267 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
10268 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
10277 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
10278 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
10279 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
10280 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
10281 * Compilation and Init File:: How to speed Gnus up.
10282 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
10283 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
10284 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
10285 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
10286 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
10287 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
10291 @node Process/Prefix
10292 @section Process/Prefix
10293 @cindex process/prefix convention
10295 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
10296 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
10298 This is a method for figuring out what articles that the user wants the
10299 command to be performed on.
10303 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
10304 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
10305 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
10306 with the current one.
10308 @vindex transient-mark-mode
10309 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
10310 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
10312 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
10313 process mark, perform the operation on the articles that are marked with
10316 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
10317 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
10319 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
10322 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
10323 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
10324 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
10325 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
10326 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
10327 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
10328 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
10329 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
10333 @section Interactive
10334 @cindex interaction
10338 @item gnus-novice-user
10339 @vindex gnus-novice-user
10340 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
10341 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
10342 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
10343 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
10346 @item gnus-expert-user
10347 @vindex gnus-expert-user
10348 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will never ever be asked any
10349 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
10350 matter how strange.
10352 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
10353 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
10354 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
10355 is @code{t} by default.
10357 @item gnus-interactive-post
10358 @vindex gnus-interactive-post
10359 If non-@code{nil}, the user will be prompted for a group name when
10360 posting an article. It is @code{t} by default.
10362 @item gnus-interactive-exit
10363 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
10364 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
10369 @node Formatting Variables
10370 @section Formatting Variables
10371 @cindex formatting variables
10373 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables that
10374 are called things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
10375 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
10376 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
10377 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
10380 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
10381 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
10382 lots of percentages everywhere.
10384 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
10385 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
10386 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''. Just like a
10387 normal format spec, almost.
10389 You can also say @samp{%6,4y}, which means that the field will never be
10390 more than 6 characters wide and never less than 4 characters wide.
10392 There are also specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the
10393 format variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers
10394 will get the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it
10395 will be highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse
10398 Text inside the @samp{%[} and @samp{%]} specifiers will have their
10399 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
10400 default. If you say @samp{%1[} instead, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1}
10401 instead, and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes
10402 for the @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
10403 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
10405 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
10408 ;; Create three face types.
10409 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
10410 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
10412 ;; We want the article count to be in
10413 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
10414 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
10415 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
10417 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
10418 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
10420 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
10421 (setq gnus-group-line-format
10422 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
10425 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
10426 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
10428 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
10429 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
10430 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
10431 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
10432 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
10433 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
10434 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}.
10436 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
10437 mode-line variables.
10439 All these format variables can also be random elisp forms. In that
10440 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
10442 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
10443 @findex gnus-update-format
10444 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
10445 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
10446 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
10447 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
10450 @node Windows Configuration
10451 @section Windows Configuration
10452 @cindex windows configuration
10454 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
10456 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
10457 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
10458 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
10459 @code{t} by default.
10461 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
10462 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
10463 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
10466 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
10467 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
10468 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
10472 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
10473 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
10474 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
10475 possible names is listed below.
10477 The @dfn{value} (i. e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
10478 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
10481 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
10485 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
10486 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
10487 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
10488 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
10489 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
10490 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
10491 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
10492 size spec per split.
10494 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
10497 Here's a more complicated example:
10500 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
10501 (summary 0.25 point)
10502 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
10506 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
10507 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
10508 occupy, not a percentage.
10510 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
10511 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
10512 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
10513 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
10514 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
10517 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
10520 (article (horizontal 1.0
10525 (summary 0.25 point)
10530 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
10531 @code{horizontal} thingie?
10533 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
10534 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
10535 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
10536 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
10537 the screen is to be given to this strip.
10539 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
10540 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
10541 lines from the splits.
10543 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a legal split
10547 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
10548 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
10549 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
10550 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
10551 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] ")"
10552 size = number | frame-params
10553 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
10556 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
10557 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
10558 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
10559 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
10561 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
10562 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
10563 @cindex window height
10564 @cindex window width
10565 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
10566 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 2) characters high, and all
10567 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
10568 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
10569 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
10570 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
10572 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
10573 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
10574 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
10575 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
10577 @findex gnus-configure-frame
10578 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
10579 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
10580 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
10581 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
10582 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
10583 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
10584 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
10585 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
10586 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
10587 configuration list.
10590 (gnus-configure-frame
10594 (article 0.3 point))
10602 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
10603 @code{frame} split:
10606 (gnus-configure-frame
10609 (summary 0.25 point)
10611 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
10612 (user-position . t)
10613 (left . -1) (top . 1))
10618 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
10619 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
10620 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
10621 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
10622 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
10623 @xref{(elisp)Frame Parameters}.
10625 Here's a list of all possible keys for
10626 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
10628 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
10629 @code{browse}, @code{group-mail}, @code{summary-mail},
10630 @code{summary-reply}, @code{info}, @code{summary-faq},
10631 @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server}, @code{reply}, @code{reply-yank},
10632 @code{followup}, @code{followup-yank}, @code{edit-score}.
10634 @findex gnus-add-configuration
10635 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
10636 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
10637 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
10638 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
10641 (gnus-add-configuration
10642 '(article (vertical 1.0
10644 (summary .25 point)
10648 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
10649 @file{.gnus} file or in some startup hook -- they should be run after
10650 Gnus has been loaded.
10653 @node Compilation and Init File
10654 @section Compilation and Init File
10655 @cindex compilation
10657 @cindex byte-compilation
10659 @vindex gnus-init-file
10660 @findex gnus-compile
10661 When Gnus starts up, it will read the Gnus init file
10662 @code{gnus-init-file}, which is @file{.gnus} by default. It is
10663 recommended that you keep any Gnus-related functions that you have
10664 written in that file. If you want to byte-compile the file, Gnus offers
10665 the handy @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} function that will do that for you.
10667 That's not really why that function was written, though.
10669 Remember all those line format specification variables?
10670 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
10671 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
10672 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
10673 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
10674 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
10677 To help with this, you can run @code{gnus-compile} after you've fiddled
10678 around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of) satisfied.
10679 This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and you'll get
10682 The result of these byte-compilations will be written to
10683 @file{.gnus.elc} by default.
10685 Note that Gnus will read @file{.gnus.elc} instead of @file{.gnus} if
10686 @file{.gnus.elc} exists, so if you change @file{.gnus}, you should
10687 remove @file{.gnus.elc}.
10691 @section Mode Lines
10694 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
10695 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
10696 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
10697 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
10698 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
10699 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
10700 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
10703 @cindex display-time
10705 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
10706 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
10707 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
10708 to display (eg. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
10709 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
10710 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
10711 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
10712 additional elements on the mode line (eg. a clock), you should modify
10715 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
10717 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
10718 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
10720 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
10721 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
10722 (length display-time-string)))))
10725 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
10726 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either.
10729 @node Highlighting and Menus
10730 @section Highlighting and Menus
10732 @cindex highlighting
10735 @vindex gnus-visual
10736 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the prettyfying Gnus
10737 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
10738 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
10741 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
10742 following elements are legal, and are all included by default:
10745 @item group-highlight
10746 Do highlights in the group buffer.
10747 @item summary-highlight
10748 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
10749 @item article-highlight
10750 Do highlights in the article buffer.
10752 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
10754 Create menus in the group buffer.
10756 Create menus in the summary buffers.
10758 Create menus in the article buffer.
10760 Create menus in the browse buffer.
10762 Create menus in the server buffer.
10764 Create menus in the score buffers.
10766 Create menus in all buffers.
10769 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
10770 buffers, you could say something like:
10773 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
10776 If you want only highlighting and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
10779 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
10782 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
10783 in all Gnus buffers.
10785 Other general variables that incluence the look of all buffers include:
10788 @item gnus-mouse-face
10789 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
10790 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
10791 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
10793 @item gnus-display-type
10794 @vindex gnus-display-type
10795 This variable is symbol indicating the display type Emacs is running
10796 under. The symbol should be one of @code{color}, @code{grayscale} or
10797 @code{mono}. If Gnus guesses this display attribute wrongly, either set
10798 this variable in your @file{~/.emacs} or set the resource
10799 @code{Emacs.displayType} in your @file{~/.Xdefaults}.
10801 @item gnus-background-mode
10802 @vindex gnus-background-mode
10803 This is a symbol indicating the Emacs background brightness. The symbol
10804 should be one of @code{light} or @code{dark}. If Gnus guesses this
10805 frame attribute wrongly, either set this variable in your @file{~/.emacs} or
10806 set the resource @code{Emacs.backgroundMode} in your @file{~/.Xdefaults}.
10807 `gnus-display-type'.
10810 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
10814 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
10815 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
10816 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
10818 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
10819 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
10820 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
10822 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
10823 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
10824 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
10826 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
10827 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
10828 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
10830 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
10831 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
10832 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
10834 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
10835 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
10836 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
10847 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
10848 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
10849 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
10850 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
10851 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
10855 @vindex gnus-carpal
10856 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
10857 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
10858 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
10863 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
10864 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
10865 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
10867 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
10868 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
10869 Face used on buttons.
10871 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
10872 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
10873 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
10875 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
10876 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
10877 Buttons in the group buffer.
10879 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
10880 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
10881 Buttons in the summary buffer.
10883 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
10884 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
10885 Buttons in the server buffer.
10887 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
10888 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
10889 Buttons in the browse buffer.
10892 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
10893 is either a cons cell where the car contains a text to be displayed and
10894 the cdr contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
10902 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
10903 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
10904 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
10905 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
10906 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
10908 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
10909 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
10910 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
10912 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
10913 been idle for thirty minutes:
10916 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
10919 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
10923 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
10926 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter works together
10927 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
10928 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
10930 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
10931 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
10932 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
10933 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
10935 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
10936 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
10937 @var{idle} minutes.
10939 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
10940 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
10943 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
10944 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
10945 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
10947 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
10948 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
10949 seconds. This is @code{60} by default. If you change that variable,
10950 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
10952 @vindex gnus-use-demon
10953 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
10954 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
10956 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
10957 your @file{.gnus} file:
10959 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
10961 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
10964 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
10965 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
10966 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
10967 Some ready-made functions to do this has been created:
10968 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection}, and
10969 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
10970 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
10972 @findex gnus-demon-init
10973 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
10974 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
10975 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
10976 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
10977 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
10979 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you overdo it. Adding
10980 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
10981 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
10990 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
10991 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
10993 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
10994 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
10995 NoCeM is pronouced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
10996 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
10999 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
11000 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
11001 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
11002 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
11004 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
11005 this will make spam disappear.
11007 There are some variables to customize, of course:
11010 @item gnus-use-nocem
11011 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
11012 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
11015 @item gnus-nocem-groups
11016 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
11017 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
11018 default is @code{("alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
11020 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
11021 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
11022 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
11023 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
11024 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;" "jem@@xpat.com;" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
11025 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
11027 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
11030 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
11031 @cindex Chris Lewis
11032 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
11033 usenet abuse than anybody else.
11036 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
11037 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
11038 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
11040 @item jem@@xpat.com;
11042 Jem---Korean despammer who is getting very busy these days.
11044 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
11045 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
11046 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitaed articles).
11049 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
11050 ones you want to listen to.
11052 @item gnus-nocem-directory
11053 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
11054 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
11055 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
11057 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
11058 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
11059 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
11060 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
11061 might then see old spam.
11066 @node Various Various
11067 @section Various Various
11074 @vindex gnus-verbose
11075 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
11076 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
11077 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
11078 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
11079 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
11081 @item gnus-verbose-backends
11082 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
11083 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
11084 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
11086 @item nnheader-max-head-length
11087 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
11088 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
11089 as little as possible. This variable (default @code{4096}) specifies
11090 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
11091 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
11092 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
11093 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
11094 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
11097 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
11098 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
11100 @cindex illegal characters in file names
11101 @cindex characters in file names
11102 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
11103 For instance, if @samp{:} is illegal as a file character in file names
11104 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
11107 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
11111 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
11112 Windows (phooey) systems.
11114 @item gnus-hidden-properties
11115 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
11116 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
11117 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
11118 makes invisble text invisible and intangible.
11120 @item gnus-parse-header-hook
11121 @vindex gnus-parse-header-hook
11122 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
11123 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
11124 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
11132 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
11133 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
11135 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
11137 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
11142 Not because of victories @*
11145 but for the common sunshine,@*
11147 the largess of the spring.
11150 but for the day's work done@*
11151 as well as I was able;@*
11152 not for a seat upon the dais@*
11153 but at the common table.@*
11158 @chapter Appendices
11161 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
11162 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
11163 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
11164 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
11165 * A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
11166 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
11167 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
11175 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
11176 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
11178 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
11179 can point your (feh!) web browser to
11180 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
11181 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
11182 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
11184 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
11185 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)}, is, of course, short for
11186 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
11187 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
11188 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
11189 appropriate name, don't you think?)
11191 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
11192 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
11193 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
11194 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
11196 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
11197 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution.
11199 Incidentally, the next Gnus generation will be called ``September
11200 Gnus'', and won't be released until April 1996. Confused? You will be.
11203 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
11204 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
11205 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
11206 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
11207 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
11208 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
11209 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
11210 * Censorship:: This manual has been censored.
11217 What's the point of Gnus?
11219 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
11220 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
11221 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
11222 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
11223 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
11224 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
11225 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
11226 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
11227 keep track of millions of people who post?
11229 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
11230 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
11231 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
11232 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
11233 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
11234 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
11235 everywhere I could imagine useful. By doing so, I'm inviting every one
11236 of you to explore and invent.
11238 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x hail-emacs}.
11241 @node Compatibility
11242 @subsection Compatibility
11244 @cindex compatibility
11245 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
11246 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
11247 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
11252 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
11256 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
11259 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @pxref{Decoding
11262 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
11263 buffers. All variables that are relevant while reading a group are
11264 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
11265 important variables have their values copied into their global
11266 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
11267 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
11269 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
11270 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
11271 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
11272 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
11273 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
11277 @cindex highlighting
11278 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
11279 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
11280 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
11281 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
11282 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
11283 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
11286 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
11287 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
11288 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
11289 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
11291 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
11292 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
11293 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
11294 to stop doing it the old way.
11296 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
11298 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
11300 @cindex reporting bugs
11302 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
11303 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
11304 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
11308 @subsection Conformity
11310 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
11311 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
11318 There are no known breaches of this standard.
11322 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
11324 @item Usenet Seal of Approval
11325 @cindex Usenet Seal of Approval
11326 Gnus hasn't been formally through the Seal process, but I have read
11327 through the Seal text and I think Gnus would pass.
11329 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
11330 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
11331 We do have some breaches to this one.
11336 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
11337 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
11340 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
11341 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
11342 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
11343 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
11344 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
11347 Gnus does line breaking on this header. I infer from RFC1036 that being
11348 conservative in what you output is not creating 5000-character lines, so
11349 it seems like a good idea to me. However, this standard-to-be says that
11350 whitespace in the @code{References} header is to be preserved, so... It
11351 doesn't matter one way or the other to Gnus, so if somebody tells me
11352 what The Way is, I'll change it. Or not.
11357 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliantly with regards to the texts
11358 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
11363 @subsection Emacsen
11369 Gnus should work on :
11374 Emacs 19.30 and up.
11377 XEmacs 19.13 and up.
11380 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.30 and up.
11384 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
11385 reliably, at least.
11387 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various platforms:
11392 The mouse-face on Gnus lines under Emacs and Mule is delimited to
11393 certain parts of the lines while they cover the entire line under
11397 The same with current-article marking---XEmacs puts an underline under
11398 the entire summary line while Emacs and Mule are nicer and kinder.
11401 XEmacs features more graphics---a logo and a toolbar.
11404 Citation highlighting us better under Emacs and Mule than under XEmacs.
11407 Emacs 19.26-19.28 have tangible hidden headers, which can be a bit
11414 @subsection Contributors
11415 @cindex contributors
11417 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
11418 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
11419 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
11420 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
11421 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
11422 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
11423 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
11424 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
11425 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
11426 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
11428 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
11433 Of course, @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}.
11435 Many excellent functions, especially dealing with scoring and
11436 highlighting (as well as the @sc{soup} support) was written
11439 Design and graphics were done by Luis Fernandes.
11441 Innumerable bug fixes were written by Sudish Joseph.
11443 @code{gnus-topic} was written by Ilja Weis.
11445 Lots and lots of bugs were found and fixed by Steven L. Baur.
11447 The refcard was written by Vladimir Alexiev.
11449 I stole some pieces from the XGnus distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
11451 @code{nnfolder} has been much enhanced by Scott Byer.
11453 The orphan scoring was written by Peter Mutsaers.
11455 GNU XEmacs support has been added by Fabrice Popineau.
11457 POP mail support was written by Ken Raeburn.
11459 Various bits and pieces, especially dealing with .newsrc files, were
11460 suggested and added by Hallvard B Furuseth.
11462 Brian Edmonds has written @code{gnus-bbdb}.
11464 Ricardo Nassif and Mark Borges did the proff-reading (sic).
11466 Kevin Davidson came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
11468 Peter Arius, Stainless Steel Rat, Ulrik Dickow, Jack Vinson, Daniel
11469 Quinlan, Frank D. Cringle, Geoffrey T. Dairiki, and Andrew Eskilsson have
11470 all contributed code and suggestions.
11475 @subsection New Features
11476 @cindex new features
11481 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
11482 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
11485 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
11486 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
11489 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
11492 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
11493 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
11494 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
11497 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
11498 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
11499 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
11500 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
11503 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
11504 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
11507 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
11508 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
11509 (@pxref{The Active File}).
11512 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
11513 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
11516 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
11517 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
11518 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
11521 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
11522 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
11523 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
11526 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
11527 the @file{.emacs} file.
11530 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
11531 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
11534 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
11535 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
11538 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
11539 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
11542 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
11543 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
11546 Gnus can fetch articles asynchronously on a second connection to the
11547 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
11550 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
11553 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
11554 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
11557 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
11558 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
11561 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
11562 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
11565 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
11568 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
11569 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
11572 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
11576 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
11580 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
11581 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
11584 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
11588 Gnus can use NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
11592 This is, of course, just a @emph{short} overview of the @emph{most}
11593 important new features. No, really. There are tons more. Yes, we have
11594 feeping creaturism in full effect, but nothing too gratuitous, I would
11598 @node Newest Features
11599 @subsection Newest Features
11602 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
11605 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
11609 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
11611 A better and simpler method for specifying mail composing methods.
11613 Allow posting through mail-to-news gateways.
11615 Really do unbinhexing.
11618 And much, much, much more. There is more to come than has already been
11619 implemented. (But that's always true, isn't it?)
11621 @code{<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/sgnus/todo>} is where the actual
11622 up-to-the-second todo list is located, so if you're really curious, you
11623 could point your Web browser over that-a-way.
11627 @subsection Censorship
11630 This version of the Gnus manual (as well as Gnus itself) has been
11631 censored in accord with the Communications Decency Act. This law was
11632 described by its proponents as a ban on pornography---which was a
11633 deception, since it prohibits far more than that. This manual did not
11634 contain pornography, but part of it was prohibited nonetheless.
11636 For information on US government censorship of the Internet, and
11637 what you can do to bring back freedom of the press, see the web
11638 site @samp{http://www.vtw.org/}.
11642 @section Terminology
11644 @cindex terminology
11649 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
11650 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
11651 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
11652 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
11653 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
11657 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
11658 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
11659 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
11660 not posting, and replying is not following up.
11664 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
11668 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
11673 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
11674 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
11675 is all done by the backends.
11679 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
11680 default, way of getting news.
11684 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
11685 These are groups that use different backends for getting news.
11689 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
11690 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
11694 A nessage that has been posted as news.
11697 @cindex mail message
11698 A message that has been mailed.
11702 A mail message or news article
11706 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
11711 The rest of an article. Everything that is not in the head is in the
11716 A line from the head of an article.
11720 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
11721 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
11725 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
11726 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
11727 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
11728 normal @sc{head} format.
11732 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
11733 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
11734 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
11735 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
11736 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
11737 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
11739 @item killed groups
11740 @cindex killed groups
11741 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
11742 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
11744 @item zombie groups
11745 @cindex zombie groups
11746 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
11749 @cindex active file
11750 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
11751 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
11752 is rather large, as you might surmise.
11755 @cindex bogus groups
11756 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
11757 server (i. e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
11758 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
11762 A machine than one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
11764 @item select method
11765 @cindex select method
11766 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
11769 @item virtual server
11770 @cindex virtual server
11771 A named select method. Since a select methods defines all there is to
11772 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the who things as a
11773 whole is a virtual server.
11778 @node Customization
11779 @section Customization
11780 @cindex general customization
11782 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
11783 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
11784 for some quite common situations.
11787 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
11788 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
11789 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
11790 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
11794 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
11795 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
11797 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
11798 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
11799 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
11803 @item gnus-read-active-file
11804 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
11805 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
11806 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-news} and
11807 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
11808 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
11810 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
11811 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
11812 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
11813 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
11817 @node Slow Terminal Connection
11818 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
11820 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that
11821 runs Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce the
11822 amount of data that is sent over the wires as much as possible.
11826 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
11827 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
11828 buffer all the time.
11830 @item gnus-visible-headers
11831 Cut down on the headers that are included in the articles to the
11832 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
11833 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
11834 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
11836 @item gnus-article-display-hook
11837 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
11839 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
11840 '(gnus-article-hide-headers gnus-article-hide-signature
11841 gnus-article-hide-citation))
11844 @item gnus-use-full-window
11845 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
11846 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
11847 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
11848 want to read them anyway.
11850 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
11851 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
11854 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
11855 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
11856 lines, which might save some time.
11860 @node Little Disk Space
11861 @subsection Little Disk Space
11864 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
11865 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
11869 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
11870 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
11871 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
11872 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
11875 @item gnus-save-killed-list
11876 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
11877 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
11878 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
11879 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
11885 @subsection Slow Machine
11886 @cindex slow machine
11888 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
11889 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
11891 Set@code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
11892 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
11894 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
11895 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
11896 summary buffer faster.
11898 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
11899 processing a bit faster.
11902 @node Troubleshooting
11903 @section Troubleshooting
11904 @cindex troubleshooting
11906 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
11914 Make sure your computer is switched on.
11917 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
11918 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
11922 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
11923 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
11924 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
11925 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
11928 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
11932 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
11935 @cindex reporting bugs
11937 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
11939 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
11940 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
11941 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
11942 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
11944 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
11945 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
11946 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
11947 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
11950 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
11951 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you send back
11952 just ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
11953 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
11954 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
11955 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
11957 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
11958 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
11960 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
11961 @cindex ding mailing list
11962 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@ifi.uio.no}.
11963 Write to @samp{ding-request@@ifi.uio.no} to subscribe.
11966 @node A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
11967 @section A Programmer's Guide to Gnus
11969 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
11970 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
11971 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
11972 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
11975 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
11976 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
11977 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
11978 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
11979 and general method of operations.
11982 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
11983 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
11984 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
11985 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
11986 * Group Info:: The group info format.
11987 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
11991 @node Backend Interface
11992 @subsection Backend Interface
11994 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
11995 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
11996 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
11997 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
11998 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
11999 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
12001 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
12002 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
12003 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
12004 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
12005 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
12006 been opened, the function should fail.
12008 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
12009 name. Take this example:
12013 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
12014 (nntp-port-number 4324))
12017 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
12018 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
12020 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
12021 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
12022 server environments that it pulls down/pushes up when needed.
12024 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
12025 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
12026 always check whether are present before attempting to call.
12028 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
12029 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
12030 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
12031 ``resulting data'', I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
12032 talk about ``return value'', I talk about the function value returned by
12035 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
12036 some might be said to not be. The latter are backends that generally
12037 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
12038 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
12041 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
12044 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
12047 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
12048 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
12052 @node Required Backend Functions
12053 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
12057 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
12059 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
12060 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
12061 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
12062 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
12064 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
12065 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
12066 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
12067 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
12069 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try to fetch "extra
12070 headers, in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
12071 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
12072 article number in @code{articles}, and fill in the gaps as well. The
12073 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
12074 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
12075 number, do maximum fetches.
12077 Here's an example HEAD:
12080 221 1056 Article retrieved.
12081 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
12082 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
12083 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
12084 Subject: Re: Something very droll
12085 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
12086 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
12088 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
12089 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
12090 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
12094 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
12095 these in the data buffer.
12097 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
12101 head = error / valid-head
12102 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
12103 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
12104 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
12105 header = <text> eol
12108 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
12109 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
12113 nov-buffer = *nov-line
12114 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
12115 field = <text except TAB>
12118 For a closer explanation what should be in those fields,
12122 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
12124 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
12125 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that defines this virtual server.
12127 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
12128 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
12129 server. In fact, it should do so.
12131 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
12132 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
12135 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
12137 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
12140 There should be no data returned.
12143 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
12145 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
12146 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
12147 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.)
12149 There should be no data returned.
12152 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
12154 This function should return whether @var{server} is opened, and that the
12155 connection to it is still alive. This function should under no
12156 circumstances attempt to reconnect to a server that is has lost
12159 There should be no data returned.
12162 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
12164 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
12166 There should be no data returned.
12169 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
12171 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
12172 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
12173 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
12174 it would be nice if that were possible.
12176 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
12177 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
12178 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
12179 another, and Gnus mainly request articles to be inserted directly into
12180 its article buffer.
12183 @item (nnchoke-open-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
12185 Make @var{group} the current group.
12187 There should be no data returned by this function.
12190 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
12192 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
12193 making @var{group} the current group.
12195 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
12198 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
12201 The first number is the status, which should be @code{211}. Next is the
12202 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
12203 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
12204 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
12205 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
12206 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
12207 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
12208 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
12211 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
12212 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
12213 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
12217 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
12219 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
12220 a no-op on most backends.
12222 There should be no data returned.
12225 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
12227 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
12230 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
12233 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
12234 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
12237 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
12238 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
12241 active-file = *active-line
12242 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
12244 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
12247 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
12248 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
12249 (@samp{=other-group} or none of the above (@samp{y}).
12252 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
12254 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
12255 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
12256 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
12257 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
12258 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
12259 clear if the posting could not be completed.
12261 There should be no result data from this function.
12264 @item (nnchoke-request-post-buffer POST GROUP SUBJECT HEADER ARTICLE-BUFFER INFO FOLLOW-TO RESPECT-POSTER)
12266 This function should return a buffer suitable for composing an article
12267 to be posted by @code{nnchoke-request-post}. If @var{post} is
12268 non-@code{nil}, this is not a followup, but a totally new article.
12269 @var{group} is the name of the group to be posted to. @var{subject} is
12270 the subject of the message. @var{article-buffer} is the buffer being
12271 followed up, if that is the case. @var{info} is the group info.
12272 @var{follow-to} is the group that one is supposed to re-direct the
12273 article ot. If @var{respect-poster} is non-@code{nil}, the special
12274 @samp{poster} value of a @code{Followup-To} header is to be respected.
12276 There should be no result data returned.
12281 @node Optional Backend Functions
12282 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
12286 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
12288 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
12289 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
12290 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
12292 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
12293 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
12294 former is in the same format as the data from
12295 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
12296 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
12299 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
12303 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
12305 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
12306 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
12307 information (as is the case with virtual an imap groups). This function
12308 may alter the info in any manner it sees fit, and should return the
12309 (altered) group info. This function may alter the group info
12310 destructively, so no copying is needed before boogeying.
12312 There should be no result data from this function.
12315 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
12317 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
12318 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
12319 user is following up is news or mail. This function should return
12320 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
12321 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
12322 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
12323 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.)
12325 There should be no result data from this function.
12328 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
12330 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
12331 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
12332 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
12333 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
12334 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
12336 The only use for this that I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
12337 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
12338 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
12341 There should be no result data from this function.
12344 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
12346 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
12347 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
12348 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
12349 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
12350 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
12351 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
12352 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
12354 There should be no result data from this function.
12357 @item (nnchoke-request-asynchronous GROUP &optional SERVER ARTICLES)
12359 This is a request to fetch articles asynchronously later.
12360 @var{articles} is an alist of @var{(article-number line-number)}. One
12361 would generally expect that if one later fetches article number 4, for
12362 instance, some sort of asynchronous fetching of the articles after 4
12363 (which might be 5, 6, 7 or 11, 3, 909 depending on the order in that
12364 alist) would be fetched asynchronously, but that is left up to the
12365 backend. Gnus doesn't care.
12367 There should be no result data from this function.
12370 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
12372 The result data from this function should be a description of
12376 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
12378 description = <text>
12381 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
12383 The result data from this function should be the description of all
12384 groups available on the server.
12387 description-buffer = *description-line
12391 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
12393 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
12394 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
12395 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
12398 @item (nnchoke-request-create-groups GROUP &optional SERVER)
12400 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
12402 There should be no return data.
12405 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
12407 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
12408 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
12409 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
12410 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
12411 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
12414 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
12417 There should be no result data returned.
12420 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
12423 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
12424 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
12426 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
12427 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
12428 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
12429 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
12430 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
12431 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
12433 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
12434 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
12437 There should be no data returned.
12440 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional LAST)
12442 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
12443 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
12444 this function in short order.
12446 There should be no data returned.
12449 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
12451 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
12452 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
12454 There should be no data returned.
12457 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
12459 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
12460 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
12461 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
12463 There should be no data returned.
12466 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
12468 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
12469 articles that are in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
12471 There should be no data returned.
12476 @node Score File Syntax
12477 @subsection Score File Syntax
12479 Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
12480 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
12481 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
12483 Here's a typical score file:
12487 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
12494 BNF definition of a score file:
12497 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
12498 element = rule / atom
12499 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
12500 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
12501 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
12502 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
12504 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
12505 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
12506 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
12507 date-header = "date"
12508 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
12509 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
12510 score = "nil" / <integer>
12511 date = "nil" / <natural number>
12512 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
12513 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
12514 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
12515 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
12516 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
12517 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
12518 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
12519 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
12520 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
12521 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
12522 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
12523 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
12524 exclude-files / read-only / touched
12525 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
12526 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
12527 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
12528 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
12529 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
12530 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
12531 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
12532 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
12533 adapt = "adapt" [ space "nil" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
12534 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
12535 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
12536 eval = "eval" space <form>
12537 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
12540 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
12543 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
12544 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
12545 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
12546 one looong line, then that's ok.
12548 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
12553 @subsection Headers
12555 Gnus uses internally a format for storing article headers that
12556 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
12557 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
12558 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
12560 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
12561 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (eg.,
12562 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
12563 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
12564 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
12565 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
12566 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
12568 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
12569 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
12570 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these slots --
12571 they all have predictable names beginning with @code{mail-header-} and
12572 @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
12574 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
12581 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
12582 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
12584 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
12585 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
12586 that you want to callify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
12587 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
12589 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
12593 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
12596 is transformed into
12599 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
12602 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
12603 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
12606 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
12609 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
12610 is slightly tricky:
12613 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
12619 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
12622 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
12628 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
12635 and is equal to the previous range.
12637 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
12638 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
12639 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
12643 range = simple-range / normal-range
12644 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
12645 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
12646 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
12647 number *[ " " contents ]
12650 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
12651 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
12652 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
12653 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
12654 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
12659 @subsection Group Info
12661 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
12662 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
12663 describes the group.
12665 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
12666 second is a more complex one:
12669 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
12671 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
12672 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
12674 (auto-expire (to-address "ding@@ifi.uio.no")))
12677 The first element is the group name as Gnus knows the group; the second
12678 is the group level; the third is the read articles in range format; the
12679 fourth is a list of article marks lists; the fifth is the select method;
12680 and the sixth contains the group parameters.
12682 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
12685 info = "(" group space level space read
12686 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
12687 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
12688 group = quote <string> quote
12689 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
12691 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
12692 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
12693 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
12694 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
12697 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
12698 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
12702 @node Various File Formats
12703 @subsection Various File Formats
12706 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
12707 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
12711 @node Active File Format
12712 @subsubsection Active File Format
12714 The active file lists all groups that are available on the server in
12715 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
12718 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
12721 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
12722 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
12723 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
12724 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
12725 no.general 1000 900 y
12728 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
12731 active = *group-line
12732 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
12733 group = <non-white-space string>
12735 high-number = <non-negative integer>
12736 low-number = <positive integer>
12737 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
12741 @node Newsgroups File Format
12742 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
12744 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
12745 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
12746 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
12749 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
12750 Here's the definition:
12754 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
12755 group = <non-white-space string>
12757 description = <string>
12761 @node Emacs for Heathens
12762 @section Emacs for Heathens
12764 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
12765 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
12766 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
12767 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
12768 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
12769 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
12770 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
12774 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
12775 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
12780 @subsection Keystrokes
12784 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
12787 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
12790 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
12791 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
12792 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
12793 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
12794 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
12795 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
12797 The shift key is normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
12798 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
12799 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
12800 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
12801 keyboards. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
12802 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
12803 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
12805 Now, us Emacs people doesn't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
12806 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
12807 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
12808 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
12809 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
12810 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
12811 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
12813 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
12814 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
12815 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
12816 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
12817 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
12823 @subsection Emacs Lisp
12825 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
12826 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
12827 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
12828 any key to run any random code. You just, like, do it.
12830 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
12831 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
12832 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
12833 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
12834 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
12835 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
12836 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
12839 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
12840 write the following:
12843 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
12846 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
12847 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
12848 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
12851 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
12852 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
12853 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
12854 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
12855 previous ``form'', which here is a simple @code{setq} statement.
12857 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
12858 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
12859 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
12863 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
12867 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
12870 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
12871 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
12874 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
12877 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
12878 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
12881 @include gnus-faq.texi