9 @documentencoding ISO-8859-1
12 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
13 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
16 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
17 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
18 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
19 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
20 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
21 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
22 License'' in the Emacs manual.
24 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
25 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
26 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
28 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
29 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
30 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
31 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
37 \documentclass[twoside,a4paper,openright,11pt]{book}
38 \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
39 \usepackage{pagestyle}
42 \input{gnusconfig.tex}
44 \ifx\pdfoutput\undefined
46 \usepackage[pdftex,bookmarks,colorlinks=true]{hyperref}
54 % Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
55 \newcommand{\gnusversionname}{No Gnus v0.11}
56 \newcommand{\gnuschaptername}{}
57 \newcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
59 \newcommand{\gnusbackslash}{/}
61 \newcommand{\gnusref}[1]{``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
62 \ifx\pdfoutput\undefined
63 \newcommand{\gnusuref}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
65 \newcommand{\gnusuref}[1]{\href{#1}{\gnustt{#1}}}
67 \newcommand{\gnusxref}[1]{See ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
68 \newcommand{\gnuspxref}[1]{see ``#1'' on page \pageref{#1}}
70 \newcommand{\gnuskindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
71 \newcommand{\gnusindex}[1]{\index{#1}}
73 \newcommand{\gnustt}[1]{{\gnusselectttfont{}#1}}
74 \newcommand{\gnuscode}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
75 \newcommand{\gnusasis}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
76 \newcommand{\gnusurl}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
77 \newcommand{\gnuscommand}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
78 \newcommand{\gnusenv}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
79 \newcommand{\gnussamp}[1]{``{\fontencoding{OT1}\gnusselectttfont{}#1}''}
80 \newcommand{\gnuslisp}[1]{\gnustt{#1}}
81 \newcommand{\gnuskbd}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
82 \newcommand{\gnuskey}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
83 \newcommand{\gnusfile}[1]{`\gnustt{#1}'}
84 \newcommand{\gnusdfn}[1]{\textit{#1}}
85 \newcommand{\gnusi}[1]{\textit{#1}}
86 \newcommand{\gnusr}[1]{\textrm{#1}}
87 \newcommand{\gnusstrong}[1]{\textbf{#1}}
88 \newcommand{\gnusemph}[1]{\textit{#1}}
89 \newcommand{\gnusvar}[1]{{\fontsize{10pt}{10}\selectfont\textsl{\textsf{#1}}}}
90 \newcommand{\gnussc}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
91 \newcommand{\gnustitle}[1]{{\huge\textbf{#1}}}
92 \newcommand{\gnusversion}[1]{{\small\textit{#1}}}
93 \newcommand{\gnusauthor}[1]{{\large\textbf{#1}}}
94 \newcommand{\gnusresult}[1]{\gnustt{=> #1}}
95 \newcommand{\gnusacronym}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
96 \newcommand{\gnusemail}[1]{\textit{#1}}
98 \newcommand{\gnusbullet}{{${\bullet}$}}
99 \newcommand{\gnusdollar}{\$}
100 \newcommand{\gnusampersand}{\&}
101 \newcommand{\gnuspercent}{\%}
102 \newcommand{\gnushash}{\#}
103 \newcommand{\gnushat}{\symbol{"5E}}
104 \newcommand{\gnusunderline}{\symbol{"5F}}
105 \newcommand{\gnusnot}{$\neg$}
106 \newcommand{\gnustilde}{\symbol{"7E}}
107 \newcommand{\gnusless}{{$<$}}
108 \newcommand{\gnusgreater}{{$>$}}
109 \newcommand{\gnusbraceleft}{{$>$}}
110 \newcommand{\gnusbraceright}{{$>$}}
112 \newcommand{\gnushead}{\raisebox{-1cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-head,height=1cm}}}
113 \newcommand{\gnusinteresting}{
114 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\gnushead]{\gnushead}
117 \newcommand{\gnuscleardoublepage}{\ifodd\count0\mbox{}\clearpage\thispagestyle{empty}\mbox{}\clearpage\else\clearpage\fi}
119 \newcommand{\gnuspagechapter}[1]{
123 \newdimen{\gnusdimen}
126 \newcommand{\gnuschapter}[2]{
128 \ifdim \gnusdimen = 0pt\setcounter{page}{1}\pagestyle{gnus}\pagenumbering{arabic} \gnusdimen 1pt\fi
130 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{}
131 \renewcommand{\gnuschaptername}{#2}
132 \thispagestyle{empty}
134 \begin{picture}(500,500)(0,0)
135 \put(480,350){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{#1}}
136 \put(40,300){\makebox(500,50)[bl]{{\Huge\bf{#2}}}}
141 \newcommand{\gnusfigure}[3]{
143 \mbox{}\ifodd\count0\hspace*{-0.8cm}\else\hspace*{-3cm}\fi\begin{picture}(440,#2)
150 \newcommand{\gnusicon}[1]{
151 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\raisebox{-1.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/#1-up,height=1.5cm}}]{\raisebox{-1cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/#1-up,height=1cm}}}
154 \newcommand{\gnuspicon}[1]{
155 \margindex{\epsfig{figure=#1,width=2cm}}
158 \newcommand{\gnusxface}[2]{
159 \margindex{\epsfig{figure=#1,width=1cm}\epsfig{figure=#2,width=1cm}}
162 \newcommand{\gnussmiley}[2]{
163 \margindex{\makebox[2cm]{\hfill\epsfig{figure=#1,width=0.5cm}\hfill\epsfig{figure=#2,width=0.5cm}\hfill}}
166 \newcommand{\gnusitemx}[1]{\mbox{}\vspace*{-\itemsep}\vspace*{-\parsep}\item#1}
168 \newcommand{\gnussection}[1]{
169 \renewcommand{\gnussectionname}{#1}
173 \newenvironment{codelist}%
178 \newenvironment{asislist}%
183 \newenvironment{kbdlist}%
189 \newenvironment{dfnlist}%
194 \newenvironment{stronglist}%
199 \newenvironment{samplist}%
204 \newenvironment{varlist}%
209 \newenvironment{emphlist}%
214 \newlength\gnusheadtextwidth
215 \setlength{\gnusheadtextwidth}{\headtextwidth}
216 \addtolength{\gnusheadtextwidth}{1cm}
218 \newpagestyle{gnuspreamble}%
223 \hspace*{-0.23cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\mbox{}}\textbf{\hfill\roman{page}}}
227 \hspace*{-3.25cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\roman{page}\hfill\mbox{}}}
236 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo,height=1cm}}
238 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo,height=1cm}}
243 \newpagestyle{gnusindex}%
248 \hspace*{-0.23cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\gnuschaptername\hfill\arabic{page}}}}
252 \hspace*{-3.25cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{page}\hfill\gnuschaptername}}}
260 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo,height=1cm}}
262 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo,height=1cm}}
272 \makebox[12cm]{\hspace*{3.1cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}} \textbf{\gnussectionname\hfill\arabic{page}}}}}
276 \makebox[12cm]{\hspace*{-2.95cm}\underline{\makebox[\gnusheadtextwidth]{\textbf{\arabic{page}\hfill\gnuschaptername}}}}
284 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo,height=1cm}}
286 \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo,height=1cm}}
291 \pagenumbering{roman}
292 \pagestyle{gnuspreamble}
303 %\addtolength{\oddsidemargin}{-5cm}
304 %\addtolength{\evensidemargin}{-5cm}
306 \addtolength{\textheight}{2cm}
308 \gnustitle{\gnustitlename}\hfill\gnusversion{\gnusversionname}\\
311 \hspace*{0cm}\epsfig{figure=ps/gnus-big-logo,height=15cm}
314 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
321 \thispagestyle{empty}
335 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
340 @setchapternewpage odd
347 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
349 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
355 @top The Gnus Newsreader
359 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
360 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
361 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
364 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
365 This manual corresponds to No Gnus v0.11.
376 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
377 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
379 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
380 being accused of plagiarism:
382 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
383 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
384 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
385 can even read news with it!
387 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
388 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
389 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
390 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
391 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
394 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
395 This manual corresponds to No Gnus v0.11.
397 @heading Other related manuals
399 @item Message manual: Composing messages
400 @item Emacs-MIME: Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
401 @item Sieve: Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
402 @item PGG: @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
403 @item SASL: @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
409 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
410 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
411 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
412 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
413 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
414 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
415 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
416 * Various:: General purpose settings.
417 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
418 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
419 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
420 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
421 * Key Index:: Key Index.
423 Other related manuals
425 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
426 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
427 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
428 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
429 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
432 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
436 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
437 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
438 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
439 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
440 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
441 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
442 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
443 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
444 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
445 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
446 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
450 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
451 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
452 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
456 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
457 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
458 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
459 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
460 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
461 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
462 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
463 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
464 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
465 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
466 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
467 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
468 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
469 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
470 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
471 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
472 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
473 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
477 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
478 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
479 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
483 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
484 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
485 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
486 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
487 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
491 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
492 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
493 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
494 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
495 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
499 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
500 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
501 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
502 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
503 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
504 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
505 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
506 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
507 * Threading:: How threads are made.
508 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
509 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
510 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
511 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
512 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
513 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
514 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
515 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
516 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
517 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
518 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
519 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
520 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
521 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
522 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
523 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
524 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
525 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
526 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
527 or reselecting the current group.
528 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
529 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
530 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
531 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
533 Summary Buffer Format
535 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
536 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
537 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
538 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
542 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
543 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
545 Reply, Followup and Post
547 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
548 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
549 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
550 * Canceling and Superseding::
554 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
555 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
556 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
557 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
558 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
559 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
563 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
564 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
566 Customizing Threading
568 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
569 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
570 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
571 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
575 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
576 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
577 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
578 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
579 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
580 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
584 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
585 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
586 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
590 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
591 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
592 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
593 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
594 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
595 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
596 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
597 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
598 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
599 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
600 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
602 Alternative Approaches
604 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
605 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
607 Various Summary Stuff
609 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
610 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
611 * Summary Generation Commands::
612 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
616 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
617 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
618 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
619 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
620 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
624 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
625 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
626 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
627 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
628 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
629 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
630 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
631 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
632 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
636 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
637 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
638 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
639 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
640 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
641 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
642 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
643 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
644 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
648 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
649 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
650 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
651 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
652 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
653 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
654 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
658 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
659 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
663 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
664 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
665 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
666 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
670 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
671 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
672 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
673 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
674 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
675 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
676 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
677 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
678 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
679 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
680 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
681 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
682 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
686 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
687 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
688 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
690 Choosing a Mail Back End
692 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
693 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
694 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
695 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
696 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
697 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
698 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
703 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
704 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
705 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
706 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
707 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
708 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
712 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
713 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
714 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
715 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
716 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
717 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
721 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
722 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
723 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
724 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
725 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
729 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
733 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
734 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
735 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
739 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
740 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
744 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
745 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
746 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
750 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
751 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
752 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
754 The Gnus Diary Library
756 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
757 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
758 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
759 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
763 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
764 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
765 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
766 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
767 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
768 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
769 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
770 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
771 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
772 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
773 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
774 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
775 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
776 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
780 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
781 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
782 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
786 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
787 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
788 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
792 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
793 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
794 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
795 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
796 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
797 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
798 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
799 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
800 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
801 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
802 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
803 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
804 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
805 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
806 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
807 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
811 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
812 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
813 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
817 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
818 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
819 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
820 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
821 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
822 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
823 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
824 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
825 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
826 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
827 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
828 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
829 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
830 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
831 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
832 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
833 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
834 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
835 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
836 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
837 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
841 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
842 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
843 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
844 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
845 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
846 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
847 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
848 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
852 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
853 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
854 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were
856 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
857 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
861 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
862 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
863 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
864 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
868 * Spam Package Introduction::
869 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
870 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
871 * Spam and Ham Processors::
872 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
874 * Extending the Spam package::
875 * Spam Statistics Package::
877 Spam Statistics Package
879 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
880 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
881 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
885 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
886 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
887 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
888 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
889 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
890 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
891 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
892 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
893 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
897 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
898 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
899 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
900 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
901 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
902 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
903 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
904 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
905 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
909 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
910 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
911 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
912 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
913 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
914 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
915 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
919 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
920 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
921 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
922 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
926 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
927 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
928 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
929 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
930 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
931 * Group Info:: The group info format.
932 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
933 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
934 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
938 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
939 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
940 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
941 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
942 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
943 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
947 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
948 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
952 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
953 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
959 @chapter Starting Gnus
962 If you haven't used Emacs much before using Gnus, read @ref{Emacs for
967 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
968 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
969 your Emacs. If not, you should customize the variable
970 @code{gnus-select-method} as described in @ref{Finding the News}. For a
971 minimal setup for posting should also customize the variables
972 @code{user-full-name} and @code{user-mail-address}.
974 @findex gnus-other-frame
975 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
976 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
977 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
979 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
980 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
981 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
983 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
984 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
987 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
988 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
989 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
990 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
991 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
992 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
993 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
994 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
995 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
996 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
1000 @node Finding the News
1001 @section Finding the News
1002 @cindex finding news
1004 @vindex gnus-select-method
1006 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
1007 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
1008 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
1009 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
1012 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
1013 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1016 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1019 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1022 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1025 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1026 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1027 server is running Leafnode (which is a simple, standalone private news
1028 server); in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1030 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1032 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1033 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1034 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1035 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1036 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1037 If that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1038 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1040 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1041 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1042 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1043 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1045 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1046 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1047 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1048 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1049 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1050 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1051 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1052 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1053 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1056 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1058 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1059 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1060 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1061 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1062 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1063 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1065 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1067 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1068 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1069 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1070 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1071 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1072 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1075 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1076 you would typically set this variable to
1079 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1082 Note: the @acronym{NNTP} back end stores marks in marks files
1083 (@pxref{NNTP marks}). This feature makes it easy to share marks between
1084 several Gnus installations, but may slow down things a bit when fetching
1085 new articles. @xref{NNTP marks}, for more information.
1088 @node The First Time
1089 @section The First Time
1090 @cindex first time usage
1092 If no startup files exist (@pxref{Startup Files}), Gnus will try to
1093 determine what groups should be subscribed by default.
1095 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1096 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1097 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1098 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1101 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1102 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1103 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1105 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1106 help you with most common problems.
1108 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1109 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1113 @node The Server is Down
1114 @section The Server is Down
1115 @cindex server errors
1117 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1118 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1119 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1121 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1122 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1123 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1124 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1125 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1126 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1127 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1129 @findex gnus-no-server
1130 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1132 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1133 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1134 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1135 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1136 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1137 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1138 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1142 @section Slave Gnusae
1145 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1146 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1147 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1148 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1150 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1151 @file{.newsrc} file.
1153 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1154 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1155 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1156 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1157 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1158 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1159 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1162 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1163 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1164 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1165 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1166 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1167 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1168 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1169 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1171 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1172 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1174 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1175 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1176 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1177 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1178 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1185 @cindex subscription
1187 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1188 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1189 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1190 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1191 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1192 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1193 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1194 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1195 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1198 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1199 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1200 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1204 @node Checking New Groups
1205 @subsection Checking New Groups
1207 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1208 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1209 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1210 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1211 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1212 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1213 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1214 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1215 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1216 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1218 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1219 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1220 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1221 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1222 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1223 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1224 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1225 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1226 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1227 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1228 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1230 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1231 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1232 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1233 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1234 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1235 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1238 @node Subscription Methods
1239 @subsection Subscription Methods
1241 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1242 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1243 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1245 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1246 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1248 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1252 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1253 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1254 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1255 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1256 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1258 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1259 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1260 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1261 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1263 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1264 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1265 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1267 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1268 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1269 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1270 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1271 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1272 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1273 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1274 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1275 up. Or something like that.
1277 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1278 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1279 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1280 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1281 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1283 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1284 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1285 Kill all new groups.
1287 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1288 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1289 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1290 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1291 topic parameter that looks like
1297 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1300 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1305 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1306 A closely related variable is
1307 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1308 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1309 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1310 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1313 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1314 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1315 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1316 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1319 @node Filtering New Groups
1320 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1322 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1323 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1324 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1327 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1330 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1331 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1332 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1333 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1334 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1335 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1336 subscribing these groups.
1337 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1338 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1340 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1341 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1342 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1343 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1344 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1345 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1346 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1347 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1349 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1350 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1351 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1352 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1353 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1354 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1355 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1356 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1357 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1358 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1361 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1362 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1365 @node Changing Servers
1366 @section Changing Servers
1367 @cindex changing servers
1369 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1370 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1371 very flaky and you want to use another.
1373 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1374 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1378 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1379 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1380 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1381 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1384 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1385 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1386 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1387 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1389 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1390 @findex gnus-change-server
1391 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1392 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1393 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1394 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1395 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1397 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1398 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1399 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1400 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1401 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1403 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1404 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1405 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1406 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1407 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1408 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1410 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1411 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1412 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1413 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1415 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1416 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1417 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1418 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1419 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1420 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1421 cache for all groups).
1425 @section Startup Files
1426 @cindex startup files
1431 Most common Unix news readers use a shared startup file called
1432 @file{.newsrc}. This file contains all the information about what
1433 groups are subscribed, and which articles in these groups have been
1436 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1437 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1438 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1439 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1440 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1441 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1442 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1444 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1445 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1446 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1447 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1448 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1449 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1451 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1452 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1453 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1454 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1455 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1456 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1457 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1458 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1459 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which can be
1460 convenient if you use a different news reader occasionally, and you
1461 want to read a different subset of the available groups with that
1464 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1465 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1466 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1467 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1468 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1469 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1470 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1471 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1472 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1473 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1474 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1475 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1477 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1478 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1479 @vindex version-control
1480 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1481 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1482 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1483 If you want version control for this file, set
1484 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1485 @code{version-control} variable.
1487 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1488 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1489 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1490 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1491 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1492 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1493 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1494 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1495 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1496 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1499 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1500 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1502 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1503 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1506 @vindex gnus-init-file
1507 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1508 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1509 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus-init} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1510 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1511 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1512 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1513 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1514 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1515 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1516 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order). If Emacs was invoked with
1517 the @option{-q} or @option{--no-init-file} options (@pxref{Initial
1518 Options, ,Initial Options, emacs, The Emacs Manual}), Gnus doesn't read
1519 @code{gnus-init-file}.
1524 @cindex dribble file
1527 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1528 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1529 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1530 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1531 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1534 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1535 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1538 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1539 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1540 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1542 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1543 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1544 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1545 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1546 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1547 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1549 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1550 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1551 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1554 @node The Active File
1555 @section The Active File
1557 @cindex ignored groups
1559 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1560 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1561 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1563 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1564 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1565 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1566 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1567 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1568 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1569 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1572 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1573 @c if you set it to anything else.
1575 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1577 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1578 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1579 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1581 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1582 you actually subscribe to.
1584 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1585 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1586 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1587 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1589 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1590 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1591 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1592 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1593 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1594 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1596 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1597 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1598 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1601 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1602 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1603 @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1604 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1605 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1606 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1608 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1609 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1611 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1612 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1614 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1615 secondary select methods.
1618 @node Startup Variables
1619 @section Startup Variables
1623 @item gnus-load-hook
1624 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1625 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1626 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1627 times you start Gnus.
1629 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1630 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1631 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1633 @item gnus-startup-hook
1634 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1635 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1637 @item gnus-started-hook
1638 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1639 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1642 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1643 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1644 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1645 generating the group buffer.
1647 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1648 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1649 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1650 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1651 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1652 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1653 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1654 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1656 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1657 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1658 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1659 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1660 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1661 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1663 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1664 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1665 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1667 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1668 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1669 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1671 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1672 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1673 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1674 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1680 @chapter Group Buffer
1681 @cindex group buffer
1683 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1685 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1686 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1687 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1688 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1689 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1690 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1691 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1692 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1693 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1694 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1695 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1696 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1697 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1698 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1699 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1700 @c human rights at 9...
1703 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1704 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1705 long as Gnus is active.
1709 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1710 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1711 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1712 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1713 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1714 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1715 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1716 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1722 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1723 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1724 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1725 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1726 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1727 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1728 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1729 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1730 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1731 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1732 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1733 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1734 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1735 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1736 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1737 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1738 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
1739 * Searching:: Mail search engines.
1740 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1744 @node Group Buffer Format
1745 @section Group Buffer Format
1748 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1749 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1750 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1753 You can customize the Group Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
1754 customize-apropos RET gnus-group-tool-bar}. This feature is only
1757 The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly depending on the
1758 cursor position. Therefore, moving around in the Group Buffer is
1759 slower. You can disable this via the variable
1760 @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}. Its default value depends on your
1763 @node Group Line Specification
1764 @subsection Group Line Specification
1765 @cindex group buffer format
1767 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1768 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1770 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1773 25: news.announce.newusers
1774 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1779 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1780 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1781 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1782 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1784 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1785 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1786 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1787 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1788 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1789 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1791 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1793 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1794 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1795 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1796 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1797 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1799 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1800 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1801 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1803 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1808 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1811 Whether the group is subscribed.
1814 Level of subscribedness.
1817 Number of unread articles.
1820 Number of dormant articles.
1823 Number of ticked articles.
1826 Number of read articles.
1829 Number of unseen articles.
1832 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1833 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1835 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1836 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1837 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1838 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1839 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1840 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1841 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job.
1843 The nnml backend (@pxref{Mail Spool}) has a feature called ``group
1844 compaction'' which circumvents this deficiency: the idea is to
1845 renumber all articles from 1, removing all gaps between numbers, hence
1846 getting a correct total count. Other backends may support this in the
1847 future. In order to keep your total article count relatively up to
1848 date, you might want to compact your groups (or even directly your
1849 server) from time to time. @xref{Misc Group Stuff}, @xref{Server Commands}.
1852 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1855 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1864 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1865 comment element in the group parameters.
1868 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1869 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1870 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1874 @samp{m} if moderated.
1877 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1883 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1889 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1893 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1896 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1897 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1898 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1899 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1900 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1903 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1905 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1909 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1912 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1916 The disk space used by the articles fetched by both the cache and
1917 agent. The value is automatically scaled to bytes(B), kilobytes(K),
1918 megabytes(M), or gigabytes(G) to minimize the column width. A format
1919 of %7F is sufficient for a fixed-width column.
1922 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1923 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1924 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1925 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1926 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1927 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1932 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1933 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1934 group, or a bogus native group.
1937 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1938 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1939 @cindex group mode line
1941 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1942 The mode line can be changed by setting
1943 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1944 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1948 The native news server.
1950 The native select method.
1954 @node Group Highlighting
1955 @subsection Group Highlighting
1956 @cindex highlighting
1957 @cindex group highlighting
1959 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1960 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1961 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1962 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1963 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1965 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1969 (cond (window-system
1970 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1971 (defface my-group-face-1
1972 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1973 (defface my-group-face-2
1974 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1975 "Second group face")
1976 (defface my-group-face-3
1977 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1978 (defface my-group-face-4
1979 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1980 (defface my-group-face-5
1981 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1983 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1984 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1985 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1986 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1987 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1988 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1991 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1993 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
2000 The number of unread articles in the group.
2004 Whether the group is a mail group.
2006 The level of the group.
2008 The score of the group.
2010 The number of ticked articles in the group.
2012 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
2013 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
2015 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
2016 topic being inserted.
2019 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
2020 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
2021 functions for snarfing info on the group.
2023 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
2024 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
2025 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
2026 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
2027 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
2030 @node Group Maneuvering
2031 @section Group Maneuvering
2032 @cindex group movement
2034 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
2035 expected, hopefully.
2041 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
2042 Go to the next group that has unread articles
2043 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2049 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2050 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2051 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2055 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2056 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2060 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2061 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2065 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2066 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2067 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2071 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2072 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2073 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2076 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2082 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2083 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2084 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2089 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2090 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2091 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2095 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2096 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2097 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2100 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2101 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2102 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2103 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2106 @vindex gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit
2107 If @code{gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit} is @code{t}, when a summary is
2108 exited, the point in the group buffer is moved to the next unread group.
2109 Otherwise, the point is set to the group just exited. The default is
2112 @node Selecting a Group
2113 @section Selecting a Group
2114 @cindex group selection
2119 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2120 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2121 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2122 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2123 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2124 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2125 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2126 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2127 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2128 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2130 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2131 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2132 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2134 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2135 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2140 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2141 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2142 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2143 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2144 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2148 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2149 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2150 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2151 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2152 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2153 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2154 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2155 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2156 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2157 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2160 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2161 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2162 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2163 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2164 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2167 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2168 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2169 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2170 doing any processing of its contents
2171 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2172 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2173 manner will have no permanent effects.
2177 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2178 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2179 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2180 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2181 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2182 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2183 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2184 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2185 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2186 most recently will be fetched.
2188 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2189 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2190 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2193 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles
2194 In groups in some news servers, there might be a big gap between a few
2195 very old articles that will never be expired and the recent ones. In
2196 such a case, the server will return the data like @code{(1 . 30000000)}
2197 for the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, for example. Even if there
2198 are actually only the articles 1-10 and 29999900-30000000, Gnus doesn't
2199 know it at first and prepares for getting 30000000 articles. However,
2200 it will consume hundreds megabytes of memories and might make Emacs get
2201 stuck as the case may be. If you use such news servers, set the
2202 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} to a positive number.
2203 The value means that Gnus ignores articles other than this number of the
2204 latest ones in every group. For instance, the value 10000 makes Gnus
2205 get only the articles 29990001-30000000 (if the latest article number is
2206 30000000 in a group). Note that setting this variable to a number might
2207 prevent you from reading very old articles. The default value of the
2208 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} is @code{nil}, which
2209 means Gnus never ignores old articles.
2211 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2212 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2213 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2214 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2215 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2216 Which article this is is controlled by the
2217 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2223 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2226 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2229 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2231 @item unseen-or-unread
2232 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2233 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2237 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2241 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2242 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2244 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2245 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2246 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2247 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2251 @node Subscription Commands
2252 @section Subscription Commands
2253 @cindex subscription
2261 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2262 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2263 Toggle subscription to the current group
2264 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2270 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2271 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2272 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2273 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2279 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2280 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2281 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2287 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2288 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2291 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2292 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2293 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2294 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2295 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2301 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2302 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2306 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2307 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2310 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2311 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2312 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2313 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2314 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2315 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2316 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2317 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2318 @file{.newsrc} file.
2322 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2332 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2333 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2334 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2335 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2336 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2337 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2342 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2343 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2344 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2348 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2349 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2350 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2352 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2353 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2354 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2355 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2356 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2357 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2364 @section Group Levels
2368 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2369 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2370 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2371 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2372 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2374 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2380 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2381 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2382 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2383 prompted for a level.
2386 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2387 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2388 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2389 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2390 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2391 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2392 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2393 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2394 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2395 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2396 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2397 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2398 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2399 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2400 reasons of efficiency.
2402 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2403 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2405 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2406 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2407 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2408 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2409 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2410 groups are hidden, in a way.
2412 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2413 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2414 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2415 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2416 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2417 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2419 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2420 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2421 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2422 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2423 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2424 list of killed groups.)
2426 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2427 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2428 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2430 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2431 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2432 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2433 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2434 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2435 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2436 relevant valid ranges.
2438 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2439 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2440 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2441 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2442 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2443 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2446 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2447 one with the best level.
2449 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2450 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2451 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2454 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2455 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2456 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2457 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2460 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2461 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2462 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2463 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2465 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2466 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2467 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2468 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2469 to 5. The default is 6.
2473 @section Group Score
2478 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2479 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2480 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2483 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2484 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2485 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2486 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2487 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2488 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2489 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2490 least significant part.))
2492 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2493 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2494 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2495 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2496 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2497 action after each summary exit, you can add
2498 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2499 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2500 slow things down somewhat.
2503 @node Marking Groups
2504 @section Marking Groups
2505 @cindex marking groups
2507 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2508 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2509 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2510 bidding on those groups.
2512 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2513 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2514 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2522 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2523 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2529 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2530 Remove the mark from the current group
2531 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2535 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2536 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2540 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2541 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2545 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2546 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2550 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2551 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2552 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2555 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2557 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2558 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2559 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2560 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2561 the command to be executed.
2564 @node Foreign Groups
2565 @section Foreign Groups
2566 @cindex foreign groups
2568 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2569 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2570 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2571 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2574 Changes from the group editing commands are stored in
2575 @file{~/.newsrc.eld} (@code{gnus-startup-file}). An alternative is the
2576 variable @code{gnus-parameters}, @xref{Group Parameters}.
2582 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2583 @cindex making groups
2584 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2585 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2586 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2590 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2591 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2592 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2596 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2597 @cindex renaming groups
2598 Rename the current group to something else
2599 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2600 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2606 @findex gnus-group-customize
2607 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2611 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2612 @cindex renaming groups
2613 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2614 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2618 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2619 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2620 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2624 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2625 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2626 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2630 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2632 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2633 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2638 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2639 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2643 @cindex (ding) archive
2644 @cindex archive group
2645 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2646 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2647 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2648 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2649 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2650 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2651 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2655 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2657 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2658 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2659 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2660 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2664 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2666 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2667 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2668 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2672 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2673 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2675 Make a group based on some file or other
2676 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2677 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2678 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2679 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2680 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2681 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2682 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2683 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2684 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2688 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2689 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2690 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2691 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2695 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2699 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2700 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2701 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2702 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2703 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2704 @xref{Web Searches}.
2706 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2707 to a particular group by using a match string like
2708 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2712 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2713 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2714 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2718 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2719 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2720 This function will delete the current group
2721 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2722 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2723 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2724 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2725 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2729 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2730 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2731 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2735 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2736 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2737 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2740 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2743 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2744 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2745 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2746 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2747 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2748 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2752 The following commands create ephemeral groups. They can be called not
2753 only from the Group buffer, but in any Gnus buffer.
2756 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2757 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2758 @vindex gnus-gmane-group-download-format
2759 Read an ephemeral group on Gmane.org. The articles are downloaded via
2760 HTTP using the URL specified by @code{gnus-gmane-group-download-format}.
2761 Gnus will prompt you for a group name, the start article number and an
2764 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2765 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2766 This command is similar to @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group}, but
2767 the group name and the article number and range are constructed from a
2768 given @acronym{URL}. Supported @acronym{URL} formats include e.g.
2769 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12300/focus=12399},
2770 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2771 @url{http://article.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2772 @url{http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/}, and
2773 @url{http://news.gmane.org/group/gmane.foo.bar/thread=12345}.
2775 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2776 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2777 Read an Emacs bug report in an ephemeral group. Gnus will prompt for a
2778 bug number. The default is the number at point. The @acronym{URL} is
2779 specified in @code{gnus-bug-group-download-format-alist}.
2781 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2782 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2783 Read a Debian bug report in an ephemeral group. Analog to
2784 @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group}.
2787 Some of these command are also useful for article buttons, @xref{Article
2795 '("#\\([0-9]+\\)\\>" 1
2796 (string-match "\\<emacs\\>" (or gnus-newsgroup-name ""))
2797 gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group 1))
2801 @node Group Parameters
2802 @section Group Parameters
2803 @cindex group parameters
2805 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2807 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2808 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2809 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2810 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2811 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2812 Additionally, you can set group parameters via the
2813 @code{gnus-parameters} variable, see below.
2815 Here's an example group parameter list:
2818 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2822 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2823 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2824 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2825 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2827 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2828 is an alist of regexps and values.
2830 The following group parameters can be used:
2835 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2838 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2841 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2842 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2843 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2844 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2845 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2847 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2848 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2849 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2850 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2851 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2852 list address instead.
2854 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2858 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2861 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2864 It is totally ignored
2865 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2866 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2868 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2869 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2870 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2871 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2872 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2874 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2875 @cindex mail list groups
2876 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2877 entering summary buffer.
2879 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2884 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2885 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2886 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2887 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2888 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2889 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2890 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2891 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2894 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2895 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2898 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2899 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2903 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2904 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2905 of whether it has any unread articles.
2907 This parameter cannot be set via @code{gnus-parameters}. See
2908 @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.
2910 @item broken-reply-to
2911 @cindex broken-reply-to
2912 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2913 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2914 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2915 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2916 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2917 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2921 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2922 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2926 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2927 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2928 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2933 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2934 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2935 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2936 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2937 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2938 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2939 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2941 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2942 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2943 doesn't accept articles.
2947 @cindex expiring mail
2948 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2949 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2950 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2952 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2955 @cindex total-expire
2956 @cindex expiring mail
2957 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2958 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2959 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2960 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2963 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2967 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2968 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2969 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2970 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2971 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2972 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2973 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2976 @cindex expiry-target
2977 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2978 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2981 @cindex score file group parameter
2982 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2983 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2984 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2987 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2988 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2989 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2990 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2993 @cindex admin-address
2994 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2995 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2996 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2997 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
3001 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
3002 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
3006 Display all articles, both read and unread.
3009 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
3010 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
3013 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
3017 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
3019 Here are some examples:
3023 Display only unread articles.
3026 Display everything except expirable articles.
3028 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
3029 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
3033 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
3034 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
3035 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
3036 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
3037 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
3041 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
3042 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
3043 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
3047 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
3048 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
3049 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
3053 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
3054 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
3055 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
3057 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
3059 @item ignored-charsets
3060 @cindex ignored-charset
3061 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
3062 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
3063 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
3065 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
3068 @cindex posting-style
3069 You can store additional posting style information for this group
3070 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
3071 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
3072 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
3073 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
3075 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
3076 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
3077 like this in the group parameters:
3082 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
3083 (signature "Funky Signature"))
3086 If you're using topics to organize your group buffer
3087 (@pxref{Group Topics}), note that posting styles can also be set in
3088 the topics parameters. Posting styles in topic parameters apply to all
3089 groups in this topic. More precisely, the posting-style settings for a
3090 group result from the hierarchical merging of all posting-style
3091 entries in the parameters of this group and all the topics it belongs
3097 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
3098 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
3102 If it is set, and the setting of @code{mail-sources} includes a
3103 @code{group} mail source (@pxref{Mail Sources}), the value is a
3104 mail source for this group.
3108 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
3109 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
3110 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
3111 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
3112 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
3116 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
3117 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
3118 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
3119 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
3121 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
3122 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
3123 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
3124 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3127 if address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com" @{
3128 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3132 To generate tests for multiple email-addresses use a group parameter
3133 like @code{(sieve address "sender" ("name@@one.org" else@@two.org"))}.
3134 When generating a sieve script (@pxref{Sieve Commands}) Sieve code
3135 like the following is generated:
3138 if address "sender" ["name@@one.org", "else@@two.org"] @{
3139 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3143 See @pxref{Sieve Commands} for commands and variables that might be of
3144 interest in relation to the sieve parameter.
3146 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3147 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3149 @item (agent parameters)
3150 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of the its parameters
3151 to control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3152 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3153 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3154 minimize the configuration effort.
3156 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3157 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3158 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3159 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3160 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3161 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3162 @code{eval}ed there.
3164 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
3165 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3166 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3167 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3168 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3169 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3170 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3171 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3174 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3177 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3178 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3179 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3182 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3185 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3186 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3187 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3188 into the group parameters for the group.
3190 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function. If you want to
3191 hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put something like
3192 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group.
3193 @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the (meaningless) result of the
3196 Alternatively, since the VARIABLE becomes local to the group, this
3197 pattern can be used to temporarily change a hook. For example, if the
3198 following is added to a group parameter
3201 (gnus-summary-prepared-hook
3202 '(lambda nil (local-set-key "d" (local-key-binding "n"))))
3205 when the group is entered, the 'd' key will not mark the article as
3210 @vindex gnus-parameters
3211 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3212 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect (For this
3213 case see @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.).
3217 (setq gnus-parameters
3219 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3220 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3221 (gnus-summary-line-format
3222 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3226 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3230 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3234 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3237 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3238 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3240 @vindex gnus-parameters-case-fold-search
3241 By default, whether comparing the group name and one of those regexps
3242 specified in @code{gnus-parameters} is done in a case-sensitive manner
3243 or a case-insensitive manner depends on the value of
3244 @code{case-fold-search} at the time when the comparison is done. The
3245 value of @code{case-fold-search} is typically @code{t}; it means, for
3246 example, the element @code{("INBOX\\.FOO" (total-expire . t))} might be
3247 applied to both the @samp{INBOX.FOO} group and the @samp{INBOX.foo}
3248 group. If you want to make those regexps always case-sensitive, set the
3249 value of the @code{gnus-parameters-case-fold-search} variable to
3250 @code{nil}. Otherwise, set it to @code{t} if you want to compare them
3251 always in a case-insensitive manner.
3253 You can define different sorting to different groups via
3254 @code{gnus-parameters}. Here is an example to sort an @acronym{NNTP}
3255 group by reverse date to see the latest news at the top and an
3256 @acronym{RSS} group by subject. In this example, the first group is the
3257 Debian daily news group @code{gmane.linux.debian.user.news} from
3258 news.gmane.org. The @acronym{RSS} group corresponds to the Debian
3259 weekly news RSS feed
3260 @url{http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main.en.rdf},
3266 '(("nntp.*gmane\\.debian\\.user\\.news"
3267 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3268 (gnus-article-sort-functions '((not gnus-article-sort-by-date)))
3269 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3270 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
3272 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3273 (gnus-article-sort-functions 'gnus-article-sort-by-subject)
3274 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3275 (gnus-use-scoring t)
3276 (gnus-score-find-score-files-function 'gnus-score-find-single)
3277 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%d %I%(%[ %s %]%)\n"))))
3281 @node Listing Groups
3282 @section Listing Groups
3283 @cindex group listing
3285 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3293 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3294 List all groups that have unread articles
3295 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3296 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3297 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3298 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3305 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3306 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3307 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3308 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3309 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3310 unsubscribed groups).
3314 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3315 List all unread groups on a specific level
3316 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3317 with no unread articles.
3321 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3322 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3323 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3324 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3329 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3330 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3334 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3335 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3336 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3340 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3341 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3345 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3346 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3347 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3348 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3349 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3350 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3351 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3352 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3356 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3357 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3358 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3362 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3363 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3364 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3368 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3369 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3373 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3374 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3378 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3379 List groups limited within the current selection
3380 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3384 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3385 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3389 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3390 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3394 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3395 @cindex visible group parameter
3396 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3397 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3398 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3399 get the same effect.
3401 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3402 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3403 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3404 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3405 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3408 @node Sorting Groups
3409 @section Sorting Groups
3410 @cindex sorting groups
3412 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3413 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3414 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3415 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3416 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3417 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3422 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3423 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3424 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3426 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3427 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3428 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3430 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3431 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3432 Sort by group level.
3434 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3435 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3436 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3438 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3439 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3440 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3441 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3443 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3444 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3445 Sort by number of unread articles.
3447 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3448 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3449 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3451 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3452 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3453 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3458 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3459 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3463 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3464 some sorting criteria:
3468 @kindex G S a (Group)
3469 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3470 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3471 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3474 @kindex G S u (Group)
3475 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3476 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3477 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3480 @kindex G S l (Group)
3481 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3482 Sort the group buffer by group level
3483 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3486 @kindex G S v (Group)
3487 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3488 Sort the group buffer by group score
3489 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3492 @kindex G S r (Group)
3493 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3494 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3495 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3498 @kindex G S m (Group)
3499 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3500 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3501 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3504 @kindex G S n (Group)
3505 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3506 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3507 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3511 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3512 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3514 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3515 commands will sort in reverse order.
3517 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3521 @kindex G P a (Group)
3522 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3523 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3524 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3527 @kindex G P u (Group)
3528 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3529 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3530 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3533 @kindex G P l (Group)
3534 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3535 Sort the groups by group level
3536 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3539 @kindex G P v (Group)
3540 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3541 Sort the groups by group score
3542 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3545 @kindex G P r (Group)
3546 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3547 Sort the groups by group rank
3548 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3551 @kindex G P m (Group)
3552 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3553 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3554 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3557 @kindex G P n (Group)
3558 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3559 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3560 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3563 @kindex G P s (Group)
3564 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3565 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3569 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3573 @node Group Maintenance
3574 @section Group Maintenance
3575 @cindex bogus groups
3580 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3581 Find bogus groups and delete them
3582 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3586 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3587 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3588 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3589 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3590 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3594 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3595 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3596 @cindex expiring mail
3597 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3598 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3599 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3600 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3603 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3604 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3605 @cindex expiring mail
3606 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3607 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3612 @node Browse Foreign Server
3613 @section Browse Foreign Server
3614 @cindex foreign servers
3615 @cindex browsing servers
3620 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3621 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3622 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3623 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3626 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3627 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3628 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3629 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3631 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3636 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3637 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3641 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3642 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3645 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3646 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3647 Enter the current group and display the first article
3648 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3651 @kindex RET (Browse)
3652 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3653 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3657 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3658 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3659 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3665 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3666 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3670 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3671 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3675 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3676 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3677 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3682 @section Exiting Gnus
3683 @cindex exiting Gnus
3685 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3690 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3691 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3692 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3693 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3697 @findex gnus-group-exit
3698 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3699 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3703 @findex gnus-group-quit
3704 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3705 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3708 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3709 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3710 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3711 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3712 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3713 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3719 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3720 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3721 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3727 @section Group Topics
3730 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3731 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3732 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3733 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3734 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3735 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3739 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3740 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3751 2: alt.religion.emacs
3754 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3756 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3757 13: comp.sources.unix
3760 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3762 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3763 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3764 is a toggling command.)
3766 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3767 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3768 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3769 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3772 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3773 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3774 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3777 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3781 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3782 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3783 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3784 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3785 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3789 @node Topic Commands
3790 @subsection Topic Commands
3791 @cindex topic commands
3793 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3794 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3795 definitions slightly.
3797 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3798 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3799 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3800 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3801 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3802 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3804 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3811 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3812 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3813 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3817 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3819 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3820 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3821 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3822 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3825 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3826 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3827 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3828 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3832 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3833 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3834 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3835 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3841 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3842 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3843 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3847 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3848 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3849 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3852 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3853 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3854 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3855 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3856 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3858 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3859 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3863 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3864 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3871 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3873 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3874 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3875 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3876 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3877 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3878 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3882 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3888 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3889 Move the current group to some other topic
3890 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3891 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3895 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3896 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3900 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3901 Copy the current group to some other topic
3902 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3903 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3907 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3908 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3909 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3913 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3914 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3915 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3919 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3920 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3921 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3922 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3923 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3924 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3925 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3928 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3929 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3933 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3934 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3935 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3939 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3940 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3941 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3945 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3946 Toggle hiding empty topics
3947 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3951 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3952 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3953 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3954 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3957 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3958 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3959 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3960 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3961 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3964 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3965 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3966 @cindex expiring mail
3967 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3968 expiry process (if any)
3969 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3973 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3974 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3977 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3978 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3979 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3983 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3984 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3985 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3988 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3989 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3990 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3993 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3994 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3995 Go to the previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3999 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
4000 @cindex group parameters
4001 @cindex topic parameters
4003 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
4004 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
4009 @node Topic Variables
4010 @subsection Topic Variables
4011 @cindex topic variables
4013 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
4014 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
4016 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
4017 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
4018 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4031 Number of groups in the topic.
4033 Number of unread articles in the topic.
4035 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
4038 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
4039 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
4040 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
4043 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
4044 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
4046 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
4047 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
4048 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
4052 @subsection Topic Sorting
4053 @cindex topic sorting
4055 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
4061 @kindex T S a (Topic)
4062 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
4063 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
4064 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
4067 @kindex T S u (Topic)
4068 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
4069 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
4070 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
4073 @kindex T S l (Topic)
4074 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
4075 Sort the current topic by group level
4076 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
4079 @kindex T S v (Topic)
4080 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
4081 Sort the current topic by group score
4082 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
4085 @kindex T S r (Topic)
4086 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
4087 Sort the current topic by group rank
4088 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
4091 @kindex T S m (Topic)
4092 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
4093 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
4094 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
4097 @kindex T S e (Topic)
4098 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
4099 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
4100 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
4103 @kindex T S s (Topic)
4104 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
4105 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
4106 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
4107 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
4111 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
4112 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
4116 @node Topic Topology
4117 @subsection Topic Topology
4118 @cindex topic topology
4121 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
4128 2: alt.religion.emacs
4131 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4133 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4134 13: comp.sources.unix
4138 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
4139 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
4140 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
4145 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
4146 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
4150 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
4151 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
4152 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
4153 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
4154 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
4155 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
4157 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
4158 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
4159 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
4162 @node Topic Parameters
4163 @subsection Topic Parameters
4164 @cindex topic parameters
4166 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
4167 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
4168 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
4169 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
4170 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
4172 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
4177 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
4178 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
4179 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
4182 @item subscribe-level
4183 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
4184 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4185 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4189 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4190 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4191 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4192 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4199 2: alt.religion.emacs
4203 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4205 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4206 13: comp.sources.unix
4211 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4212 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4213 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4214 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4215 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4216 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4218 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4219 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4220 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4221 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4222 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4224 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4225 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4226 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4227 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4228 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4229 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4230 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4231 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4234 @node Non-ASCII Group Names
4235 @section Accessing groups of non-English names
4236 @cindex non-ascii group names
4238 There are some news servers that provide groups of which the names are
4239 expressed with their native languages in the world. For instance, in a
4240 certain news server there are some newsgroups of which the names are
4241 spelled in Chinese, where people are talking in Chinese. You can, of
4242 course, subscribe to such news groups using Gnus. Currently Gnus
4243 supports non-@acronym{ASCII} group names not only with the @code{nntp}
4244 back end but also with the @code{nnml} back end and the @code{nnrss}
4247 Every such group name is encoded by a certain charset in the server
4248 side (in an @acronym{NNTP} server its administrator determines the
4249 charset, but for groups in the other back ends it is determined by you).
4250 Gnus has to display the decoded ones for you in the group buffer and the
4251 article buffer, and needs to use the encoded ones when communicating
4252 with servers. However, Gnus doesn't know what charset is used for each
4253 non-@acronym{ASCII} group name. The following two variables are just
4254 the ones for telling Gnus what charset should be used for each group:
4257 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4258 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4259 An alist of select methods and charsets. The default value is
4260 @code{nil}. The names of groups in the server specified by that select
4261 method are all supposed to use the corresponding charset. For example:
4264 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4265 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4268 Charsets specified for groups with this variable are preferred to the
4269 ones specified for the same groups with the
4270 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} variable (see below).
4272 A select method can be very long, like:
4276 (nntp-address "news.gmane.org")
4277 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
4278 (nntp-open-connection-function
4279 nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
4280 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
4281 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
4282 ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
4283 (nntp-via-address @dots{}))
4286 In that case, you can truncate it into @code{(nntp "gmane")} in this
4287 variable. That is, it is enough to contain only the back end name and
4290 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4291 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4292 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4293 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
4294 @code{((".*" . utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported,
4295 otherwise the default is @code{nil}. For example:
4298 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4299 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)
4303 Note that this variable is ignored if the match is made with
4304 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist}.
4307 Those two variables are used also to determine the charset for encoding
4308 and decoding non-@acronym{ASCII} group names that are in the back ends
4309 other than @code{nntp}. It means that it is you who determine it. If
4310 you do nothing, the charset used for group names in those back ends will
4311 all be @code{utf-8} because of the last element of
4312 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4314 There is one more important variable for non-@acronym{ASCII} group
4315 names. @emph{XEmacs users must set this}. Emacs users necessarily need
4319 @item nnmail-pathname-coding-system
4320 The value of this variable should be a coding system or @code{nil}
4321 (which is the default). The @code{nnml} back end, the @code{nnrss} back
4322 end, the @acronym{NNTP} marks feature (@pxref{NNTP marks}), the agent,
4323 and the cache use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names in those files and
4324 directories. This variable overrides the value of
4325 @code{file-name-coding-system} which specifies the coding system used
4326 when encoding and decoding those file names and directory names.
4328 In XEmacs (with the @code{mule} feature), @code{file-name-coding-system}
4329 is the only means to specify the coding system used to encode and decode
4330 file names. Therefore, @emph{you, XEmacs users, have to set it} to the
4331 coding system that is suitable to encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII}
4332 group names. On the other hand, Emacs uses the value of
4333 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} if @code{file-name-coding-system}
4334 is @code{nil}. Normally the value of
4335 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} is initialized according to the
4336 locale, so you will need to do nothing if the value is suitable to
4337 encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4339 The value of this variable (or @code{default-file-name-coding-system})
4340 does not necessarily need to be the same value that is determined by
4341 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} and
4342 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4344 If you want to subscribe to the groups spelled in Chinese but
4345 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} is initialized by default to
4346 @code{iso-latin-1} for example, that is the most typical case where you
4347 have to set @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} even if you are an
4348 Emacs user. The @code{utf-8} coding system is a good candidate for it.
4349 Otherwise, you may change the locale in your system so that
4350 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} may be initialized to an
4351 appropriate value, instead of specifying this variable.
4354 Note that when you copy or move articles from a non-@acronym{ASCII}
4355 group to another group, the charset used to encode and decode group
4356 names should be the same in both groups. Otherwise the Newsgroups
4357 header will be displayed incorrectly in the article buffer.
4364 * nnir:: Searching on IMAP, with swish, namazu, etc.
4365 * nnmairix:: Searching maildir, MH or mbox with Mairix.
4370 FIXME: This node is a stub.
4372 FIXME: Add a brief overview of Gnus search capabilities. A brief
4373 comparison of nnir, nnmairix, contrib/gnus-namazu would be nice
4376 FIXME: Explain difference to @ref{Searching for Articles}, add reference
4382 FIXME: As a first step, convert the commentary of @file{nnir} to texi.
4386 @subsection nnmairix
4390 This paragraph describes how to set up mairix and the back end
4391 @code{nnmairix} for indexing and searching your mail from within
4392 Gnus. Additionally, you can create permanent ``smart'' groups which are
4393 bound to mairix searches and are automatically updated.
4396 * About mairix:: About the mairix mail search engine
4397 * nnmairix requirements:: What you will need for using nnmairix
4398 * What nnmairix does:: What does nnmairix actually do?
4399 * Setting up mairix:: Set up your mairix installation
4400 * Configuring nnmairix:: Set up the nnmairix back end
4401 * nnmairix keyboard shortcuts:: List of available keyboard shortcuts
4402 * Propagating marks:: How to propagate marks from nnmairix groups
4403 * nnmairix tips and tricks:: Some tips, tricks and examples
4404 * nnmairix caveats:: Some more stuff you might want to know
4409 @subsubsection About mairix
4411 Mairix is a tool for indexing and searching words in locally stored
4412 mail. It was written by Richard Curnow and is licensed under the
4413 GPL. Mairix comes with most popular Linux distributions, but it also
4414 runs under Windows (with cygwin), Mac OS X and Solaris. The homepage can
4417 @uref{http://www.rpcurnow.force9.co.uk/mairix/index.html}
4419 Though mairix might not be as flexible as other search tools like
4420 swish++ or namazu, which you can use via the @code{nnir} back end, it
4421 has the prime advantage of being incredibly fast. On current systems, it
4422 can easily search through headers and message bodies of thousands and
4423 thousands of mails in well under a second. Building the database
4424 necessary for searching might take a minute or two, but only has to be
4425 done once fully. Afterwards, the updates are done incrementally and
4426 therefore are really fast, too. Additionally, mairix is very easy to set
4429 For maximum speed though, mairix should be used with mails stored in
4430 @code{Maildir} or @code{MH} format (this includes the @code{nnml} back
4431 end), although it also works with mbox. Mairix presents the search
4432 results by populating a @emph{virtual} maildir/MH folder with symlinks
4433 which point to the ``real'' message files (if mbox is used, copies are
4434 made). Since mairix already presents search results in such a virtual
4435 mail folder, it is very well suited for using it as an external program
4436 for creating @emph{smart} mail folders, which represent certain mail
4437 searches. This is similar to a Kiboze group (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}),
4440 @node nnmairix requirements
4441 @subsubsection nnmairix requirements
4443 Mairix searches local mail - that means, mairix absolutely must have
4444 direct access to your mail folders. If your mail resides on another
4445 server (e.g. an @acronym{IMAP} server) and you happen to have shell
4446 access, @code{nnmairix} supports running mairix remotely, e.g. via ssh.
4448 Additionally, @code{nnmairix} only supports the following Gnus back
4449 ends: @code{nnml}, @code{nnmaildir}, and @code{nnimap}. You
4450 @strong{must} use one of these back ends for using
4451 @code{nnmairix}. Other back ends, like @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnfolder} or
4452 @code{nnmh}, won't work.
4454 If you absolutely must use mbox and still want to use @code{nnmairix},
4455 you can set up a local @acronym{IMAP} server, which you then access via
4456 @code{nnimap}. This is a rather massive setup for accessing some mbox
4457 files, so just change to MH or Maildir already...
4459 @node What nnmairix does
4460 @subsubsection What nnmairix does
4462 The back end @code{nnmairix} enables you to call mairix from within Gnus,
4463 either to query mairix with a search term or to update the
4464 database. While visiting a message in the summary buffer, you can use
4465 several pre-defined shortcuts for calling mairix, e.g. to quickly
4466 search for all mails from the sender of the current message or to
4467 display the whole thread associated with the message, even if the
4468 mails are in different folders.
4470 Additionally, you can create permanent @code{nnmairix} groups which are bound
4471 to certain mairix searches. This way, you can easily create a group
4472 containing mails from a certain sender, with a certain subject line or
4473 even for one specific thread based on the message ID. If you check for
4474 new mail in these folders (e.g. by pressing @kbd{g} or @kbd{M-g}), they
4475 automatically update themselves by calling mairix.
4477 You might ask why you need @code{nnmairix} at all, since mairix already
4478 creates the group, populates it with links to the mails so that you can
4479 then access it with Gnus, right? Well, this @emph{might} work, but often
4480 does not - at least not without problems. Most probably you will get
4481 strange article counts, and sometimes you might see mails which Gnus
4482 claims have already been canceled and are inaccessible. This is due to
4483 the fact that Gnus isn't really amused when things are happening behind
4484 its back. Another problem can be the mail back end itself, e.g. if you
4485 use mairix with an @acronym{IMAP}-Server (I had Dovecot complaining
4486 about corrupt index files when mairix changed the contents of the search
4487 group). Using @code{nnmairix} should circumvent these problems.
4489 @code{nnmairix} is not really a mail back end - it's actually more like a
4490 wrapper, sitting between a ``real'' mail back end where mairix stores the
4491 searches and the Gnus front end. You can choose between three different
4492 mail back ends for the mairix folders: @code{nnml}, @code{nnmaildir} or
4493 @code{nnimap}. @code{nnmairix} will call the mairix binary so that the
4494 search results are stored in folders named
4495 @code{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>} on this mail back end, but it will
4496 present these folders in the Gnus front end only with @code{<NAME>}. You
4497 can use an existing mail back end where you already store your mail, but
4498 if you're uncomfortable with @code{nnmairix} creating new mail groups
4499 alongside your other mail, you can also create e.g. a new
4500 @code{nnmaildir} server exclusively for mairix. However, a special case
4501 exists if you want to use mairix remotely on an IMAP server with
4502 @code{nnimap} - here the mairix folders and your other mail must be on
4503 the same @code{nnimap} back end.
4505 @node Setting up mairix
4506 @subsubsection Setting up mairix
4508 First: create a backup of your mail folders (@pxref{nnmairix caveats}).
4510 Setting up mairix is easy: simply create a @file{.mairixrc} file with
4511 (at least) the following entries:
4514 # Your Maildir/MH base folder
4518 This is the base folder for your mails. All the following paths are
4519 relative to this base folder. If you want to use @code{nnmairix} with
4520 @code{nnimap}, this base path has to point to the mail path where the
4521 @acronym{IMAP} server stores the mail folders!
4524 maildir= ... your maildir folders which should be indexed ...
4525 mh= ... your nnml/mh folders which should be indexed ...
4526 mbox = ... your mbox files which should be indexed ...
4529 Specify all your maildir/nnml folders and mbox files (relative to the
4530 base path!) you want to index with mairix. See the man-page for
4531 mairixrc for details.
4537 @vindex nnmairix-group-prefix
4538 This should make sure that you don't accidentally index the mairix
4539 search results. You can change the prefix of these folders with the
4540 variable @code{nnmairix-group-prefix}.
4543 mformat= ... 'maildir' or 'mh' ...
4544 database= ... location of database file ...
4547 The @code{format} setting specifies the output format for the mairix
4548 search folder. Set this to @code{mh} if you want to access search results
4549 with @code{nnml}. Otherwise choose @code{maildir}.
4551 See the man pages for mairix and mairixrc for further options. Now
4552 simply call @code{mairix} to create the index for the first time.
4554 @node Configuring nnmairix
4555 @subsubsection Configuring nnmairix
4557 In group mode, type @kbd{G b c}
4558 (@code{nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group}). This will ask you for all
4559 necessary information and create a @code{nnmairix} server as a foreign
4560 server. You will have to specify the following:
4565 The @strong{name} of the @code{nnmairix} server - choose whatever you
4569 The @strong{mail back end} where mairix should stores its
4570 searches. Currently @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnimap} and @code{nnml} are
4571 supported. As explained above, for locally stored mails, this can be an
4572 existing mail back end where you store your mails. However, you can also
4573 create e.g. a new @code{nnmaildir} server exclusively for
4574 @code{nnmairix} in your secondary select methods (@pxref{Finding the
4575 News}). If you want to use mairix remotely on an @acronym{IMAP} server,
4576 you have to choose the corresponding @code{nnimap} back end here.
4579 @vindex nnmairix-mairix-search-options
4580 The @strong{command} to call the mairix binary. This will usually just
4581 be @code{mairix}, but you can also choose something like @code{ssh
4582 SERVER mairix} if you want to call mairix remotely, e.g. on your
4583 @acronym{IMAP} server. If you want to add some default options to
4584 mairix, you could do this here, but better use the variable
4585 @code{nnmairix-mairix-search-options} instead.
4588 The name of the @strong{default search group}. This will be the group
4589 where all temporary mairix searches are stored, i.e. all searches which
4590 are not bound to permanent @code{nnmairix} groups. Choose whatever you
4594 If the mail back end is @code{nnimap} or @code{nnmaildir}, you will be
4595 asked if you work with @strong{Maildir++}, i.e. with hidden maildir
4596 folders (=beginning with a dot). For example, you have to answer
4597 @samp{yes} here if you work with the Dovecot @acronym{IMAP}
4598 server. Otherwise, you should answer @samp{no} here.
4602 @node nnmairix keyboard shortcuts
4603 @subsubsection nnmairix keyboard shortcuts
4610 @kindex G b c (Group)
4611 @findex nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group
4612 Creates @code{nnmairix} server and default search group for this server
4613 (@code{nnmairix-create-server-and-default-group}). You should have done
4614 this by now (@pxref{Configuring nnmairix}).
4617 @kindex G b s (Group)
4618 @findex nnmairix-search
4619 Prompts for query which is then sent to the mairix binary. Search
4620 results are put into the default search group which is automatically
4621 displayed (@code{nnmairix-search}).
4624 @kindex G b m (Group)
4625 @findex nnmairix-widget-search
4626 Allows you to create a mairix search or a permanent group more
4627 comfortably using graphical widgets, similar to a customization
4628 group. Just try it to see how it works (@code{nnmairix-widget-search}).
4631 @kindex G b i (Group)
4632 @findex nnmairix-search-interactive
4633 Another command for creating a mairix query more comfortably, but uses
4634 only the minibuffer (@code{nnmairix-search-interactive}).
4637 @kindex G b g (Group)
4638 @findex nnmairix-create-search-group
4639 Creates a permanent group which is associated with a search query
4640 (@code{nnmairix-create-search-group}). The @code{nnmairix} back end
4641 automatically calls mairix when you update this group with @kbd{g} or
4645 @kindex G b q (Group)
4646 @findex nnmairix-group-change-query-this-group
4647 Changes the search query for the @code{nnmairix} group under cursor
4648 (@code{nnmairix-group-change-query-this-group}).
4651 @kindex G b t (Group)
4652 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-threads-this-group
4653 Toggles the 'threads' parameter for the @code{nnmairix} group under cursor,
4654 i.e. if you want see the whole threads of the found messages
4655 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-threads-this-group}).
4658 @kindex G b u (Group)
4659 @findex nnmairix-update-database
4660 @vindex nnmairix-mairix-update-options
4661 Calls mairix binary for updating the database
4662 (@code{nnmairix-update-database}). The default parameters are @code{-F}
4663 and @code{-Q} for making this as fast as possible (see variable
4664 @code{nnmairix-mairix-update-options} for defining these default
4668 @kindex G b r (Group)
4669 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-readmarks-this-group
4670 Keep articles in this @code{nnmairix} group always read or unread, or leave the
4671 marks unchanged (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-readmarks-this-group}).
4674 @kindex G b d (Group)
4675 @findex nnmairix-group-delete-recreate-this-group
4676 Recreate @code{nnmairix} group on the ``real'' mail back end
4677 (@code{nnmairix-group-delete-recreate-this-group}). You can do this if
4678 you always get wrong article counts with a @code{nnmairix} group.
4681 @kindex G b a (Group)
4682 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-allowfast-this-group
4683 Toggles the @code{allow-fast} parameters for group under cursor
4684 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-allowfast-this-group}). The default
4685 behavior of @code{nnmairix} is to do a mairix search every time you
4686 update or enter the group. With the @code{allow-fast} parameter set,
4687 mairix will only be called when you explicitly update the group, but not
4688 upon entering. This makes entering the group faster, but it may also
4689 lead to dangling symlinks if something changed between updating and
4690 entering the group which is not yet in the mairix database.
4693 @kindex G b p (Group)
4694 @findex nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group
4695 Toggle marks propagation for this group
4696 (@code{nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group}). (@pxref{Propagating
4700 @kindex G b o (Group)
4701 @findex nnmairix-propagate-marks
4702 Manually propagate marks (@code{nnmairix-propagate-marks}); needed only when
4703 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close} is set to @code{nil}.
4712 @kindex $ m (Summary)
4713 @findex nnmairix-widget-search-from-this-article
4714 Allows you to create a mairix query or group based on the current
4715 message using graphical widgets (same as @code{nnmairix-widget-search})
4716 (@code{nnmairix-widget-search-from-this-article}).
4719 @kindex $ g (Summary)
4720 @findex nnmairix-create-search-group-from-message
4721 Interactively creates a new search group with query based on the current
4722 message, but uses the minibuffer instead of graphical widgets
4723 (@code{nnmairix-create-search-group-from-message}).
4726 @kindex $ t (Summary)
4727 @findex nnmairix-search-thread-this-article
4728 Searches thread for the current article
4729 (@code{nnmairix-search-thread-this-article}). This is effectively a
4730 shortcut for calling @code{nnmairix-search} with @samp{m:msgid} of the
4731 current article and enabled threads.
4734 @kindex $ f (Summary)
4735 @findex nnmairix-search-from-this-article
4736 Searches all messages from sender of the current article
4737 (@code{nnmairix-search-from-this-article}). This is a shortcut for
4738 calling @code{nnmairix-search} with @samp{f:From}.
4741 @kindex $ o (Summary)
4742 @findex nnmairix-goto-original-article
4743 (Only in @code{nnmairix} groups!) Tries determine the group this article
4744 originally came from and displays the article in this group, so that
4745 e.g. replying to this article the correct posting styles/group
4746 parameters are applied (@code{nnmairix-goto-original-article}). This
4747 function will use the registry if available, but can also parse the
4748 article file path as a fallback method.
4751 @kindex $ u (Summary)
4752 @findex nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article
4753 Remove possibly existing tick mark from original article
4754 (@code{nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article}). (@pxref{nnmairix
4759 @node Propagating marks
4760 @subsubsection Propagating marks
4762 First of: you really need a patched mairix binary for using the marks
4763 propagation feature efficiently. Otherwise, you would have to update
4764 the mairix database all the time. You can get the patch at
4766 @uref{http://m61s02.vlinux.de/mairix-maildir-patch.tar}
4768 You need the mairix v0.21 source code for this patch; everything else
4769 is explained in the accompanied readme file. If you don't want to use
4770 marks propagation, you don't have to apply these patches, but they also
4771 fix some annoyances regarding changing maildir flags, so it might still
4774 With the patched mairix binary, you can use @code{nnmairix} as an
4775 alternative to mail splitting (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}). For
4776 example, instead of splitting all mails from @samp{david@@foobar.com}
4777 into a group, you can simply create a search group with the query
4778 @samp{f:david@@foobar.com}. This is actually what ``smart folders'' are
4779 all about: simply put everything in one mail folder and dynamically
4780 create searches instead of splitting. This is more flexible, since you
4781 can dynamically change your folders any time you want to. This also
4782 implies that you will usually read your mails in the @code{nnmairix}
4783 groups instead of your ``real'' mail groups.
4785 There is one problem, though: say you got a new mail from
4786 @samp{david@@foobar.com} - it will now show up in two groups, the
4787 ``real'' group (your INBOX, for example) and in the @code{nnmairix}
4788 search group (provided you have updated the mairix database). Now you
4789 enter the @code{nnmairix} group and read the mail. The mail will be
4790 marked as read, but only in the @code{nnmairix} group - in the ``real''
4791 mail group it will be still shown as unread.
4793 You could now catch up the mail group (@pxref{Group Data}), but this is
4794 tedious and error prone, since you may overlook mails you don't have
4795 created @code{nnmairix} groups for. Of course, you could first use
4796 @code{nnmairix-goto-original-article} (@pxref{nnmairix keyboard
4797 shortcuts}) and then read the mail in the original group, but that's
4798 even more cumbersome.
4800 Clearly, the easiest way would be if marks could somehow be
4801 automatically set for the original article. This is exactly what
4802 @emph{marks propagation} is about.
4804 Marks propagation is deactivated by default. You can activate it for a
4805 certain @code{nnmairix} group with
4806 @code{nnmairix-group-toggle-propmarks-this-group} (bound to @kbd{G b
4807 p}). This function will warn you if you try to use it with your default
4808 search group; the reason is that the default search group is used for
4809 temporary searches, and it's easy to accidentally propagate marks from
4810 this group. However, you can ignore this warning if you really want to.
4812 With marks propagation enabled, all the marks you set in a @code{nnmairix}
4813 group should now be propagated to the original article. For example,
4814 you can now tick an article (by default with @kbd{!}) and this mark should
4815 magically be set for the original article, too.
4817 A few more remarks which you may or may not want to know:
4819 @vindex nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close
4820 Marks will not be set immediately, but only upon closing a group. This
4821 not only makes marks propagation faster, it also avoids problems with
4822 dangling symlinks when dealing with maildir files (since changing flags
4823 will change the file name). You can also control when to propagate marks
4824 via @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-upon-close} (see the doc-string for
4827 Obviously, @code{nnmairix} will have to look up the original group for every
4828 article you want to set marks for. If available, @code{nnmairix} will first use
4829 the registry for determining the original group. The registry is very
4830 fast, hence you should really, really enable the registry when using
4831 marks propagation. If you don't have to worry about RAM and disc space,
4832 set @code{gnus-registry-max-entries} to a large enough value; to be on
4833 the safe side, choose roughly the amount of mails you index with mairix.
4835 @vindex nnmairix-only-use-registry
4836 If you don't want to use the registry or the registry hasn't seen the
4837 original article yet, @code{nnmairix} will use an additional mairix search
4838 for determining the file path of the article. This, of course, is way
4839 slower than the registry - if you set hundreds or even thousands of
4840 marks this way, it might take some time. You can avoid this situation
4841 by setting @code{nnmairix-only-use-registry} to t.
4843 Maybe you also want to propagate marks the other way round, i.e. if you
4844 tick an article in a "real" mail group, you'd like to have the same
4845 article in a @code{nnmairix} group ticked, too. For several good
4846 reasons, this can only be done efficiently if you use maildir. To
4847 immediately contradict myself, let me mention that it WON'T work with
4848 @code{nnmaildir}, since @code{nnmaildir} stores the marks externally and
4849 not in the file name. Therefore, propagating marks to @code{nnmairix}
4850 groups will usually only work if you use an IMAP server which uses
4851 maildir as its file format.
4853 @vindex nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups
4854 If you work with this setup, just set
4855 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups} to @code{t} and see what
4856 happens. If you don't like what you see, just set it to @code{nil} again. One
4857 problem might be that you get a wrong number of unread articles; this
4858 usually happens when you delete or expire articles in the original
4859 groups. When this happens, you can recreate the @code{nnmairix} group on the
4860 back end using @kbd{G b d}.
4862 @node nnmairix tips and tricks
4863 @subsubsection nnmairix tips and tricks
4869 @findex nnmairix-update-groups
4870 I put all my important mail groups at group level 1. The mairix groups
4871 have group level 5, so they do not get checked at start up (@pxref{Group
4874 I use the following to check for mails:
4877 (defun my-check-mail-mairix-update (level)
4879 ;; if no prefix given, set level=1
4880 (gnus-group-get-new-news (or level 1))
4881 (nnmairix-update-groups "mairixsearch" t t)
4882 (gnus-group-list-groups))
4884 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map "g" 'my-check-mail-mairix-update)
4887 Instead of @samp{"mairixsearch"} use the name of your @code{nnmairix}
4888 server. See the doc string for @code{nnmairix-update-groups} for
4892 Example: search group for ticked articles
4894 For example, you can create a group for all ticked articles, where the
4895 articles always stay unread:
4897 Hit @kbd{G b g}, enter group name (e.g. @samp{important}), use
4898 @samp{F:f} as query and do not include threads.
4900 Now activate marks propagation for this group by using @kbd{G b p}. Then
4901 activate the always-unread feature by using @kbd{G b r} twice.
4903 So far so good - but how do you remove the tick marks in the @code{nnmairix}
4904 group? There are two options: You may simply use
4905 @code{nnmairix-remove-tick-mark-original-article} (bound to @kbd{$ u}) to remove
4906 tick marks from the original article. The other possibility is to set
4907 @code{nnmairix-propagate-marks-to-nnmairix-groups} to @code{t}, but see the above
4908 comments about this option. If it works for you, the tick marks should
4909 also exist in the @code{nnmairix} group and you can remove them as usual,
4910 e.g. by marking an article as read.
4912 When you have removed a tick mark from the original article, this
4913 article should vanish from the @code{nnmairix} group after you have updated the
4914 mairix database and updated the group. Fortunately, there is a function
4915 for doing exactly that: @code{nnmairix-update-groups}. See the previous code
4916 snippet and the doc string for details.
4919 Dealing with auto-subscription of mail groups
4921 As described before, all @code{nnmairix} groups are in fact stored on
4922 the mail back end in the form @samp{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>}. You can
4923 see them when you enter the back end server in the server buffer. You
4924 should not subscribe these groups! Unfortunately, these groups will
4925 usually get @strong{auto-subscribed} when you use @code{nnmaildir} or
4926 @code{nnml}, i.e. you will suddenly see groups of the form
4927 @samp{zz_mairix*} pop up in your group buffer. If this happens to you,
4928 simply kill these groups with C-k. For avoiding this, turn off
4929 auto-subscription completely by setting the variable
4930 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups} to @code{nil} (@pxref{Filtering New
4931 Groups}), or if you like to keep this feature use the following kludge
4932 for turning it off for all groups beginning with @samp{zz_}:
4935 (setq gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
4936 "^\\(nnml\\|nnfolder\\|nnmbox\\|nnmh\\|nnbabyl\\|nnmaildir\\).*:\\([^z]\\|z$\\|\\z[^z]\\|zz$\\|zz[^_]\\|zz_$\\).*")
4941 @node nnmairix caveats
4942 @subsubsection nnmairix caveats
4946 If you use the Gnus agent (@pxref{Gnus Unplugged}): don't agentize
4947 @code{nnmairix} groups (though I have no idea what happens if you do).
4950 If you use the Gnus registry: don't use the registry with
4951 @code{nnmairix} groups (put them in
4952 @code{gnus-registry-unfollowed-groups}). Be @strong{extra careful} if
4953 you use @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} - mails which are
4954 split into @code{nnmairix} groups are usually gone for good as soon as
4955 you check the group for new mail (yes, it has happened to me...).
4958 Therefore: @strong{Never ever} put ``real'' mails into @code{nnmairix}
4959 groups (you shouldn't be able to, anyway).
4962 mairix does only support us-ascii characters.
4965 @code{nnmairix} uses a rather brute force method to force Gnus to
4966 completely reread the group on the mail back end after mairix was
4967 called - it simply deletes and re-creates the group on the mail
4968 back end. So far, this has worked for me without any problems, and I
4969 don't see how @code{nnmairix} could delete other mail groups than its
4970 own, but anyway: you really should have a backup of your mail
4974 All necessary information is stored in the group parameters
4975 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). This has the advantage that no active file
4976 is needed, but also implies that when you kill a @code{nnmairix} group,
4977 it is gone for good.
4980 @findex nnmairix-purge-old-groups
4981 If you create and kill a lot of @code{nnmairix} groups, the
4982 ``zz_mairix-*'' groups will accumulate on the mail back end server. To
4983 delete old groups which are no longer needed, call
4984 @code{nnmairix-purge-old-groups}. Note that this assumes that you don't
4985 save any ``real'' mail in folders of the form
4986 @code{zz_mairix-<NAME>-<NUMBER>}. You can change the prefix of
4987 @code{nnmairix} groups by changing the variable
4988 @code{nnmairix-group-prefix}.
4991 The following only applies if you @strong{don't} use the mentioned patch
4992 for mairix (@pxref{Propagating marks}):
4994 A problem can occur when using @code{nnmairix} with maildir folders and
4995 comes with the fact that maildir stores mail flags like @samp{Seen} or
4996 @samp{Replied} by appending chars @samp{S} and @samp{R} to the message
4997 file name, respectively. This implies that currently you would have to
4998 update the mairix database not only when new mail arrives, but also when
4999 mail flags are changing. The same applies to new mails which are indexed
5000 while they are still in the @samp{new} folder but then get moved to
5001 @samp{cur} when Gnus has seen the mail. If you don't update the database
5002 after this has happened, a mairix query can lead to symlinks pointing to
5003 non-existing files. In Gnus, these messages will usually appear with
5004 ``(none)'' entries in the header and can't be accessed. If this happens
5005 to you, using @kbd{G b u} and updating the group will usually fix this.
5009 @node Misc Group Stuff
5010 @section Misc Group Stuff
5013 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
5014 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
5015 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
5016 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
5017 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
5024 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Group)
5025 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
5026 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
5029 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map (kbd "v j d")
5032 (gnus-group-jump-to-group "nndraft:drafts")))
5035 On keys reserved for users in Emacs and on keybindings in general
5036 @xref{Keymaps, Keymaps, , emacs, The Emacs Editor}.
5040 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
5041 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
5042 @xref{Server Buffer}.
5046 @findex gnus-group-post-news
5047 Start composing a message (a news by default)
5048 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
5049 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5050 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
5051 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
5052 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
5056 @findex gnus-group-mail
5057 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
5058 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
5059 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5060 @xref{Composing Messages}.
5064 @findex gnus-group-news
5065 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
5066 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
5067 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
5069 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5070 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5071 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5072 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5073 for this to work though.
5077 @findex gnus-group-compact-group
5079 Compact the group under point (@code{gnus-group-compact-group}).
5080 Currently implemented only in nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes
5081 gaps between article numbers, hence getting a correct total article
5086 Variables for the group buffer:
5090 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
5091 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
5092 is called after the group buffer has been
5095 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
5096 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
5097 is called after the group buffer is
5098 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
5101 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
5102 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
5103 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
5104 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
5106 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
5107 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
5108 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
5109 whether they are empty or not.
5113 @node Scanning New Messages
5114 @subsection Scanning New Messages
5115 @cindex new messages
5116 @cindex scanning new news
5122 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
5123 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
5124 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
5125 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
5126 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
5127 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
5132 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
5133 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
5134 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
5135 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
5136 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
5137 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
5138 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
5140 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
5141 @cindex activating groups
5143 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
5144 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
5149 @findex gnus-group-restart
5150 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
5151 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
5152 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
5156 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
5157 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
5159 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
5160 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
5164 @node Group Information
5165 @subsection Group Information
5166 @cindex group information
5167 @cindex information on groups
5174 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
5175 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
5178 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
5179 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
5180 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
5181 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
5182 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
5183 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
5184 used for fetching the file.
5186 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
5187 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
5191 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
5192 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
5194 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
5195 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
5198 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
5199 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
5200 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
5204 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
5205 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
5206 @cindex control message
5207 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
5208 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
5209 group if given a prefix argument.
5211 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
5212 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
5213 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
5214 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
5216 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
5217 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
5218 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
5222 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
5224 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
5225 @cindex describing groups
5226 @cindex group description
5227 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
5228 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
5229 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
5233 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
5234 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
5235 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
5242 @findex gnus-version
5243 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
5247 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
5248 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
5251 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
5254 @findex gnus-info-find-node
5255 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
5259 @node Group Timestamp
5260 @subsection Group Timestamp
5262 @cindex group timestamps
5264 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
5265 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
5266 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
5269 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
5272 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
5274 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
5275 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
5278 (setq gnus-group-line-format
5279 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
5282 This will result in lines looking like:
5285 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
5286 0: custom 19961002T012713
5289 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
5290 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
5294 (setq gnus-group-line-format
5295 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
5298 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
5299 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
5303 (setq gnus-group-line-format
5304 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
5305 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
5306 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
5308 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
5314 @subsection File Commands
5315 @cindex file commands
5321 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
5322 @vindex gnus-init-file
5323 @cindex reading init file
5324 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
5325 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
5329 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
5330 @cindex saving .newsrc
5331 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
5332 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
5333 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
5336 @c @kindex Z (Group)
5337 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
5338 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
5343 @node Sieve Commands
5344 @subsection Sieve Commands
5345 @cindex group sieve commands
5347 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
5348 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
5349 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
5350 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
5351 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
5353 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
5354 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
5355 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
5356 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
5357 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
5358 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
5359 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
5360 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
5361 regenerate the Sieve script.
5363 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
5364 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
5365 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
5366 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
5367 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
5368 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
5369 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
5370 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
5371 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
5372 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
5375 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
5376 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
5381 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
5387 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
5388 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
5389 @cindex generating sieve script
5390 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
5391 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
5395 @findex gnus-sieve-update
5396 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
5397 @cindex updating sieve script
5398 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
5399 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
5400 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
5405 @node Summary Buffer
5406 @chapter Summary Buffer
5407 @cindex summary buffer
5409 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
5410 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
5412 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
5413 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
5415 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
5417 You can customize the Summary Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
5418 customize-apropos RET gnus-summary-tool-bar}. This feature is only
5422 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Summary)
5423 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
5424 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
5426 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map (kbd "v -") "LrS") ;; lower subthread
5430 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
5431 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
5432 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
5433 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
5434 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
5435 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
5436 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
5437 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
5438 * Threading:: How threads are made.
5439 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
5440 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
5441 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
5442 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
5443 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
5444 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
5445 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
5446 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
5447 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
5448 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
5449 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
5450 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
5451 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
5452 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
5453 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
5454 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
5455 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
5456 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
5457 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
5458 or reselecting the current group.
5459 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
5460 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
5461 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
5462 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
5466 @node Summary Buffer Format
5467 @section Summary Buffer Format
5468 @cindex summary buffer format
5472 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
5473 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
5474 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
5480 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
5481 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
5482 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
5483 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
5486 @findex mail-extract-address-components
5487 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
5488 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
5489 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
5490 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
5491 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
5492 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
5493 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
5494 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
5495 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
5496 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
5499 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
5500 'mail-extract-address-components)
5503 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
5504 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
5505 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
5506 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
5509 @node Summary Buffer Lines
5510 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
5512 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
5513 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
5514 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
5515 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
5516 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
5518 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
5519 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
5520 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
5521 possible to change this. Just write a new function
5522 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
5523 @xref{Positioning Point}.
5525 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
5527 The following format specification characters and extended format
5528 specification(s) are understood:
5534 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
5535 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
5537 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
5538 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
5539 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
5541 Full @code{From} header.
5543 The name (from the @code{From} header).
5545 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
5548 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
5549 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
5550 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
5551 may be more thorough.
5553 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
5556 Number of lines in the article.
5558 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
5559 in some methods (like nnfolder).
5561 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
5562 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
5564 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
5566 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
5567 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
5580 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
5581 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
5582 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
5583 line-drawing glyphs.
5585 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
5586 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
5587 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
5588 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
5590 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
5591 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
5592 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
5593 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
5595 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
5596 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
5597 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
5598 instead. The default is @samp{}.
5600 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
5601 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
5602 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
5604 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
5605 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
5606 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
5608 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
5609 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
5610 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
5612 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
5613 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
5614 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
5619 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
5620 pushes everything after it off the screen).
5622 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
5623 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
5625 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
5626 for adopted articles.
5628 One space for each thread level.
5630 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
5632 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
5635 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
5636 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
5637 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
5640 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
5642 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
5643 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
5644 default level. If the difference between
5645 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
5646 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
5654 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
5656 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
5662 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
5663 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
5665 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
5666 article has any children.
5672 Desired cursor position (instead of after first colon).
5674 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
5675 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
5677 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
5678 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
5679 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
5680 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
5681 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
5682 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
5685 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
5686 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
5687 There can only be one such area.
5689 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
5690 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
5691 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
5692 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
5693 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
5694 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
5696 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
5697 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
5699 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
5702 @node To From Newsgroups
5703 @subsection To From Newsgroups
5707 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
5708 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
5709 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
5710 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
5711 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
5715 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
5716 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
5717 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
5721 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5722 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
5725 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
5726 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
5729 @findex gnus-extra-header
5730 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
5731 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
5732 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
5735 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
5739 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5740 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
5741 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
5742 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
5743 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
5744 headers are used instead.
5746 To distinguish regular articles from those where the @code{From} field
5747 has been swapped, a string is prefixed to the @code{To} or
5748 @code{Newsgroups} header in the summary line. By default the string is
5749 @samp{-> } for @code{To} and @samp{=> } for @code{Newsgroups}, you can
5750 customize these strings with @code{gnus-summary-to-prefix} and
5751 @code{gnus-summary-newsgroup-prefix}.
5755 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
5756 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
5757 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
5758 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
5759 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
5760 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
5763 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
5764 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
5765 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
5766 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
5768 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
5772 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5774 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
5775 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
5776 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
5777 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5781 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
5784 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
5785 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
5788 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
5789 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
5790 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
5796 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
5797 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
5800 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
5801 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
5803 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
5804 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
5805 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
5806 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
5808 Here are the elements you can play with:
5814 Unprefixed group name.
5816 Current article number.
5818 Current article score.
5822 Number of unread articles in this group.
5824 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
5827 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
5828 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
5829 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
5830 and no unselected ones.
5832 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
5833 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
5835 Subject of the current article.
5837 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
5839 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
5841 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5843 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5845 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
5847 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
5851 @node Summary Highlighting
5852 @subsection Summary Highlighting
5856 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5857 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5858 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
5859 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
5860 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5862 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
5863 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
5864 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
5865 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5867 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
5868 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
5869 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
5870 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
5872 @item gnus-summary-highlight
5873 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
5874 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
5875 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
5876 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
5877 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
5880 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
5881 ((> score default) . bold))
5883 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
5884 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
5888 @node Summary Maneuvering
5889 @section Summary Maneuvering
5890 @cindex summary movement
5892 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
5893 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
5895 None of these commands select articles.
5900 @kindex M-n (Summary)
5901 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
5902 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
5903 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
5904 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
5908 @kindex M-p (Summary)
5909 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
5910 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
5911 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
5912 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
5915 @kindex G g (Summary)
5916 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
5917 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
5918 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
5921 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
5922 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
5923 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
5924 to the group buffer.
5926 Variables related to summary movement:
5930 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
5931 @item gnus-auto-select-next
5932 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
5933 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
5934 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
5935 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
5936 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
5937 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
5938 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
5939 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
5940 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
5941 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
5942 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
5943 @pxref{Group Levels}.
5945 @item gnus-auto-select-same
5946 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
5947 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
5948 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
5949 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
5950 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
5951 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
5953 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
5955 @item gnus-summary-check-current
5956 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
5957 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
5958 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
5959 Instead, they will choose the current article.
5961 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
5962 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
5963 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
5964 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
5965 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
5966 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
5967 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
5968 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
5971 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
5972 the given number of lines from the top.
5977 @node Choosing Articles
5978 @section Choosing Articles
5979 @cindex selecting articles
5982 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5983 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5987 @node Choosing Commands
5988 @subsection Choosing Commands
5990 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5991 and they all select and display an article.
5993 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5994 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5998 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5999 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
6000 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
6001 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
6003 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
6004 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
6005 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
6010 @kindex G n (Summary)
6011 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
6012 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
6013 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
6018 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
6019 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
6020 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
6025 @kindex G N (Summary)
6026 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
6027 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
6032 @kindex G P (Summary)
6033 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
6034 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
6037 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
6038 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
6039 Go to the next article with the same subject
6040 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
6043 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
6044 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
6045 Go to the previous article with the same subject
6046 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
6050 @kindex G f (Summary)
6052 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
6053 Go to the first unread article
6054 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
6058 @kindex G b (Summary)
6060 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
6061 Go to the unread article with the highest score
6062 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
6063 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
6068 @kindex G l (Summary)
6069 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
6070 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
6073 @kindex G o (Summary)
6074 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
6076 @cindex article history
6077 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
6078 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
6079 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
6080 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
6081 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
6082 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
6087 @kindex G j (Summary)
6088 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
6089 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
6090 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
6095 @node Choosing Variables
6096 @subsection Choosing Variables
6098 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
6101 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
6102 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
6103 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
6104 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
6105 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
6106 the server and display it in the article buffer.
6108 @item gnus-select-article-hook
6109 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
6110 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. The default is
6111 @code{nil}. If you would like each article to be saved in the Agent as
6112 you read it, putting @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this
6115 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
6116 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
6117 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
6118 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
6119 @findex gnus-unread-mark
6120 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
6121 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
6122 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
6123 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-read-mark}. The only
6124 articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
6125 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
6126 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
6127 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
6128 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
6133 @node Paging the Article
6134 @section Scrolling the Article
6135 @cindex article scrolling
6140 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
6141 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
6142 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
6143 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
6144 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
6146 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
6147 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
6148 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
6149 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
6150 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
6151 what is considered uninteresting with
6152 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
6153 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
6156 @kindex DEL (Summary)
6157 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
6158 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
6161 @kindex RET (Summary)
6162 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
6163 Scroll the current article one line forward
6164 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
6167 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
6168 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
6169 Scroll the current article one line backward
6170 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
6174 @kindex A g (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
6177 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
6178 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
6179 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
6180 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
6181 the way it came from the server.
6183 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
6184 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
6185 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
6188 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
6193 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
6198 @kindex A < (Summary)
6199 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
6200 Scroll to the beginning of the article
6201 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
6206 @kindex A > (Summary)
6207 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
6208 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
6212 @kindex A s (Summary)
6214 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
6215 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
6216 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
6220 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
6221 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
6226 @node Reply Followup and Post
6227 @section Reply, Followup and Post
6230 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
6231 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
6232 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
6233 * Canceling and Superseding::
6237 @node Summary Mail Commands
6238 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
6240 @cindex composing mail
6242 Commands for composing a mail message:
6248 @kindex S r (Summary)
6250 @findex gnus-summary-reply
6251 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
6252 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
6253 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
6254 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
6259 @kindex S R (Summary)
6260 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
6261 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
6262 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
6263 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
6264 command uses the process/prefix convention.
6267 @kindex S w (Summary)
6268 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
6269 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
6270 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
6271 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
6272 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
6273 present, that's used instead.
6276 @kindex S W (Summary)
6277 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
6278 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
6279 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
6280 the process/prefix convention.
6283 @kindex S v (Summary)
6284 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
6285 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
6286 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
6287 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
6288 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
6289 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
6292 @kindex S V (Summary)
6293 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
6294 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
6295 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
6296 command uses the process/prefix convention.
6299 @kindex S B r (Summary)
6300 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
6301 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
6302 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
6303 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
6304 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
6305 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
6306 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
6309 @kindex S B R (Summary)
6310 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
6311 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
6312 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
6313 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
6317 @kindex S o m (Summary)
6318 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
6319 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
6320 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
6321 Forward the current article to some other person
6322 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
6323 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
6324 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
6325 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
6326 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
6327 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
6328 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
6329 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
6330 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME}
6336 @kindex S m (Summary)
6337 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
6338 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
6339 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
6340 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
6341 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
6346 @kindex S i (Summary)
6347 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
6348 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
6349 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
6350 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
6352 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
6353 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
6354 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
6355 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
6356 for this to work though.
6359 @kindex S D b (Summary)
6360 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
6361 @cindex bouncing mail
6362 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
6363 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
6364 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
6365 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
6366 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
6367 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
6368 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
6369 very well fail, though.
6372 @kindex S D r (Summary)
6373 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
6374 Not to be confused with the previous command,
6375 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
6376 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
6377 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
6378 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
6379 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
6380 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
6381 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
6383 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
6384 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
6385 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
6386 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
6387 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
6389 This command understands the process/prefix convention
6390 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6393 @kindex S D e (Summary)
6394 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
6396 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
6397 if it were a new message before resending.
6400 @kindex S O m (Summary)
6401 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
6402 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
6403 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
6404 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6407 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
6408 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
6409 @cindex crossposting
6410 @cindex excessive crossposting
6411 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
6412 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
6414 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
6415 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
6416 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
6417 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
6418 command understands the process/prefix convention
6419 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
6423 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
6424 Manual}, for more information.
6427 @node Summary Post Commands
6428 @subsection Summary Post Commands
6430 @cindex composing news
6432 Commands for posting a news article:
6438 @kindex S p (Summary)
6439 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
6440 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
6441 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
6442 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
6443 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
6448 @kindex S f (Summary)
6449 @findex gnus-summary-followup
6450 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
6451 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
6455 @kindex S F (Summary)
6457 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
6458 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
6459 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
6460 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
6461 process/prefix convention.
6464 @kindex S n (Summary)
6465 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
6466 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
6467 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
6470 @kindex S N (Summary)
6471 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
6472 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
6473 message through mail and include the original message
6474 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
6475 the process/prefix convention.
6478 @kindex S o p (Summary)
6479 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
6480 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
6481 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
6482 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
6483 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
6484 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
6485 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
6486 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
6487 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
6488 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
6489 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
6490 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section.
6493 @kindex S O p (Summary)
6494 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
6496 @cindex making digests
6497 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
6498 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
6499 process/prefix convention.
6502 @kindex S u (Summary)
6503 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
6504 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
6505 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
6506 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
6509 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
6510 Manual}, for more information.
6513 @node Summary Message Commands
6514 @subsection Summary Message Commands
6518 @kindex S y (Summary)
6519 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
6520 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
6521 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
6522 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
6523 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6528 @node Canceling and Superseding
6529 @subsection Canceling Articles
6530 @cindex canceling articles
6531 @cindex superseding articles
6533 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
6534 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
6536 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
6538 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
6540 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
6541 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
6542 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
6543 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
6544 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
6545 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6547 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
6548 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
6551 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
6552 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
6553 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
6555 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
6556 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
6557 message, Message Manual}).
6559 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
6560 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
6561 your original article.
6563 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
6565 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
6566 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
6567 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
6570 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
6571 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
6572 have posted almost the same article twice.
6574 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
6575 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
6576 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
6577 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
6578 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
6579 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
6580 header by substituting one of those words for the word
6581 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
6582 you would do normally. The previous article will be
6583 canceled/superseded.
6585 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
6587 @node Delayed Articles
6588 @section Delayed Articles
6589 @cindex delayed sending
6590 @cindex send delayed
6592 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
6593 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
6594 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
6595 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
6598 (gnus-delay-initialize)
6601 @findex gnus-delay-article
6602 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
6603 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
6604 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
6605 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
6609 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
6610 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
6611 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
6612 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
6615 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
6616 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
6617 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
6620 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
6621 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
6622 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
6623 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
6624 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
6625 that means a time tomorrow.
6628 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
6629 couple of variables:
6632 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
6633 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
6634 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
6635 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
6637 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
6638 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
6639 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
6640 formats described above.
6642 @item gnus-delay-group
6643 @vindex gnus-delay-group
6644 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
6645 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
6646 value is @code{"delayed"}.
6648 @item gnus-delay-header
6649 @vindex gnus-delay-header
6650 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
6651 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
6652 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
6655 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
6656 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
6657 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
6658 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
6659 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
6661 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
6662 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
6663 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
6664 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
6665 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
6666 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
6667 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
6670 @item gnus-delay-initialize
6671 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
6672 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
6673 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
6674 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
6675 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
6676 argument is ignored.
6678 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
6679 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
6680 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
6684 @node Marking Articles
6685 @section Marking Articles
6686 @cindex article marking
6687 @cindex article ticking
6690 There are several marks you can set on an article.
6692 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
6693 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
6694 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
6696 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
6699 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks.
6703 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
6704 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
6705 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
6706 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
6707 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
6708 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
6712 @node Unread Articles
6713 @subsection Unread Articles
6715 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
6720 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
6721 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
6723 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
6724 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
6725 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
6726 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
6727 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
6728 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
6729 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
6732 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
6733 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
6735 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
6736 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
6737 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
6738 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
6742 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
6743 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
6745 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
6750 @subsection Read Articles
6751 @cindex expirable mark
6753 All the following marks mark articles as read.
6758 @vindex gnus-del-mark
6759 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
6760 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
6763 @vindex gnus-read-mark
6764 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
6767 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
6768 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
6769 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
6772 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
6773 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
6776 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
6777 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
6780 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
6781 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
6784 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
6785 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
6788 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
6789 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
6792 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
6793 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
6796 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
6797 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
6801 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
6802 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
6803 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
6807 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
6808 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
6810 One more special mark, though:
6814 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
6815 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
6817 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
6818 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
6819 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
6820 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
6826 @subsection Other Marks
6827 @cindex process mark
6830 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
6836 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
6837 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
6838 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
6839 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
6840 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
6843 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
6844 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
6845 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
6846 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
6849 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
6850 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
6851 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
6854 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
6855 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
6856 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6859 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
6860 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
6861 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
6862 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
6865 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
6866 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
6867 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
6868 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
6869 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
6870 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
6873 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
6874 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
6875 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
6876 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
6879 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
6880 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
6881 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
6882 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
6883 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
6887 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
6888 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
6889 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
6890 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
6891 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
6892 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
6895 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
6896 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
6897 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
6898 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
6899 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
6900 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
6904 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
6905 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
6906 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
6907 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
6908 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
6911 @vindex gnus-process-mark
6912 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
6913 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
6914 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
6915 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
6916 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
6920 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
6921 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
6922 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
6924 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
6925 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
6926 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
6930 @subsection Setting Marks
6931 @cindex setting marks
6933 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
6938 @kindex M c (Summary)
6939 @kindex M-u (Summary)
6940 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
6941 @cindex mark as unread
6942 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
6943 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
6949 @kindex M t (Summary)
6950 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
6951 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
6952 @xref{Article Caching}.
6957 @kindex M ? (Summary)
6958 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
6959 Mark the current article as dormant
6960 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6964 @kindex M d (Summary)
6966 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
6967 Mark the current article as read
6968 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
6972 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
6973 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
6974 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
6979 @kindex M k (Summary)
6980 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
6981 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
6982 and then select the next unread article
6983 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6987 @kindex M K (Summary)
6988 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6989 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6990 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6991 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6994 @kindex M C (Summary)
6995 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6996 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6997 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
7000 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
7001 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
7002 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
7003 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
7006 @kindex M H (Summary)
7007 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
7008 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
7009 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
7012 @kindex M h (Summary)
7013 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
7014 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
7015 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
7018 @kindex C-w (Summary)
7019 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
7020 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
7021 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
7024 @kindex M V k (Summary)
7025 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
7026 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
7027 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
7031 @kindex M e (Summary)
7033 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
7034 Mark the current article as expirable
7035 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
7038 @kindex M b (Summary)
7039 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
7040 Set a bookmark in the current article
7041 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
7044 @kindex M B (Summary)
7045 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
7046 Remove the bookmark from the current article
7047 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
7050 @kindex M V c (Summary)
7051 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
7052 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
7053 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
7056 @kindex M V u (Summary)
7057 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
7058 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
7059 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
7062 @kindex M V m (Summary)
7063 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
7064 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
7065 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
7066 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
7069 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
7070 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
7071 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
7072 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
7073 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
7074 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
7075 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
7076 The default is @code{t}.
7079 @node Generic Marking Commands
7080 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
7082 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
7083 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
7084 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
7085 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
7086 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
7089 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
7090 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
7093 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
7094 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
7095 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
7096 to list in this manual.
7098 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
7099 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
7100 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
7101 article, you could say something like:
7105 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
7106 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
7107 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
7115 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
7116 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
7120 @node Setting Process Marks
7121 @subsection Setting Process Marks
7122 @cindex setting process marks
7124 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
7125 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
7126 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
7127 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
7128 articles into the cache. For more information,
7129 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
7136 @kindex M P p (Summary)
7137 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
7138 Mark the current article with the process mark
7139 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
7140 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
7144 @kindex M P u (Summary)
7145 @kindex M-# (Summary)
7146 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
7147 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
7150 @kindex M P U (Summary)
7151 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
7152 Remove the process mark from all articles
7153 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
7156 @kindex M P i (Summary)
7157 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
7158 Invert the list of process marked articles
7159 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
7162 @kindex M P R (Summary)
7163 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
7164 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
7165 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
7168 @kindex M P G (Summary)
7169 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
7170 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
7171 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
7174 @kindex M P r (Summary)
7175 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
7176 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
7179 @kindex M P g (Summary)
7180 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
7181 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
7184 @kindex M P t (Summary)
7185 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
7186 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
7187 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
7190 @kindex M P T (Summary)
7191 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
7192 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
7193 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
7196 @kindex M P v (Summary)
7197 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
7198 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
7199 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
7202 @kindex M P s (Summary)
7203 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
7204 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
7207 @kindex M P S (Summary)
7208 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
7209 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
7210 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
7213 @kindex M P a (Summary)
7214 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
7215 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}).
7218 @kindex M P b (Summary)
7219 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
7220 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
7221 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
7224 @kindex M P k (Summary)
7225 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
7226 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
7227 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
7230 @kindex M P y (Summary)
7231 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
7232 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
7233 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
7236 @kindex M P w (Summary)
7237 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
7238 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
7239 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
7243 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
7244 set process marks based on article body contents.
7251 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
7252 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
7253 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
7256 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
7257 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
7258 additional articles.
7264 @kindex / / (Summary)
7265 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
7266 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
7267 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
7271 @kindex / a (Summary)
7272 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
7273 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
7274 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
7278 @kindex / R (Summary)
7279 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient
7280 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some recipient
7281 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient}). If given a prefix, exclude
7285 @kindex / A (Summary)
7286 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-address
7287 Limit the summary buffer to articles in which contents of From, To or Cc
7288 header match a given address (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-address}). If
7289 given a prefix, exclude matching articles.
7292 @kindex / S (Summary)
7293 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons
7294 Limit the summary buffer to articles that aren't part of any displayed
7295 threads (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons}). If given a prefix,
7296 limit to articles that are part of displayed threads.
7299 @kindex / x (Summary)
7300 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
7301 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
7302 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
7303 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
7308 @kindex / u (Summary)
7310 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
7311 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
7312 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
7313 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
7314 dormant articles will also be excluded.
7317 @kindex / m (Summary)
7318 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
7319 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
7320 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
7323 @kindex / t (Summary)
7324 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
7325 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
7326 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
7327 articles younger than that number of days.
7330 @kindex / n (Summary)
7331 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
7332 With prefix @samp{n}, limit the summary buffer to the next @samp{n}
7333 articles. If not given a prefix, use the process marked articles
7334 instead. (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}).
7337 @kindex / w (Summary)
7338 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
7339 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
7340 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
7344 @kindex / . (Summary)
7345 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
7346 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
7347 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
7350 @kindex / v (Summary)
7351 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
7352 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
7353 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
7356 @kindex / p (Summary)
7357 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
7358 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
7359 group parameter predicate
7360 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
7361 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
7364 @kindex / r (Summary)
7365 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
7366 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
7367 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
7372 @kindex M S (Summary)
7373 @kindex / E (Summary)
7374 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
7375 Include all expunged articles in the limit
7376 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
7379 @kindex / D (Summary)
7380 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
7381 Include all dormant articles in the limit
7382 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
7385 @kindex / * (Summary)
7386 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
7387 Include all cached articles in the limit
7388 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
7391 @kindex / d (Summary)
7392 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
7393 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
7394 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
7397 @kindex / M (Summary)
7398 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
7399 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
7402 @kindex / T (Summary)
7403 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
7404 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
7407 @kindex / c (Summary)
7408 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
7409 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
7410 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
7413 @kindex / C (Summary)
7414 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
7415 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
7416 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
7417 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
7420 @kindex / N (Summary)
7421 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
7422 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
7423 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
7426 @kindex / o (Summary)
7427 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
7428 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
7429 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
7432 @kindex / b (Summary)
7433 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies
7434 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have bodies that match a
7435 certain regexp (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies}). If given a
7436 prefix, reverse the limit. This command is quite slow since it
7437 requires selecting each article to find the matches.
7440 @kindex / h (Summary)
7441 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-headers
7442 Like the previous command, only limit to headers instead
7443 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-headers}).
7451 @cindex article threading
7453 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
7454 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
7455 hierarchical fashion.
7457 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
7458 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
7459 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
7460 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
7461 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
7462 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
7463 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
7465 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
7469 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
7472 A tree-like article structure.
7475 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
7478 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
7479 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
7480 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
7481 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
7482 called loose threads.
7484 @item thread gathering
7485 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
7487 @item sparse threads
7488 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
7489 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
7495 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
7496 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
7500 @node Customizing Threading
7501 @subsection Customizing Threading
7502 @cindex customizing threading
7505 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
7506 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
7507 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
7508 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
7513 @subsubsection Loose Threads
7516 @cindex loose threads
7519 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
7520 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
7521 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
7522 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
7523 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
7524 read or killed the root in a previous session.
7526 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
7527 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
7528 There are four possible values:
7532 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
7533 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
7534 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
7535 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
7536 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
7541 @cindex adopting articles
7546 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
7547 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
7548 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
7549 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
7552 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
7553 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
7554 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
7555 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
7556 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
7557 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
7558 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
7559 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7560 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
7561 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
7564 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
7565 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
7566 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
7570 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
7571 display them after one another.
7574 Don't gather loose threads.
7577 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
7578 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
7579 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
7580 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
7581 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
7582 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
7583 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
7584 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
7585 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
7586 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
7587 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
7589 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
7590 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
7591 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
7594 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
7595 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
7596 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
7597 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
7598 simplification is used.
7600 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
7601 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
7602 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
7603 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
7605 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
7607 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
7613 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
7614 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
7615 "answer" "reference" "announce"
7616 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
7621 (mapconcat 'identity
7622 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
7624 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
7627 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
7630 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
7631 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
7632 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
7633 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
7634 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
7635 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
7637 Useful functions to put in this list include:
7640 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
7641 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
7642 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
7644 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
7645 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
7648 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
7649 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
7650 Remove excessive whitespace.
7652 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
7653 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
7654 Remove all whitespace.
7657 You may also write your own functions, of course.
7660 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
7661 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
7662 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
7663 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
7664 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
7665 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
7666 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
7667 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
7669 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7670 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7671 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
7672 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
7673 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
7674 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
7675 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
7676 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
7677 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
7681 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
7682 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
7683 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
7684 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
7686 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
7687 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
7688 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
7691 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
7695 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7696 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
7702 @node Filling In Threads
7703 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
7706 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
7707 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
7708 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
7709 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
7710 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
7711 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
7712 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
7713 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
7714 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
7715 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
7716 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
7717 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
7720 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
7721 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
7722 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
7724 The server has to support @acronym{NOV} for any of this to work.
7726 @cindex Gmane, gnus-fetch-old-headers
7727 This feature can seriously impact performance it ignores all locally
7728 cached header entries. Setting it to @code{t} for groups for a server
7729 that doesn't expire articles (such as news.gmane.org), leads to very
7730 slow summary generation.
7732 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7733 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7734 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
7737 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
7738 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
7739 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
7740 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
7741 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
7742 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
7743 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
7744 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
7745 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
7746 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
7747 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
7748 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
7749 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
7750 @code{nil} by default.
7752 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
7753 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
7754 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
7755 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
7756 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
7757 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
7758 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
7760 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
7761 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
7762 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
7767 @node More Threading
7768 @subsubsection More Threading
7771 @item gnus-show-threads
7772 @vindex gnus-show-threads
7773 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
7774 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
7775 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
7776 slower and more awkward.
7778 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7779 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7780 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
7783 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
7784 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
7785 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
7790 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7791 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
7792 gnus-article-unseen-p))
7795 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
7796 unread, but you get my drift.)
7799 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
7800 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
7801 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
7802 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
7803 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
7804 threads are expunged.
7806 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
7807 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
7808 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
7811 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7812 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7813 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
7814 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
7815 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
7816 result in a new thread.
7818 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
7819 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
7820 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
7823 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7824 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7825 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
7826 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
7827 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
7828 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
7829 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
7830 Setting this variable to an alternate value
7831 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
7832 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
7833 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
7838 @node Low-Level Threading
7839 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
7843 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
7844 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
7845 Hook run before parsing any headers.
7847 @item gnus-alter-header-function
7848 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
7849 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
7850 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
7851 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
7852 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
7853 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
7854 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
7855 meaningful. Here's one example:
7858 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
7860 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
7861 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
7863 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
7865 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
7872 @node Thread Commands
7873 @subsection Thread Commands
7874 @cindex thread commands
7880 @kindex T k (Summary)
7881 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
7882 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
7883 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
7884 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
7885 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
7890 @kindex T l (Summary)
7891 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
7892 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
7893 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
7894 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
7897 @kindex T i (Summary)
7898 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
7899 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
7900 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
7903 @kindex T # (Summary)
7904 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
7905 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
7906 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
7909 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
7910 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
7911 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
7912 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
7915 @kindex T T (Summary)
7916 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
7917 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
7920 @kindex T s (Summary)
7921 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
7922 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
7923 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
7926 @kindex T h (Summary)
7927 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
7928 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
7931 @kindex T S (Summary)
7932 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
7933 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
7936 @kindex T H (Summary)
7937 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
7938 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
7941 @kindex T t (Summary)
7942 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
7943 Re-thread the current article's thread
7944 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
7945 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
7948 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
7949 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
7950 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
7951 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
7954 @kindex T M-^ (Summary)
7955 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-children
7956 Make the current article the parent of the marked articles
7957 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-children}).
7961 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
7962 understand the numeric prefix.
7967 @kindex T n (Summary)
7969 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
7971 @kindex M-down (Summary)
7972 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
7973 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
7976 @kindex T p (Summary)
7978 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
7980 @kindex M-up (Summary)
7981 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
7982 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
7985 @kindex T d (Summary)
7986 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
7987 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
7990 @kindex T u (Summary)
7991 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
7992 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
7995 @kindex T o (Summary)
7996 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
7997 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
8000 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
8001 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
8002 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
8003 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
8004 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
8005 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
8006 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
8007 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
8008 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
8009 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
8010 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
8011 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
8015 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
8016 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
8018 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
8019 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
8020 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
8021 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
8022 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
8023 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient
8024 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
8025 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
8026 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
8027 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
8028 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
8029 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
8030 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
8031 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
8032 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
8034 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
8035 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
8036 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient},
8037 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
8038 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date},
8039 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
8040 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
8041 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
8042 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
8043 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
8045 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
8046 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
8047 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
8049 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
8050 last function in the list. You should probably always include
8051 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
8052 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
8053 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
8054 ascending article order.
8056 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
8057 by number, you could do something like:
8060 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
8061 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
8062 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
8063 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
8066 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
8067 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
8068 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
8069 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
8070 which the articles arrived.
8072 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
8076 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
8077 '((not gnus-thread-sort-by-number)
8078 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
8081 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
8082 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
8083 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
8084 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
8087 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
8088 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
8089 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
8090 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
8091 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
8092 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
8093 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
8094 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
8095 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
8096 variable. It is very similar to the
8097 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
8098 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
8099 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
8100 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
8101 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
8102 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
8103 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
8105 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
8109 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
8110 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
8111 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
8114 You can define group specific sorting via @code{gnus-parameters},
8115 @xref{Group Parameters}.
8118 @node Asynchronous Fetching
8119 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
8120 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
8121 @cindex article pre-fetch
8124 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
8125 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
8126 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
8127 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
8128 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
8130 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
8131 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
8133 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
8134 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
8135 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
8136 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
8137 connection is blocked.
8139 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
8140 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
8141 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
8142 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
8144 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
8145 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
8146 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
8147 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
8150 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
8153 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
8154 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
8155 happen automatically.
8157 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
8158 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
8159 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
8160 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
8161 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
8162 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
8163 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
8165 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
8166 @findex gnus-async-unread-p
8167 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
8168 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
8169 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
8170 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
8171 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-unread-p}, which
8172 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
8173 article data structure as the only parameter.
8175 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
8176 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
8179 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
8180 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
8181 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
8182 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
8185 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
8188 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
8189 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
8190 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
8192 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
8193 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
8194 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
8195 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
8199 Remove articles when they are read.
8202 Remove articles when exiting the group.
8205 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
8207 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
8208 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
8209 @c from the next group.
8212 @node Article Caching
8213 @section Article Caching
8214 @cindex article caching
8217 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
8218 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
8219 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
8220 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
8221 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
8223 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
8225 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
8226 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
8227 @vindex gnus-use-cache
8228 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
8229 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
8230 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
8231 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
8232 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
8234 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
8235 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
8236 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
8237 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
8238 as dormant, and don't worry.
8240 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
8242 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
8243 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
8244 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
8245 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
8246 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
8247 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
8248 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
8249 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
8250 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
8251 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
8253 @findex gnus-jog-cache
8254 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
8255 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
8256 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
8257 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
8258 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
8259 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
8260 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
8261 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
8262 not then be downloaded by this command.
8264 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
8265 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
8266 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
8267 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
8268 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
8269 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
8271 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
8272 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
8273 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
8274 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
8275 variables, the group is not cached.
8277 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
8278 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
8279 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
8280 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
8281 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
8282 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
8283 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
8284 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
8285 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
8288 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
8289 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
8290 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
8291 where, isn't that cool?
8293 @node Persistent Articles
8294 @section Persistent Articles
8295 @cindex persistent articles
8297 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
8298 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
8299 useful in my opinion.
8301 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
8302 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
8303 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
8304 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
8305 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
8306 the expiry going on at the news server.
8308 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
8309 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
8310 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
8316 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
8317 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
8320 @kindex M-* (Summary)
8321 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
8322 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
8323 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
8327 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
8329 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
8330 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
8331 interested in persistent articles:
8334 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
8337 @node Sticky Articles
8338 @section Sticky Articles
8339 @cindex sticky articles
8341 When you select an article the current article buffer will be reused
8342 according to the value of the variable
8343 @code{gnus-single-article-buffer}. If its value is non-@code{nil} (the
8344 default) all articles reuse the same article buffer. Else each group
8345 has its own article buffer.
8347 This implies that it's not possible to have more than one article buffer
8348 in a group at a time. But sometimes you might want to display all the
8349 latest emails from your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle and
8350 your 17 cousins to coordinate the next christmas party.
8352 That's where sticky articles come in handy. A sticky article buffer
8353 basically is a normal article buffer, but it won't be reused when you
8354 select another article. You can make an article sticky with:
8358 @kindex A S (Summary)
8359 @findex gnus-sticky-article
8360 Make the current article sticky. If a prefix arg is given, ask for a
8361 name for this sticky article buffer.
8364 To close a sticky article buffer you can use these commands:
8370 Puts this sticky article buffer at the end of the list of all buffers.
8374 @findex gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffer
8375 Kills this sticky article buffer.
8378 To kill all sticky article buffers you can use:
8380 @defun gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffers ARG
8381 Kill all sticky article buffers.
8382 If a prefix ARG is given, ask for confirmation.
8385 @node Article Backlog
8386 @section Article Backlog
8388 @cindex article backlog
8390 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
8391 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
8392 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
8393 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
8394 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
8395 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
8396 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
8397 increase memory usage some.
8399 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
8400 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
8401 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
8402 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
8403 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
8404 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
8405 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
8407 The default value is 20.
8410 @node Saving Articles
8411 @section Saving Articles
8412 @cindex saving articles
8414 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
8415 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
8416 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
8417 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
8418 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
8420 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
8421 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
8422 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
8424 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
8425 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
8426 unwanted headers before saving the article.
8428 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
8429 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
8430 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
8431 deleted before saving.
8437 @kindex O o (Summary)
8439 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
8440 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
8441 Save the current article using the default article saver
8442 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
8445 @kindex O m (Summary)
8446 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
8447 Save the current article in a Unix mail box (mbox) file
8448 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
8451 @kindex O r (Summary)
8452 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
8453 Save the current article in Rmail format
8454 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
8457 @kindex O f (Summary)
8458 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
8459 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
8460 Save the current article in plain file format
8461 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
8464 @kindex O F (Summary)
8465 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
8466 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
8467 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
8470 @kindex O b (Summary)
8471 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
8472 Save the current article body in plain file format
8473 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
8476 @kindex O h (Summary)
8477 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
8478 Save the current article in mh folder format
8479 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
8482 @kindex O v (Summary)
8483 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
8484 Save the current article in a VM folder
8485 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
8489 @kindex O p (Summary)
8491 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
8492 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
8493 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
8494 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
8495 complete headers in the piped output.
8498 @kindex O P (Summary)
8499 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
8500 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
8501 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
8502 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
8503 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
8504 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
8505 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
8509 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
8510 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
8511 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
8512 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
8513 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
8514 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
8515 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
8516 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
8517 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
8518 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
8519 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
8520 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
8524 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
8525 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
8526 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the eight ready-made
8527 functions below, or you can create your own.
8531 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
8532 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
8533 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
8534 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
8535 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
8536 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
8537 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
8539 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
8540 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
8541 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
8542 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
8543 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
8544 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
8546 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
8547 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
8548 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
8549 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
8550 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
8551 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
8552 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
8554 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
8555 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
8556 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
8557 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
8558 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
8559 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
8561 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
8562 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
8563 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
8564 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
8565 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
8567 @item gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
8568 @findex gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
8569 Write the article body straight to an ordinary file. The file is
8570 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
8571 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
8572 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
8574 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
8575 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
8576 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
8577 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
8578 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
8581 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
8582 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
8583 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
8584 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
8585 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
8587 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
8588 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
8589 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
8590 reader to use this setting.
8593 The symbol of each function may have the following properties:
8597 The value non-@code{nil} means save decoded articles. This is
8598 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-save-in-file},
8599 @code{gnus-summary-save-body-in-file},
8600 @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file}, and
8601 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
8604 The value specifies an alternative function which appends, not
8605 overwrites, articles to a file. This implies that when saving many
8606 articles at a time, @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} is bound to
8607 @code{t} and all articles are saved in a single file. This is
8608 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file} and
8609 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
8612 The value specifies the symbol of a variable of which the value
8613 specifies headers to be saved. If it is omitted,
8614 @code{gnus-save-all-headers} and @code{gnus-saved-headers} control what
8615 headers should be saved.
8618 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
8619 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
8620 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
8621 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
8624 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
8625 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
8626 available functions that generate names:
8630 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
8631 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
8632 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
8634 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
8635 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
8636 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
8638 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
8639 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
8640 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
8642 @item gnus-plain-save-name
8643 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
8644 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
8646 @item gnus-sender-save-name
8647 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
8648 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
8651 @vindex gnus-split-methods
8652 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
8653 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
8654 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
8655 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
8659 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
8660 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
8661 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
8662 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
8665 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
8666 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
8667 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
8668 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
8669 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
8670 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
8671 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
8672 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
8673 called returns a string or a list of strings.
8675 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
8676 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
8677 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
8678 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
8680 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
8681 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
8682 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
8685 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
8686 lots of mail groups called things like
8687 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
8688 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
8689 following will do just that:
8692 (defun my-save-name (group)
8693 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
8694 (substring group (match-end 0))))
8696 (setq gnus-split-methods
8697 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
8702 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
8703 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
8704 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
8705 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
8706 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
8707 all the files in the top level directory
8708 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
8709 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
8710 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
8711 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
8713 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
8714 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
8715 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
8716 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
8717 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
8720 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
8724 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
8725 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
8726 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
8729 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
8730 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
8731 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
8732 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
8735 @node Decoding Articles
8736 @section Decoding Articles
8737 @cindex decoding articles
8739 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
8740 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
8743 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
8744 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
8745 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
8746 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
8747 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
8748 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
8752 @cindex article series
8753 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
8754 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
8755 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
8756 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
8757 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
8759 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
8760 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
8761 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
8763 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
8764 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
8765 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
8767 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
8768 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
8769 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
8772 @node Uuencoded Articles
8773 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
8775 @cindex uuencoded articles
8780 @kindex X u (Summary)
8781 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
8782 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
8783 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
8786 @kindex X U (Summary)
8787 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
8788 Uudecodes and saves the current series
8789 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8792 @kindex X v u (Summary)
8793 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
8794 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
8797 @kindex X v U (Summary)
8798 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
8799 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
8800 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
8804 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
8805 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
8806 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
8807 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
8808 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8810 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
8811 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
8812 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
8813 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
8816 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
8817 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
8818 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
8819 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
8820 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
8821 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
8825 @node Shell Archives
8826 @subsection Shell Archives
8828 @cindex shell archives
8829 @cindex shared articles
8831 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
8832 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
8833 some commands to deal with these:
8838 @kindex X s (Summary)
8839 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
8840 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
8843 @kindex X S (Summary)
8844 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
8845 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
8848 @kindex X v s (Summary)
8849 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
8850 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
8853 @kindex X v S (Summary)
8854 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
8855 Unshars, views and saves the current series
8856 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
8860 @node PostScript Files
8861 @subsection PostScript Files
8867 @kindex X p (Summary)
8868 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
8869 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
8872 @kindex X P (Summary)
8873 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
8874 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
8875 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
8878 @kindex X v p (Summary)
8879 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
8880 View the current PostScript series
8881 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
8884 @kindex X v P (Summary)
8885 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
8886 View and save the current PostScript series
8887 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
8892 @subsection Other Files
8896 @kindex X o (Summary)
8897 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
8898 Save the current series
8899 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
8902 @kindex X b (Summary)
8903 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
8904 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
8905 doesn't really work yet.
8908 @kindex X Y (Summary)
8909 @findex gnus-uu-decode-yenc
8910 yEnc-decode the current series and save it (@code{gnus-uu-decode-yenc}).
8914 @node Decoding Variables
8915 @subsection Decoding Variables
8917 Adjective, not verb.
8920 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
8921 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
8922 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
8926 @node Rule Variables
8927 @subsubsection Rule Variables
8928 @cindex rule variables
8930 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
8931 variables are of the form
8934 (list '(regexp1 command2)
8941 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8942 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8944 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
8945 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
8948 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8949 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
8952 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8953 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8954 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
8955 user and default view rules.
8957 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8958 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8959 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
8964 @node Other Decode Variables
8965 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
8968 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8970 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8971 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
8972 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
8973 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
8974 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
8978 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
8979 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
8982 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
8983 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
8984 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
8987 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8988 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8989 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
8990 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
8991 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
8994 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8995 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8996 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
8998 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8999 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
9000 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
9001 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
9002 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
9005 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
9006 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
9007 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
9009 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
9010 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
9011 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
9012 looking for files to display.
9014 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
9015 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
9016 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
9019 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
9020 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
9021 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
9024 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
9025 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
9026 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
9029 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
9030 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
9031 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
9034 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
9035 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
9036 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
9037 decoded articles as unread.
9039 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
9040 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
9041 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
9042 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
9044 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
9045 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
9046 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
9048 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
9049 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
9051 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
9052 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
9053 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
9054 @code{metamail} for viewing.
9056 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
9057 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
9058 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
9059 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
9060 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
9061 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
9062 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
9063 simply dropped them.
9068 @node Uuencoding and Posting
9069 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
9073 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
9074 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
9075 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
9076 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
9077 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
9078 for you when you post the article.
9080 @item gnus-uu-post-length
9081 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
9082 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
9083 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
9085 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
9086 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
9087 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
9088 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
9089 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
9090 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
9091 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
9093 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
9094 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
9095 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
9096 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
9097 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
9098 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
9099 Default is @code{t}.
9105 @subsection Viewing Files
9106 @cindex viewing files
9107 @cindex pseudo-articles
9109 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
9110 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
9111 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
9112 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
9113 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
9114 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
9115 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
9117 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
9118 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
9119 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
9120 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
9122 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
9123 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
9124 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
9126 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
9127 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
9128 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
9129 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
9130 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
9132 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
9133 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
9134 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
9135 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
9136 a list of parameters to that command.
9138 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
9139 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
9140 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
9142 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
9143 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
9144 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
9147 @node Article Treatment
9148 @section Article Treatment
9150 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
9151 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
9152 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
9153 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
9154 these articles easier.
9157 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
9158 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
9159 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
9160 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
9161 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
9162 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
9163 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
9164 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
9165 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
9166 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
9167 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
9171 @node Article Highlighting
9172 @subsection Article Highlighting
9173 @cindex highlighting
9175 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
9176 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
9181 @kindex W H a (Summary)
9182 @findex gnus-article-highlight
9183 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
9184 Do much highlighting of the current article
9185 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
9186 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
9189 @kindex W H h (Summary)
9190 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
9191 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
9192 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
9193 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
9194 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
9195 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
9196 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
9197 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
9198 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
9199 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
9200 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
9203 @kindex W H c (Summary)
9204 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
9205 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
9207 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
9210 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
9212 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
9213 If the article size in bytes is bigger than this variable (which is
9214 25000 by default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
9216 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
9217 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
9218 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
9220 @item gnus-cite-face-list
9221 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
9222 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
9223 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
9224 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
9225 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
9227 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
9228 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
9229 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
9231 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
9232 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
9233 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
9235 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
9236 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
9237 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
9238 that it's a citation.
9240 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
9241 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
9242 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
9244 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
9245 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
9246 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
9248 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
9249 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
9250 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
9251 cited text belonging to the attribution.
9253 @item gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
9254 @vindex gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
9255 If non-@code{nil}, no citation highlighting will be performed on lines
9256 beginning with @samp{>From }. Those lines may have been quoted by MTAs
9257 in order not to mix up with the envelope From line. The default value
9264 @kindex W H s (Summary)
9265 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9266 @vindex gnus-signature-face
9267 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
9268 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
9269 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
9270 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
9271 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
9276 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
9279 @node Article Fontisizing
9280 @subsection Article Fontisizing
9282 @cindex article emphasis
9284 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
9285 @kindex W e (Summary)
9286 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
9287 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
9288 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
9289 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
9291 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
9292 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
9293 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
9294 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
9295 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
9296 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
9297 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
9298 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
9302 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
9303 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
9304 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
9313 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
9314 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
9315 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
9316 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
9317 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
9318 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
9319 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
9320 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
9321 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
9322 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
9323 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
9324 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
9325 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
9327 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
9328 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
9329 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
9333 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
9336 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
9338 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
9339 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
9340 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
9341 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
9343 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
9346 @node Article Hiding
9347 @subsection Article Hiding
9348 @cindex article hiding
9350 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
9351 too much cruft in most articles.
9356 @kindex W W a (Summary)
9357 @findex gnus-article-hide
9358 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
9359 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
9360 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
9363 @kindex W W h (Summary)
9364 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
9365 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
9369 @kindex W W b (Summary)
9370 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
9371 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
9372 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
9375 @kindex W W s (Summary)
9376 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
9377 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
9381 @kindex W W l (Summary)
9382 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
9383 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
9384 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
9385 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
9386 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
9387 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
9388 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
9392 @item gnus-list-identifiers
9393 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
9394 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
9395 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
9400 @kindex W W P (Summary)
9401 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
9402 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
9403 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
9406 @kindex W W B (Summary)
9407 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
9408 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
9409 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
9412 @cindex stripping advertisements
9413 @cindex advertisements
9414 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
9415 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
9416 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
9417 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
9418 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
9419 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
9420 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
9421 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
9422 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
9423 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
9426 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
9427 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
9428 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
9432 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
9433 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
9434 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
9435 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
9436 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
9437 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
9438 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
9439 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
9440 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
9441 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
9442 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
9445 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
9446 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
9452 @kindex W W c (Summary)
9453 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
9454 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
9455 customizing the hiding:
9459 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
9460 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
9461 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
9462 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
9463 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
9464 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
9465 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
9470 Starting point of the hidden text.
9472 Ending point of the hidden text.
9474 Number of characters in the hidden region.
9476 Number of lines of hidden text.
9479 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
9480 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
9481 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
9482 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
9483 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
9488 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
9489 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
9491 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
9492 following two variables:
9495 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
9496 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
9497 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
9498 50), hide the cited text.
9500 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
9501 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
9502 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
9507 @kindex W W C (Summary)
9508 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
9509 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
9510 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
9511 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
9512 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
9516 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
9517 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
9518 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
9520 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
9521 citation customization.
9523 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
9527 @node Article Washing
9528 @subsection Article Washing
9530 @cindex article washing
9532 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
9533 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
9535 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
9536 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
9539 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
9540 articles by default.
9545 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
9546 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
9550 Force redisplaying of the current article
9551 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
9552 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
9553 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
9554 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
9557 @kindex W l (Summary)
9558 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
9559 Remove page breaks from the current article
9560 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
9564 @kindex W r (Summary)
9565 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
9566 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
9567 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
9568 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
9569 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
9570 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
9572 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
9573 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
9574 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
9575 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
9578 @kindex W m (Summary)
9579 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
9580 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
9583 @kindex W i (Summary)
9584 @findex gnus-summary-idna-message
9585 Decode IDNA encoded domain names in the current articles. IDNA
9586 encoded domain names looks like @samp{xn--bar}. If a string remain
9587 unencoded after running invoking this, it is likely an invalid IDNA
9588 string (@samp{xn--bar} is invalid). You must have GNU Libidn
9589 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}) installed for this command
9594 @kindex W t (Summary)
9596 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
9597 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
9598 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
9601 @kindex W v (Summary)
9602 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
9603 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
9604 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
9607 @kindex W o (Summary)
9608 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
9609 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
9612 @kindex W d (Summary)
9613 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
9614 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
9616 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
9618 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
9619 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
9620 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
9621 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
9624 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
9625 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
9626 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
9627 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
9630 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
9631 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
9632 @cindex Outlook Express
9633 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
9634 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
9635 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
9638 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
9639 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
9640 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
9641 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
9642 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
9643 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
9644 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
9645 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
9646 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
9647 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
9650 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
9651 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
9652 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
9653 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
9656 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
9657 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
9658 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
9659 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
9662 @kindex W w (Summary)
9663 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
9664 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
9666 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
9670 @kindex W Q (Summary)
9671 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
9672 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
9675 @kindex W C (Summary)
9676 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
9677 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
9678 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
9681 @kindex W c (Summary)
9682 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
9683 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
9684 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
9685 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
9686 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
9689 @kindex W q (Summary)
9690 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
9691 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
9692 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
9693 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
9694 makes strings like @samp{d@'ej@`a vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu},
9695 which doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually
9696 done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9697 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9698 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9701 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
9702 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
9703 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
9704 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
9705 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
9706 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9707 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9708 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9711 @kindex W Z (Summary)
9712 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
9713 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
9714 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
9715 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
9718 @kindex W A (Summary)
9719 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
9720 @cindex @acronym{ANSI} control sequences
9721 Translate @acronym{ANSI} SGR control sequences into overlays or
9722 extents (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). @acronym{ANSI}
9723 sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
9726 @kindex W u (Summary)
9727 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
9728 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
9729 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
9730 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
9731 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
9734 @kindex W h (Summary)
9735 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
9736 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
9737 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9738 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
9740 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for. If it is a number,
9741 the charset defined in @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist}
9742 (@pxref{Paging the Article}) will be used.
9744 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
9745 The default is to use the function specified by
9746 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
9747 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
9748 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
9749 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
9757 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
9759 @item w3m-standalone
9760 Use @uref{http://w3m.sourceforge.net/, w3m}.
9763 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
9766 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
9769 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
9774 @kindex W b (Summary)
9775 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
9776 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
9777 @xref{Article Buttons}.
9780 @kindex W B (Summary)
9781 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
9782 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
9783 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
9786 @kindex W p (Summary)
9787 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
9788 Verify a signed control message
9789 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
9790 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
9791 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
9792 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
9793 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
9794 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
9797 @kindex W s (Summary)
9798 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
9799 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
9800 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
9801 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
9804 @kindex W a (Summary)
9805 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
9806 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
9807 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
9810 @kindex W E l (Summary)
9811 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
9812 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
9813 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
9816 @kindex W E m (Summary)
9817 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
9818 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
9819 lines with a single empty line.
9820 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
9823 @kindex W E t (Summary)
9824 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
9825 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
9826 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
9829 @kindex W E a (Summary)
9830 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
9831 Do all the three commands above
9832 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
9835 @kindex W E A (Summary)
9836 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
9837 Remove all blank lines
9838 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
9841 @kindex W E s (Summary)
9842 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
9843 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
9844 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
9847 @kindex W E e (Summary)
9848 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
9849 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
9850 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
9854 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
9857 @node Article Header
9858 @subsection Article Header
9860 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
9865 @kindex W G u (Summary)
9866 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
9867 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
9870 @kindex W G n (Summary)
9871 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
9872 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
9873 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
9876 @kindex W G f (Summary)
9877 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
9878 Fold all the message headers
9879 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
9882 @kindex W E w (Summary)
9883 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
9884 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
9885 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
9890 @node Article Buttons
9891 @subsection Article Buttons
9894 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
9895 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
9896 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
9897 button on these references.
9899 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9900 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
9901 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
9902 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
9903 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
9907 @item gnus-button-alist
9908 @vindex gnus-button-alist
9909 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
9912 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9918 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
9919 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
9920 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
9921 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
9922 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
9925 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
9926 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
9927 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
9930 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
9931 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
9932 avoid false matches. Often variables named
9933 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
9934 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
9936 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
9939 This function will be called when you click on this button.
9942 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
9943 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
9947 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
9950 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
9953 @item gnus-header-button-alist
9954 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
9955 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
9956 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
9957 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
9960 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9963 @var{header} is a regular expression.
9966 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
9969 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
9970 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
9972 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
9974 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
9975 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
9976 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
9977 default values of the variables above.
9979 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
9981 @item gnus-button-man-handler
9982 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9983 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
9984 argument with a string naming the man page.
9986 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
9988 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9989 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9990 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
9992 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9993 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9994 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
9995 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
9996 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
9997 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
9998 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
9999 @code{ask}, always query the user what to do. If it is a function, this
10000 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
10001 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
10002 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
10003 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
10005 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
10006 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
10007 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
10008 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
10009 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
10012 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
10013 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
10014 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
10015 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
10017 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
10019 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
10020 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
10021 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
10022 argument, the string naming the URL.
10024 @item gnus-ctan-url
10025 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
10026 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
10027 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
10031 @item gnus-article-button-face
10032 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
10033 Face used on buttons.
10035 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
10036 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
10037 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
10041 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
10044 @node Article Button Levels
10045 @subsection Article button levels
10046 @cindex button levels
10047 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
10048 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
10049 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
10050 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
10051 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
10052 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
10053 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
10054 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
10057 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
10058 (setq gnus-parameters
10059 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
10060 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
10061 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
10066 @item gnus-button-browse-level
10067 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
10068 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
10069 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
10070 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
10071 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
10073 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
10074 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
10075 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
10076 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
10077 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
10078 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
10079 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
10080 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
10081 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
10082 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
10083 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
10084 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
10085 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
10087 @item gnus-button-man-level
10088 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
10089 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
10090 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
10092 @item gnus-button-message-level
10093 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
10094 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
10095 Related variables and functions include
10096 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
10097 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
10098 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
10099 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
10101 @item gnus-button-tex-level
10102 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
10103 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
10104 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
10105 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
10106 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
10107 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
10113 @subsection Article Date
10115 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
10116 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
10117 when the article was sent.
10122 @kindex W T u (Summary)
10123 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
10124 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
10125 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
10128 @kindex W T i (Summary)
10129 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
10131 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
10132 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
10135 @kindex W T l (Summary)
10136 @findex gnus-article-date-local
10137 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
10140 @kindex W T p (Summary)
10141 @findex gnus-article-date-english
10142 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
10143 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
10146 @kindex W T s (Summary)
10147 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
10148 @findex gnus-article-date-user
10149 @findex format-time-string
10150 Display the date using a user-defined format
10151 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
10152 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
10153 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
10154 for a list of possible format specs.
10157 @kindex W T e (Summary)
10158 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
10159 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
10160 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
10161 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
10162 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
10165 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
10168 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
10169 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
10170 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
10173 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
10174 into wonderful absurdities.
10176 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
10179 (gnus-start-date-timer)
10182 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
10183 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
10187 @kindex W T o (Summary)
10188 @findex gnus-article-date-original
10189 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
10190 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
10191 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
10192 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
10193 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
10197 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
10198 preferred format automatically.
10201 @node Article Display
10202 @subsection Article Display
10207 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
10208 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
10210 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
10211 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
10213 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
10214 headers (@pxref{Face}).
10216 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
10217 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
10219 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
10220 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
10222 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
10223 they'll be removed.
10227 @kindex W D x (Summary)
10228 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
10229 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
10230 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
10233 @kindex W D d (Summary)
10234 @findex gnus-article-display-face
10235 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
10236 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
10239 @kindex W D s (Summary)
10240 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
10241 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
10244 @kindex W D f (Summary)
10245 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
10246 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
10249 @kindex W D m (Summary)
10250 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
10251 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
10252 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
10255 @kindex W D n (Summary)
10256 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
10257 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
10258 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
10261 @kindex W D D (Summary)
10262 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
10263 Remove all images from the article buffer
10264 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
10270 @node Article Signature
10271 @subsection Article Signature
10273 @cindex article signature
10275 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
10276 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
10277 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
10278 that says what is to be considered a signature is
10279 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
10280 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
10281 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
10282 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
10283 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
10286 (setq gnus-signature-separator
10287 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
10288 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
10289 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
10290 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
10291 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
10292 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
10293 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
10296 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
10299 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
10300 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
10301 signature when displaying articles.
10305 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
10308 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
10311 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
10312 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
10314 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
10315 in question is not a signature.
10318 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
10319 listed above. Here's an example:
10322 (setq gnus-signature-limit
10323 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
10326 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
10327 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
10328 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
10329 signature after all.
10332 @node Article Miscellanea
10333 @subsection Article Miscellanea
10337 @kindex A t (Summary)
10338 @findex gnus-article-babel
10339 Translate the article from one language to another
10340 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
10345 @node MIME Commands
10346 @section MIME Commands
10347 @cindex MIME decoding
10348 @cindex attachments
10349 @cindex viewing attachments
10351 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
10352 instance, @kbd{3 K v} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
10357 @kindex b (Summary)
10358 @kindex K v (Summary)
10359 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
10362 @kindex K o (Summary)
10363 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
10366 @kindex K O (Summary)
10367 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} part and strip it
10368 from the article. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred
10369 via the message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
10372 @kindex K r (Summary)
10373 Replace the @acronym{MIME} part with an external body.
10376 @kindex K d (Summary)
10377 Delete the @acronym{MIME} part and add some information about the
10381 @kindex K c (Summary)
10382 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
10385 @kindex K e (Summary)
10386 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
10389 @kindex K i (Summary)
10390 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
10393 @kindex K | (Summary)
10394 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
10397 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
10402 @kindex K H (Summary)
10403 @findex gnus-article-browse-html-article
10404 View @samp{text/html} parts of the current article with a WWW browser.
10405 The message header is added to the beginning of every html part unless
10406 the prefix argument is given.
10408 Warning: Spammers use links to images in HTML articles to verify whether
10409 you have read the message. As this command passes the @acronym{HTML}
10410 content to the browser without eliminating these ``web bugs'' you should
10411 only use it for mails from trusted senders.
10413 If you always want to display @acronym{HTML} parts in the browser, set
10414 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} to @code{nil}.
10417 @kindex K b (Summary)
10418 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
10419 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
10423 @kindex K m (Summary)
10424 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
10425 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
10426 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
10427 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
10428 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
10431 @kindex X m (Summary)
10432 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
10433 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
10434 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
10435 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10438 @kindex M-t (Summary)
10439 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
10440 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
10441 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
10444 @kindex W M w (Summary)
10445 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
10446 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
10447 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
10450 @kindex W M c (Summary)
10451 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
10452 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
10453 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
10455 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
10456 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
10457 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
10458 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
10459 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
10460 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
10463 @kindex W M v (Summary)
10464 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
10465 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
10466 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
10470 Relevant variables:
10473 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
10474 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
10475 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
10476 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
10479 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
10482 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
10486 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
10487 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
10488 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
10489 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
10490 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
10491 default is @code{t}.
10493 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
10494 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
10497 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
10498 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
10499 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
10500 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
10501 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}. Only
10502 single-part yEnc encoded attachments can be decoded. There's no support
10503 for encoding in Gnus.
10505 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
10506 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
10507 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
10508 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
10509 displayed or this variable is overridden by
10510 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
10511 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
10512 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
10514 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
10515 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
10516 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
10517 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
10518 displayed. This variable overrides
10519 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
10520 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
10523 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
10524 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
10525 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
10527 You could also add @code{"multipart/alternative"} to this list to
10528 display radio buttons that allow you to choose one of two media types
10529 those mails include. See also @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}
10530 (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The
10531 Emacs MIME Manual}).
10533 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
10534 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
10535 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
10536 default value is @code{nil}.
10538 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
10539 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
10540 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
10541 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
10542 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
10543 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
10544 save all jpegs into some directory).
10546 Here's an example function the does the latter:
10549 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
10550 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
10552 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
10553 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
10554 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
10555 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
10556 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
10559 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
10560 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
10561 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
10563 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
10564 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
10565 Display "multipart/alternative" parts as "multipart/mixed".
10567 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
10568 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
10569 Display "multipart/related" parts as "multipart/mixed".
10571 If displaying @samp{text/html} is discouraged, see
10572 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}, images or other material inside a
10573 "multipart/related" part might be overlooked when this variable is
10574 @code{nil}. @ref{Display Customization, Display Customization, ,
10575 emacs-mime, Emacs-Mime Manual}.
10577 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
10578 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
10579 Display "multipart" parts as "multipart/mixed". If @code{t}, it
10580 overrides @code{nil} values of
10581 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed} and
10582 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed}.
10584 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
10585 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
10586 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
10587 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
10589 Ready-made functions include@*
10590 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
10591 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
10592 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
10593 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
10594 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
10595 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
10596 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
10597 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
10598 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
10599 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
10600 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
10601 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
10603 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
10604 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
10606 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
10607 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
10608 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
10611 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
10612 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
10613 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
10614 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
10618 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
10627 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
10628 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
10629 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
10630 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
10631 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
10632 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
10633 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp}.
10635 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
10636 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
10637 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
10638 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
10640 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
10641 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
10642 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
10643 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
10644 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
10645 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
10646 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
10647 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
10648 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
10650 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
10651 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
10652 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
10653 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
10654 quoted-printable header encoding.
10656 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
10657 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
10658 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
10662 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
10665 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
10666 means encode all charsets),
10668 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
10669 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
10670 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
10677 @cindex coding system aliases
10678 @cindex preferred charset
10680 @xref{Encoding Customization, , Encoding Customization, emacs-mime,
10681 The Emacs MIME Manual}, for additional variables that control which
10682 MIME charsets are used when sending messages.
10684 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
10686 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
10687 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
10690 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
10691 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
10694 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
10695 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
10697 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
10700 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
10703 This will almost do the right thing.
10705 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
10709 (codepage-setup 1251)
10710 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
10714 @node Article Commands
10715 @section Article Commands
10722 @kindex A P (Summary)
10723 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
10724 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
10725 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
10726 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
10727 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
10728 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
10733 @node Summary Sorting
10734 @section Summary Sorting
10735 @cindex summary sorting
10737 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
10738 can't really see why you'd want that.
10743 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
10744 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
10745 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
10748 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
10749 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
10750 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
10753 @kindex C-c C-s C-t (Summary)
10754 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient
10755 Sort by recipient (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient}).
10758 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
10759 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
10760 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
10763 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
10764 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
10765 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
10768 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
10769 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
10770 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
10773 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
10774 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
10775 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
10778 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
10779 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
10780 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
10783 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
10784 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
10785 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
10788 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
10789 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
10790 Sort using the default sorting method
10791 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
10794 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
10795 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
10796 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
10797 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
10798 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
10802 @node Finding the Parent
10803 @section Finding the Parent
10804 @cindex parent articles
10805 @cindex referring articles
10809 @kindex ^ (Summary)
10810 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
10811 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
10812 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
10813 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
10814 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
10815 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
10816 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
10817 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
10818 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
10820 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
10821 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
10822 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
10823 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
10824 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
10827 @item A R (Summary)
10828 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
10829 @kindex A R (Summary)
10830 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
10831 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
10833 @item A T (Summary)
10834 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
10835 @kindex A T (Summary)
10836 Display the full thread where the current article appears
10837 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
10838 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
10839 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
10840 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
10841 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
10842 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
10844 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
10845 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
10846 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
10847 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
10848 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
10849 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
10851 @item M-^ (Summary)
10852 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
10853 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
10855 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
10856 You can also ask Gnus for an arbitrary article, no matter what group it
10857 belongs to. @kbd{M-^} (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you
10858 for a @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read
10859 thingies that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}.
10860 You have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
10862 Gnus looks for the @code{Message-ID} in the headers that have already
10863 been fetched, but also tries all the select methods specified by
10864 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} if it is not found.
10867 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
10868 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
10869 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
10870 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
10871 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
10872 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
10875 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
10876 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
10877 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
10880 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
10881 then ask Google if that fails:
10884 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
10886 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
10889 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
10890 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
10891 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
10892 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
10893 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
10894 group. (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does
10895 not support this at all.
10898 @node Alternative Approaches
10899 @section Alternative Approaches
10901 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
10902 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
10905 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
10906 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
10910 @node Pick and Read
10911 @subsection Pick and Read
10912 @cindex pick and read
10914 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
10915 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
10916 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
10917 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
10919 @findex gnus-pick-mode
10920 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
10921 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
10922 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
10923 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
10924 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
10926 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
10931 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
10932 Pick the article or thread on the current line
10933 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10934 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
10935 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
10936 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
10937 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
10938 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
10941 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
10942 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
10943 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
10944 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
10948 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
10949 Unpick the thread or article
10950 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10951 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
10952 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
10953 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
10954 the thread or article at that line.
10958 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
10959 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
10960 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
10961 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
10962 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
10963 will still be visible when you are reading.
10967 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
10968 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
10969 which is mapped to the same function
10970 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
10972 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
10975 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
10978 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
10979 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
10981 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
10982 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
10983 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
10985 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
10986 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
10987 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
10988 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
10989 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
10990 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
10991 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
10994 @node Binary Groups
10995 @subsection Binary Groups
10996 @cindex binary groups
10998 @findex gnus-binary-mode
10999 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
11000 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
11001 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
11002 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
11003 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
11004 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
11007 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
11008 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
11009 command, when you have turned on this mode
11010 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
11012 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
11013 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
11017 @section Tree Display
11020 @vindex gnus-use-trees
11021 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
11022 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
11023 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
11024 in the tree buffer.
11026 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
11029 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
11030 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
11031 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
11033 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
11034 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
11035 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
11036 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
11037 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
11039 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
11040 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
11041 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
11042 default is @code{modeline}.
11044 @item gnus-tree-line-format
11045 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
11046 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
11047 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
11048 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
11049 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
11050 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
11056 The name of the poster.
11058 The @code{From} header.
11060 The number of the article.
11062 The opening bracket.
11064 The closing bracket.
11069 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
11071 Variables related to the display are:
11074 @item gnus-tree-brackets
11075 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
11076 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
11077 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
11079 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
11080 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
11081 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
11083 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
11085 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
11086 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
11087 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
11088 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
11092 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
11093 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
11094 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
11095 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
11096 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
11097 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
11098 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
11099 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
11100 other windows displayed next to it.
11102 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
11106 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
11107 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
11110 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
11111 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
11112 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
11113 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
11114 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
11115 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
11116 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
11120 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
11123 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
11133 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
11138 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
11139 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
11141 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
11143 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
11149 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
11150 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
11151 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
11154 (setq gnus-use-trees t
11155 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
11156 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
11157 (gnus-add-configuration
11161 (summary 0.75 point)
11166 @xref{Window Layout}.
11169 @node Mail Group Commands
11170 @section Mail Group Commands
11171 @cindex mail group commands
11173 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
11174 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
11176 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
11177 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
11182 @kindex B e (Summary)
11183 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
11184 @cindex expiring mail
11185 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
11186 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
11187 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
11188 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
11191 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
11192 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
11193 @cindex expiring mail
11194 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
11195 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
11196 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
11197 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
11200 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
11201 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
11202 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
11203 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
11204 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
11205 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
11208 @kindex B m (Summary)
11210 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
11211 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
11212 Move the article from one mail group to another
11213 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
11214 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
11217 @kindex B c (Summary)
11219 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
11220 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
11221 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
11222 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
11223 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
11226 @kindex B B (Summary)
11227 @cindex crosspost mail
11228 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
11229 Crosspost the current article to some other group
11230 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
11231 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
11232 be properly updated.
11235 @kindex B i (Summary)
11236 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
11237 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
11238 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
11239 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
11242 @kindex B I (Summary)
11243 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
11244 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
11245 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
11246 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
11249 @kindex B r (Summary)
11250 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
11251 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
11252 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
11253 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
11254 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
11255 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
11256 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
11257 (which is the default).
11261 @kindex B w (Summary)
11262 @kindex e (Summary)
11263 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
11264 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
11265 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
11266 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
11267 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
11268 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
11269 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
11272 @kindex B q (Summary)
11273 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
11274 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
11275 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
11276 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
11279 @kindex B t (Summary)
11280 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
11281 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
11282 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
11285 @kindex B p (Summary)
11286 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
11287 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
11288 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
11289 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
11290 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
11291 article from your news server (or rather, from
11292 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
11293 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
11294 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
11295 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
11296 just not have arrived yet.
11299 @kindex K E (Summary)
11300 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
11301 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
11302 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
11303 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
11304 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
11308 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
11309 @cindex moving articles
11310 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
11311 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
11312 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
11313 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
11314 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
11315 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
11316 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
11319 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
11320 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
11321 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
11322 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
11326 @node Various Summary Stuff
11327 @section Various Summary Stuff
11330 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
11331 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
11332 * Summary Generation Commands::
11333 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
11337 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
11338 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
11339 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
11340 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
11341 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
11342 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
11344 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
11345 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
11346 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
11349 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
11350 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
11351 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
11353 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
11354 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
11355 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
11356 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
11357 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
11358 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
11361 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
11362 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
11363 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
11364 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
11365 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
11367 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
11368 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
11369 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
11372 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
11373 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
11374 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
11375 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
11376 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
11377 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
11378 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
11379 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
11380 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
11381 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
11383 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
11384 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
11385 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
11386 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
11387 list of articles to be selected.
11389 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
11390 the list in one particular group:
11393 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
11394 (if (string= group "some.group")
11395 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
11399 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
11400 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
11401 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
11402 variables and their default expressions to be evalled (when the default
11403 values are not @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary
11406 Note: The default expressions will be evaluated (using function
11407 @code{eval}) before assignment to the local variable rather than just
11408 assigned to it. If the default expression is the symbol @code{global},
11409 that symbol will not be evaluated but the global value of the local
11410 variable will be used instead.
11412 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
11413 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
11414 buffers. For example:
11417 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
11418 '(message-use-followup-to
11419 (gnus-visible-headers .
11420 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
11423 Also @pxref{Group Parameters}.
11425 @vindex gnus-propagate-marks
11426 @item gnus-propagate-marks
11427 If non-@code{nil}, propagate marks to the backends for possible
11428 storing. @xref{NNTP marks}, and friends, for a more fine-grained
11434 @node Summary Group Information
11435 @subsection Summary Group Information
11440 @kindex H f (Summary)
11441 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
11442 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
11443 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
11444 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
11445 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
11446 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
11447 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
11448 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
11449 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
11452 @kindex H d (Summary)
11453 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
11454 Give a brief description of the current group
11455 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
11456 rereading the description from the server.
11459 @kindex H h (Summary)
11460 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
11461 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
11462 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
11465 @kindex H i (Summary)
11466 @findex gnus-info-find-node
11467 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
11471 @node Searching for Articles
11472 @subsection Searching for Articles
11477 @kindex M-s (Summary)
11478 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
11479 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
11480 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
11483 @kindex M-r (Summary)
11484 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
11485 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
11486 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
11489 @kindex M-S (Summary)
11490 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward
11491 Repeat the previous search forwards
11492 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward}).
11495 @kindex M-R (Summary)
11496 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward
11497 Repeat the previous search backwards
11498 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward}).
11501 @kindex & (Summary)
11502 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
11503 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
11504 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
11505 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
11506 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
11507 search backward instead.
11509 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
11510 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
11513 @kindex M-& (Summary)
11514 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
11515 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
11516 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
11519 @node Summary Generation Commands
11520 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
11525 @kindex Y g (Summary)
11526 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
11527 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
11530 @kindex Y c (Summary)
11531 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
11532 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
11533 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
11536 @kindex Y d (Summary)
11537 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
11538 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
11539 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
11542 @kindex Y t (Summary)
11543 @findex gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles
11544 Pull all ticked articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
11545 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles}).
11550 @node Really Various Summary Commands
11551 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
11557 @kindex C-d (Summary)
11558 @kindex A D (Summary)
11559 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
11560 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
11561 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
11562 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
11563 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
11564 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
11565 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
11566 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
11569 @vindex gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit
11570 The variable @code{gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit} controls what
11571 article should be selected after exiting a digest group. Valid values
11576 Select the next article.
11579 Select the next unread article.
11581 @item next-noselect
11582 Move the cursor to the next article. This is the default.
11584 @item next-unread-noselect
11585 Move the cursor to the next unread article.
11588 If it has any other value or there is no next (unread) article, the
11589 article selected before entering to the digest group will appear.
11592 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
11593 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
11594 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
11595 several documents into one biiig group
11596 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
11597 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
11598 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
11599 command understands the process/prefix convention
11600 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
11603 @kindex C-t (Summary)
11604 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
11605 Toggle truncation of summary lines
11606 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
11607 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
11608 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
11611 @kindex = (Summary)
11612 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
11613 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
11614 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
11617 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
11618 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
11619 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
11620 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
11623 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
11624 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
11625 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
11626 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
11631 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
11632 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
11633 @cindex summary exit
11634 @cindex exiting groups
11636 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
11637 group and return you to the group buffer.
11644 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
11645 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
11646 @kindex q (Summary)
11647 @findex gnus-summary-exit
11648 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
11649 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
11650 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
11651 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
11652 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
11653 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
11654 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
11655 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
11656 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
11657 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
11658 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
11662 @kindex Z E (Summary)
11663 @kindex Q (Summary)
11664 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
11665 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
11666 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
11670 @kindex Z c (Summary)
11671 @kindex c (Summary)
11672 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
11673 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
11674 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
11675 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
11678 @kindex Z C (Summary)
11679 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
11680 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
11681 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
11684 @kindex Z n (Summary)
11685 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
11686 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
11687 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
11690 @kindex Z p (Summary)
11691 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group
11692 Mark all articles as read and go to the previous group
11693 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group}).
11697 @kindex Z R (Summary)
11698 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
11699 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
11700 Exit this group, and then enter it again
11701 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
11702 all articles, both read and unread.
11706 @kindex Z G (Summary)
11707 @kindex M-g (Summary)
11708 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
11709 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
11710 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
11711 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
11712 articles, both read and unread.
11715 @kindex Z N (Summary)
11716 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
11717 Exit the group and go to the next group
11718 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
11721 @kindex Z P (Summary)
11722 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
11723 Exit the group and go to the previous group
11724 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
11727 @kindex Z s (Summary)
11728 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
11729 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
11730 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
11731 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
11732 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
11735 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
11736 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
11737 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
11738 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
11740 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
11741 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
11742 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
11743 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
11744 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
11745 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
11746 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
11747 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
11748 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
11749 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
11750 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
11751 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
11753 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
11755 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
11756 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
11757 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
11758 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
11759 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
11760 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
11761 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
11762 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
11763 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
11766 @node Crosspost Handling
11767 @section Crosspost Handling
11771 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
11772 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
11773 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
11774 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
11775 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
11776 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
11779 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
11780 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
11781 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
11782 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
11783 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
11785 @cindex cross-posting
11787 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
11788 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
11789 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
11790 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
11791 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
11792 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
11793 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
11794 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
11795 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
11796 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
11797 the cross reference mechanism.
11799 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
11800 @cindex overview.fmt
11801 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
11802 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
11803 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
11804 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
11805 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
11806 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
11809 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
11810 set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
11811 considerably. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
11815 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
11818 @node Duplicate Suppression
11819 @section Duplicate Suppression
11821 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
11822 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
11823 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
11824 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
11829 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
11830 is evil and not very common.
11833 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
11834 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
11837 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
11838 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
11841 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
11844 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
11845 well, but these four are the most common situations.
11847 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
11848 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
11849 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
11850 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
11851 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
11852 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
11853 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
11856 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
11857 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
11858 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
11859 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
11860 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
11861 saw the article in.
11864 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
11865 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
11866 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
11868 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
11869 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
11870 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
11871 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
11872 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
11873 session are suppressed.
11875 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
11876 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
11877 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
11878 suppression list. The default is 10000.
11880 @item gnus-duplicate-file
11881 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
11882 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
11883 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
11886 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
11887 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
11888 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
11889 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
11890 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
11891 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
11892 to you to figure out, I think.
11897 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
11898 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
11899 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
11904 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
11905 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
11906 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
11907 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
11910 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
11911 or newer is recommended.
11915 The variables that control security functionality on reading messages
11919 @item mm-verify-option
11920 @vindex mm-verify-option
11921 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
11922 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
11923 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11925 @item mm-decrypt-option
11926 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
11927 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
11928 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
11929 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11932 @vindex mml1991-use
11933 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11934 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
11935 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
11939 @vindex mml2015-use
11940 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11941 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
11942 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
11947 By default the buttons that display security information are not
11948 shown, because they clutter reading the actual e-mail. You can type
11949 @kbd{K b} manually to display the information. Use the
11950 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types} and
11951 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} variables to control this
11952 permanently. @ref{MIME Commands} for further details, and hints on
11953 how to customize these variables to always display security
11956 @cindex snarfing keys
11957 @cindex importing PGP keys
11958 @cindex PGP key ring import
11959 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
11960 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
11961 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
11962 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
11963 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
11964 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
11965 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
11966 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
11967 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
11970 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
11973 This happens to also be the default action defined in
11974 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
11976 More information on how to set things for sending outgoing signed and
11977 encrypted messages up can be found in the message manual
11978 (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
11981 @section Mailing List
11982 @cindex mailing list
11985 @kindex A M (summary)
11986 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
11987 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
11988 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
11989 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
11992 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
11997 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
11998 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
11999 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
12002 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
12003 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
12004 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
12007 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
12008 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
12009 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
12013 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
12014 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
12015 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
12018 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
12019 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
12020 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
12023 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
12024 @findex gnus-mailing-list-archive
12025 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
12030 @node Article Buffer
12031 @chapter Article Buffer
12032 @cindex article buffer
12034 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
12035 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
12036 tell Gnus otherwise.
12039 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
12040 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
12041 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
12042 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
12043 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
12047 @node Hiding Headers
12048 @section Hiding Headers
12049 @cindex hiding headers
12050 @cindex deleting headers
12052 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
12053 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
12055 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
12056 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
12057 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
12058 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
12059 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
12060 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
12061 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
12062 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
12063 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
12065 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
12069 @item gnus-visible-headers
12070 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
12071 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
12072 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
12073 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
12075 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
12076 the article and the subject, you'd say:
12079 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
12082 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
12085 @item gnus-ignored-headers
12086 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
12087 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
12088 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
12089 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
12090 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
12092 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
12093 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
12096 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
12099 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
12102 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
12103 variable will have no effect.
12107 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
12108 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
12109 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
12110 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
12111 the headers are to be displayed.
12113 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
12114 and then the subject, you might say something like:
12117 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
12120 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
12121 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
12123 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
12124 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
12125 You can hide further boring headers by setting
12126 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
12127 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
12128 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
12129 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
12132 These conditions are:
12135 Remove all empty headers.
12137 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
12138 @code{Newsgroups} header.
12140 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
12141 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
12144 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
12147 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
12148 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
12150 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
12151 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
12153 Remove the @code{Cc} header if it only contains the address identical to
12154 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
12156 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
12159 Remove the @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} header if it is very long.
12161 Remove all @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} headers if there are more than one.
12164 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
12167 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
12168 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
12171 This is also the default value for this variable.
12175 @section Using MIME
12176 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
12178 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
12179 while people stand around yawning.
12181 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
12182 while all newsreaders die of fear.
12184 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
12185 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
12186 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
12188 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
12189 @findex gnus-display-mime
12190 Gnus pushes @acronym{MIME} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
12191 to display the @acronym{MIME} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
12192 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
12193 display, save and manipulate the @acronym{MIME} objects.
12195 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
12196 @acronym{MIME} button:
12199 @findex gnus-article-press-button
12200 @item RET (Article)
12201 @kindex RET (Article)
12202 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
12203 Toggle displaying of the @acronym{MIME} object
12204 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If built-in viewers can not display
12205 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
12206 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
12207 object is displayed inline.
12209 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
12210 @item M-RET (Article)
12211 @kindex M-RET (Article)
12213 Prompt for a method, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
12214 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
12216 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
12218 @kindex t (Article)
12219 View the @acronym{MIME} object as if it were a different @acronym{MIME} media type
12220 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
12222 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
12224 @kindex C (Article)
12225 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
12226 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
12228 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
12230 @kindex o (Article)
12231 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @acronym{MIME} object
12232 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
12234 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
12235 @item C-o (Article)
12236 @kindex C-o (Article)
12237 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} object and strip it from
12238 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
12239 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
12240 like. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred via the
12241 message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
12242 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
12244 @findex gnus-mime-replace-part
12246 @kindex r (Article)
12247 Prompt for a file name, replace the @acronym{MIME} object with an
12248 external body refering to the file via the message/external-body
12249 @acronym{MIME} type. (@code{gnus-mime-replace-part}).
12251 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
12253 @kindex d (Article)
12254 Delete the @acronym{MIME} object from the article and replace it with some
12255 information about the removed @acronym{MIME} object
12256 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
12258 @c FIXME: gnus-auto-select-part should be documented here
12260 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
12262 @kindex c (Article)
12263 Copy the @acronym{MIME} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
12264 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). If given a prefix, copy the raw contents
12265 without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual
12266 charset stuff (see @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in
12267 @ref{Paging the Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
12268 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
12269 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
12270 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
12272 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
12274 @kindex p (Article)
12275 Print the @acronym{MIME} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
12276 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
12277 @file{.mailcap} file.
12279 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
12281 @kindex i (Article)
12282 Insert the contents of the @acronym{MIME} object into the buffer
12283 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as @samp{text/plain}. If given a prefix, insert
12284 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
12285 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
12286 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @ref{Paging the
12287 Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and @file{.bz2} are
12288 automatically decompressed depending on @code{jka-compr} regardless of
12289 @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed Files,, Accessing
12290 Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
12292 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
12294 @kindex E (Article)
12295 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
12296 viewer is available, use an external viewer
12297 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
12299 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
12301 @kindex e (Article)
12302 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an external viewer.
12303 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
12305 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
12307 @kindex | (Article)
12308 Output the @acronym{MIME} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
12310 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
12312 @kindex . (Article)
12313 Interactively run an action on the @acronym{MIME} object
12314 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
12318 Gnus will display some @acronym{MIME} objects automatically. The way Gnus
12319 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
12320 @acronym{MIME} manual.
12322 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
12323 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
12324 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @acronym{MIME} has
12325 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
12326 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
12327 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
12328 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
12329 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
12330 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
12332 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
12334 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
12337 @node Customizing Articles
12338 @section Customizing Articles
12339 @cindex article customization
12341 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
12342 exist. You can call these functions interactively
12343 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
12344 called automatically when you select the articles.
12346 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
12347 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
12348 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
12349 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
12351 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
12352 for sensible values.
12356 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
12359 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
12362 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
12365 @code{first}: Do this treatment on the first body part.
12368 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last body part.
12371 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
12375 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
12376 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
12377 regexps in the list.
12380 A list where the first element is not a string:
12382 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
12383 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
12384 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
12388 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
12393 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
12394 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
12395 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
12396 considered to contain just a single part.
12398 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
12399 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
12400 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
12401 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
12402 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
12403 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
12404 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
12407 @c Avoid sort of redundant entries in the same section for the printed
12408 @c manual, but add them in info to allow `i gnus-treat-foo-bar RET' or
12410 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize
12411 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize-head
12412 @vindex gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences
12413 @vindex gnus-treat-overstrike
12414 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-cr
12415 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body
12416 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines
12417 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines
12418 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-pem
12419 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines
12420 @vindex gnus-treat-unsplit-urls
12421 @vindex gnus-treat-wash-html
12422 @vindex gnus-treat-date-english
12423 @vindex gnus-treat-date-iso8601
12424 @vindex gnus-treat-date-lapsed
12425 @vindex gnus-treat-date-local
12426 @vindex gnus-treat-date-original
12427 @vindex gnus-treat-date-user-defined
12428 @vindex gnus-treat-date-ut
12429 @vindex gnus-treat-from-picon
12430 @vindex gnus-treat-mail-picon
12431 @vindex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
12432 @vindex gnus-treat-display-smileys
12433 @vindex gnus-treat-body-boundary
12434 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
12435 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
12436 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
12437 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
12438 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
12439 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
12440 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
12441 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
12442 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
12443 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
12444 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
12445 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
12446 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
12447 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
12448 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
12449 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
12450 @vindex gnus-treat-translate
12451 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
12452 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
12453 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
12454 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
12455 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
12458 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
12459 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
12460 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
12461 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
12464 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
12465 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
12467 @xref{Article Buttons}.
12469 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
12470 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
12471 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
12472 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
12473 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, first, integer)
12474 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
12475 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
12476 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
12477 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
12478 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
12480 @xref{Article Washing}.
12482 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
12483 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
12484 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
12485 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
12486 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
12487 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
12488 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
12490 @xref{Article Date}.
12492 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
12493 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
12494 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
12498 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
12500 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
12502 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
12503 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
12504 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
12508 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
12509 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
12513 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
12514 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
12518 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
12519 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
12520 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
12521 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
12522 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
12523 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
12524 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
12525 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
12526 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
12527 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
12528 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
12529 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
12530 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
12531 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
12532 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
12533 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
12534 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
12535 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
12536 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
12537 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
12539 @xref{Article Hiding}.
12541 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
12542 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
12543 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
12544 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
12545 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
12546 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
12548 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
12550 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
12551 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
12552 @vindex gnus-treat-translate
12553 @item gnus-treat-translate
12554 @item gnus-treat-ansi-sequences (t)
12555 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
12556 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
12558 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
12559 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
12560 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
12561 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
12562 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
12563 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
12564 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
12565 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
12567 @xref{Article Header}.
12572 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
12573 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
12574 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
12575 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
12576 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
12580 @node Article Keymap
12581 @section Article Keymap
12583 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
12584 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
12585 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
12586 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
12589 @kindex v (Article)
12590 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Article)
12591 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
12592 command or better use it as a prefix key.
12594 A few additional keystrokes are available:
12599 @kindex SPACE (Article)
12600 @findex gnus-article-next-page
12601 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
12602 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
12605 @kindex DEL (Article)
12606 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
12607 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
12608 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
12611 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
12612 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
12613 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
12614 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
12615 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
12618 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
12619 @findex gnus-article-mail
12620 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
12621 given a prefix, include the mail.
12624 @kindex s (Article)
12625 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
12626 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
12627 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
12630 @kindex ? (Article)
12631 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
12632 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
12633 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
12636 @kindex TAB (Article)
12637 @findex gnus-article-next-button
12638 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
12639 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
12642 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
12643 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
12644 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
12647 @kindex R (Article)
12648 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
12649 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
12650 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If the region is active,
12651 only yank the text in the region.
12654 @kindex S W (Article)
12655 @findex gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original
12656 Send a wide reply to the current article and yank the current article
12657 (@code{gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original}). If the region is
12658 active, only yank the text in the region.
12661 @kindex F (Article)
12662 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
12663 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
12664 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If the region is active,
12665 only yank the text in the region.
12672 @section Misc Article
12676 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
12677 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
12678 @cindex article buffers, several
12679 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
12680 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
12683 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
12684 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
12685 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
12686 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
12687 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
12689 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
12690 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
12691 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
12692 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
12693 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
12694 the contents of the article buffer.
12696 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
12697 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
12698 Hook called in article mode buffers.
12700 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12701 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12702 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
12703 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
12705 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
12706 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
12707 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
12708 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
12710 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
12711 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
12712 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
12713 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Summary Buffer Mode
12714 Line}). It accepts the same format specifications as that variable,
12715 with two extensions:
12720 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
12721 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
12722 performed. The characters and their meaning:
12727 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
12730 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
12733 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
12734 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
12735 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
12738 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
12741 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
12744 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
12749 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
12753 @vindex gnus-break-pages
12755 @item gnus-break-pages
12756 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
12757 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
12758 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
12759 paging will not be done.
12761 @item gnus-page-delimiter
12762 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
12763 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
12767 @cindex internationalized domain names
12768 @vindex gnus-use-idna
12769 @item gnus-use-idna
12770 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
12771 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
12772 @samp{Cc} headers. @xref{IDNA, ,IDNA,message, The Message Manual},
12773 for how to compose such messages. This requires
12774 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
12775 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
12780 @node Composing Messages
12781 @chapter Composing Messages
12782 @cindex composing messages
12785 @cindex sending mail
12790 @cindex using s/mime
12791 @cindex using smime
12793 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
12794 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
12795 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
12796 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
12797 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
12798 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
12801 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
12802 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
12803 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
12804 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
12805 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
12806 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
12807 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
12808 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
12809 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
12812 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
12813 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
12819 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
12822 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
12823 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
12824 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
12825 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
12826 @code{nil} include all headers.
12828 @item gnus-add-to-list
12829 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
12830 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
12831 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
12833 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12834 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12835 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you for a confirmation when you are
12836 about to reply to news articles by mail. If it is @code{nil}, nothing
12837 interferes in what you want to do. This can also be a function
12838 receiving the group name as the only parameter which should return
12839 non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is needed, or a regular expression
12840 matching group names, where confirmation should be asked for.
12842 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
12843 press @kbd{R} anyway, this variable might be for you.
12845 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12846 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12847 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
12848 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
12849 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
12854 @node Posting Server
12855 @section Posting Server
12857 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
12858 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
12860 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
12862 It can be quite complicated.
12864 @vindex gnus-post-method
12865 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
12866 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
12867 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
12868 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
12869 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
12870 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
12871 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
12872 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
12873 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
12876 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
12879 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
12880 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
12881 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
12882 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
12884 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
12885 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
12887 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
12888 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
12891 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
12892 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
12894 @vindex message-send-mail-function
12895 When sending mail, Message invokes the function specified by the
12896 variable @code{message-send-mail-function}. Gnus tries to set it to a
12897 value suitable for your system.
12898 @xref{Mail Variables, ,Mail Variables,message,Message manual}, for more
12901 @node POP before SMTP
12902 @section POP before SMTP
12903 @cindex pop before smtp
12904 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
12905 @findex mail-source-touch-pop
12907 Does your @acronym{ISP} require the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP}
12908 authentication? It is whether you need to connect to the @acronym{POP}
12909 mail server within a certain time before sending mails. If so, there is
12910 a convenient way. To do that, put the following lines in your
12911 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12914 (setq message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
12915 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook 'mail-source-touch-pop)
12919 It means to let Gnus connect to the @acronym{POP} mail server in advance
12920 whenever you send a mail. The @code{mail-source-touch-pop} function
12921 does only a @acronym{POP} authentication according to the value of
12922 @code{mail-sources} without fetching mails, just before sending a mail.
12923 Note that you have to use @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} which runs
12924 @code{message-send-mail-hook} rather than @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
12925 set the value of @code{mail-sources} for a @acronym{POP} connection
12926 correctly. @xref{Mail Sources}.
12928 If you have two or more @acronym{POP} mail servers set in
12929 @code{mail-sources}, you may want to specify one of them to
12930 @code{mail-source-primary-source} as the @acronym{POP} mail server to be
12931 used for the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. If it
12932 is your primary @acronym{POP} mail server (i.e., you are fetching mails
12933 mainly from that server), you can set it permanently as follows:
12936 (setq mail-source-primary-source
12937 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12938 :password "secret"))
12942 Otherwise, bind it dynamically only when performing the
12943 @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication as follows:
12946 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook
12948 (let ((mail-source-primary-source
12949 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12950 :password "secret")))
12951 (mail-source-touch-pop))))
12954 @node Mail and Post
12955 @section Mail and Post
12957 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
12961 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
12962 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
12963 @cindex mailing lists
12965 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
12966 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
12967 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
12968 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
12969 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
12970 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
12971 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
12972 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
12973 still a pain, though.
12975 @item gnus-user-agent
12976 @vindex gnus-user-agent
12979 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
12980 User-Agent header. It can be a list of symbols or a string. Valid
12981 symbols are @code{gnus} (show Gnus version) and @code{emacs} (show Emacs
12982 version). In addition to the Emacs version, you can add @code{codename}
12983 (show (S)XEmacs codename) or either @code{config} (show system
12984 configuration) or @code{type} (show system type). If you set it to a
12985 string, be sure to use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
12989 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
12990 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
12991 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
12994 @findex ispell-message
12996 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
12999 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
13000 you're in, you could say something like the following:
13003 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
13007 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
13008 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
13010 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
13013 Modify to suit your needs.
13015 @vindex gnus-message-highlight-citation
13016 If @code{gnus-message-highlight-citation} is t, different levels of
13017 citations are highlighted like in Gnus article buffers also in message
13020 @node Archived Messages
13021 @section Archived Messages
13022 @cindex archived messages
13023 @cindex sent messages
13025 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
13026 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
13027 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
13028 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
13031 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
13032 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
13035 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
13036 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
13037 use to store sent messages. The default is @code{"archive"}, and when
13038 actually being used it is expanded into:
13041 (nnfolder "archive"
13042 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
13043 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
13044 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
13045 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
13049 @vindex gnus-update-message-archive-method
13050 Note: a server like this is saved in the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file first
13051 so that it may be used as a real method of the server which is named
13052 @code{"archive"} (that is, for the case where
13053 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} is set to @code{"archive"}) ever
13054 since. If it once has been saved, it will never be updated by default
13055 even if you change the value of @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
13056 afterward. Therefore, the server @code{"archive"} doesn't necessarily
13057 mean the @code{nnfolder} server like this at all times. If you want the
13058 saved method to reflect always the value of
13059 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, set the
13060 @code{gnus-update-message-archive-method} variable to a non-@code{nil}
13061 value. The default value of this variable is @code{nil}.
13064 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
13065 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
13066 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
13067 directory chosen, you could say something like:
13070 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
13071 '(nnfolder "archive"
13072 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
13073 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
13074 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
13077 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
13079 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
13080 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
13081 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
13083 This variable can be used to do the following:
13087 Messages will be saved in that group.
13089 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
13090 message will not be stored in the select method given by
13091 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
13092 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
13093 has the default value shown above. Then setting
13094 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
13095 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
13096 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
13099 @item a list of strings
13100 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
13102 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
13103 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
13106 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
13111 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
13113 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
13116 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
13118 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
13121 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
13123 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
13124 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
13125 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
13126 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
13129 More complex stuff:
13131 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
13132 '((if (message-news-p)
13137 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
13138 messages in one file per month:
13141 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
13142 '((if (message-news-p)
13144 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
13147 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
13148 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
13150 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
13151 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
13152 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
13153 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
13154 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
13155 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
13156 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
13157 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
13158 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
13159 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
13161 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
13162 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
13163 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
13164 this will disable archiving.
13167 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
13168 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
13169 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
13170 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
13171 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
13174 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
13175 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
13176 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
13179 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
13180 but the latter is the preferred method.
13182 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
13183 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
13184 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
13186 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
13187 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
13188 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
13189 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
13190 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
13191 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
13192 changed in the future.
13197 @node Posting Styles
13198 @section Posting Styles
13199 @cindex posting styles
13202 All them variables, they make my head swim.
13204 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
13205 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
13206 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
13209 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
13210 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
13211 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
13212 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
13213 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
13218 (signature "Peace and happiness")
13219 (organization "What me?"))
13221 (signature "Death to everybody"))
13222 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
13223 (organization "Emacs is it")))
13226 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
13227 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
13228 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
13229 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
13230 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
13231 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
13232 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
13233 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
13235 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
13236 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
13237 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
13238 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
13239 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
13240 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
13241 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
13242 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
13243 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
13244 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
13245 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
13246 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
13247 said to @dfn{match}.
13249 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
13250 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. In
13251 addition, you can also use the @code{(@var{name} :file @var{value})}
13252 form or the @code{(@var{name} :value @var{value})} form. Where
13253 @code{:file} signifies @var{value} represents a file name and its
13254 contents should be used as the attribute value, @code{:value} signifies
13255 @var{value} does not represent a file name explicitly. The attribute
13256 name can be one of:
13259 @item @code{signature}
13260 @item @code{signature-file}
13261 @item @code{x-face-file}
13262 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
13263 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
13267 Note that the @code{signature-file} attribute honors the variable
13268 @code{message-signature-directory}.
13270 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
13271 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
13272 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
13273 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
13274 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
13276 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
13277 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
13278 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
13279 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
13280 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
13281 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
13282 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
13283 references chars lines xref extra.
13285 @vindex message-reply-headers
13287 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
13288 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
13289 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
13291 @findex message-mail-p
13292 @findex message-news-p
13294 So here's a new example:
13297 (setq gnus-posting-styles
13299 (signature-file "~/.signature")
13301 (x-face-file "~/.xface")
13302 (x-url (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
13303 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
13305 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
13306 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
13307 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
13308 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
13309 (signature my-news-signature))
13310 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
13311 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
13312 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
13313 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
13314 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
13315 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
13316 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
13317 (address "user@@bar.foo")
13318 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
13319 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
13321 (From (save-excursion
13322 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
13323 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
13325 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
13328 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
13329 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
13330 if you fill many roles.
13331 You may also use @code{message-alternative-emails} instead.
13332 @xref{Message Headers, ,Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
13338 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
13339 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
13340 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
13341 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
13342 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
13344 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
13345 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
13346 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
13347 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
13348 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
13352 @vindex nndraft-directory
13353 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
13354 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
13355 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
13356 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
13357 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
13358 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
13360 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
13361 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
13362 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
13363 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
13364 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
13365 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
13366 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
13367 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
13368 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
13370 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
13371 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
13372 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
13373 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
13374 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
13375 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
13376 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
13377 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
13378 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
13379 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
13380 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
13381 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
13382 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
13383 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
13385 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
13386 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
13387 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
13389 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
13390 @kindex D e (Draft)
13391 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
13392 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
13393 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
13395 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
13398 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
13399 @kindex D s (Draft)
13400 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
13401 @kindex D S (Draft)
13402 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
13403 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
13404 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
13405 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
13406 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
13409 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
13410 @kindex D t (Draft)
13411 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
13412 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
13413 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
13416 @node Rejected Articles
13417 @section Rejected Articles
13418 @cindex rejected articles
13420 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
13421 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
13422 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
13423 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
13425 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
13426 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
13427 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
13428 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
13429 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
13431 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
13432 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
13433 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
13435 @node Signing and encrypting
13436 @section Signing and encrypting
13438 @cindex using s/mime
13439 @cindex using smime
13441 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
13442 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
13443 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
13444 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
13446 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
13447 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
13448 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
13449 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
13450 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
13451 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
13452 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
13453 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
13454 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
13455 automatically encrypted messages.
13457 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
13458 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
13459 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
13464 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
13465 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
13467 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
13470 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
13471 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
13473 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
13476 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
13477 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
13479 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
13482 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
13483 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
13485 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
13488 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
13489 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
13491 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
13494 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
13495 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
13497 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
13500 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
13501 @findex mml-unsecure-message
13502 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
13506 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
13508 @node Select Methods
13509 @chapter Select Methods
13510 @cindex foreign groups
13511 @cindex select methods
13513 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
13514 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
13515 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
13516 personal mail group.
13518 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
13519 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
13520 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
13521 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
13522 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
13523 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
13525 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
13526 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
13528 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
13531 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
13532 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
13533 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
13534 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
13535 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
13537 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
13540 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
13541 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
13542 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
13543 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
13544 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
13545 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
13546 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
13547 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
13548 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
13552 @node Server Buffer
13553 @section Server Buffer
13555 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
13556 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
13557 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
13558 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
13559 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
13560 back end represents a virtual server.
13562 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
13563 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
13564 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
13565 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
13567 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
13568 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
13569 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
13570 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
13571 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
13572 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
13573 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
13575 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
13576 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
13579 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
13580 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
13581 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
13582 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
13583 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
13584 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
13585 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
13588 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
13589 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
13592 @node Server Buffer Format
13593 @subsection Server Buffer Format
13594 @cindex server buffer format
13596 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
13597 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
13598 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
13599 variable, with some simple extensions:
13604 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
13607 The name of this server.
13610 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
13613 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
13616 Whether this server is agentized.
13619 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
13620 The mode line can also be customized by using the
13621 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
13622 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
13632 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
13635 @node Server Commands
13636 @subsection Server Commands
13637 @cindex server commands
13643 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Server)
13644 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
13645 command or better use it as a prefix key.
13649 @findex gnus-server-add-server
13650 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
13654 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
13655 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
13658 @kindex SPACE (Server)
13659 @findex gnus-server-read-server
13660 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
13664 @findex gnus-server-exit
13665 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
13669 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
13670 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
13674 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
13675 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
13679 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
13680 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
13684 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
13685 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
13689 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
13690 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
13691 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
13696 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
13697 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
13698 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
13699 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
13703 @findex gnus-server-compact-server
13705 Compact all groups in the server under point
13706 (@code{gnus-server-compact-server}). Currently implemented only in
13707 nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes gaps between article numbers,
13708 hence getting a correct total article count.
13713 @node Example Methods
13714 @subsection Example Methods
13716 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
13719 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
13722 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
13728 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
13729 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
13732 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
13733 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
13735 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
13736 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
13740 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
13743 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
13744 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
13746 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
13747 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
13748 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
13752 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
13755 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
13758 Here's the method for a public spool:
13762 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
13763 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
13769 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
13770 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
13771 on the firewall machine and connect with
13772 @uref{http://netcat.sourceforge.net/, netcat} from there to the
13773 @acronym{NNTP} server.
13774 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
13775 should probably look something like this:
13779 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat)
13780 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
13781 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host"))
13784 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
13785 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
13786 configuration to the example above:
13789 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13792 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}. Here's an example for
13793 an indirect connection:
13796 (setq gnus-select-method
13798 (nntp-address "news.server.example")
13799 (nntp-via-user-name "intermediate_user_name")
13800 (nntp-via-address "intermediate.host.example")
13801 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13802 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches ("-C"))
13803 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat)))
13806 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
13807 provide automatic authorization, of course.
13809 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
13810 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
13811 netcat connection to the news server as follows:
13815 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13816 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-netcat-stream)
13817 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13821 @node Creating a Virtual Server
13822 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
13824 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
13825 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
13827 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
13828 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
13829 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
13831 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
13833 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
13834 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
13835 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
13836 will contain the following:
13846 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
13847 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
13850 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
13851 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
13852 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
13855 @node Server Variables
13856 @subsection Server Variables
13857 @cindex server variables
13858 @cindex server parameters
13860 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
13861 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
13862 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
13863 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
13864 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
13866 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
13867 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
13868 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
13869 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
13870 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
13871 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
13872 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
13873 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
13874 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
13878 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
13879 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
13880 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
13883 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
13885 @node Servers and Methods
13886 @subsection Servers and Methods
13888 Wherever you would normally use a select method
13889 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
13890 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
13891 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
13895 @node Unavailable Servers
13896 @subsection Unavailable Servers
13898 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
13899 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
13900 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
13901 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
13902 actually the case or not.
13904 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
13905 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
13906 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
13907 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
13908 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
13909 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
13910 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
13911 it will regard that server as ``down''.
13913 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
13914 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
13916 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
13917 with the following commands:
13923 @findex gnus-server-open-server
13924 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
13925 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
13929 @findex gnus-server-close-server
13930 Close the connection (if any) to the server
13931 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
13935 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
13936 Mark the current server as unreachable
13937 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
13940 @kindex M-o (Server)
13941 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
13942 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
13943 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
13946 @kindex M-c (Server)
13947 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
13948 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
13949 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
13953 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
13954 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
13955 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
13959 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
13960 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
13966 @section Getting News
13967 @cindex reading news
13968 @cindex news back ends
13970 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
13971 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
13972 or it can read from a local spool.
13975 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13976 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
13984 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
13985 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
13986 server as the, uhm, address.
13988 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
13989 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
13990 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
13991 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13993 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
13994 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
13995 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
13997 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
14002 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
14003 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
14004 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
14006 @cindex authentication
14007 @cindex nntp authentication
14008 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
14009 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
14010 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
14011 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
14012 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
14013 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
14014 present in this hook.
14016 @item nntp-authinfo-function
14017 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
14018 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
14019 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
14020 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
14021 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
14022 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
14023 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
14024 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
14025 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
14026 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
14027 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
14031 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
14034 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
14036 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
14037 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
14038 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
14039 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
14040 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
14041 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
14042 @samp{force} is explained below.
14046 Here's an example file:
14049 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
14050 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
14053 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
14054 have to be first, for instance.
14056 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
14057 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
14058 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
14059 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
14060 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
14061 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
14062 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
14064 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
14065 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
14071 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
14072 previously mentioned.
14074 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
14076 @item nntp-server-action-alist
14077 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
14078 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
14079 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
14080 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
14083 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
14084 '(("innd" (ding))))
14087 You probably don't want to do that, though.
14089 The default value is
14092 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
14093 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
14094 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
14097 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
14098 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
14100 @item nntp-maximum-request
14101 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
14102 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
14103 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
14104 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
14105 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
14106 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
14107 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
14109 @item nntp-connection-timeout
14110 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
14111 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
14112 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
14113 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
14114 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
14115 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
14116 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
14117 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
14118 no timeouts are done.
14120 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
14121 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
14122 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
14123 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
14126 @item nntp-xover-commands
14127 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
14128 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
14130 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
14131 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
14135 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
14136 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
14137 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
14138 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
14139 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
14140 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
14141 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
14142 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
14143 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
14144 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
14145 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
14147 @item nntp-xref-number-is-evil
14148 @vindex nntp-xref-number-is-evil
14149 When Gnus refers to an article having the @code{Message-ID} that a user
14150 specifies or having the @code{Message-ID} of the parent article of the
14151 current one (@pxref{Finding the Parent}), Gnus sends a @code{HEAD}
14152 command to the @acronym{NNTP} server to know where it is, and the server
14153 returns the data containing the pairs of a group and an article number
14154 in the @code{Xref} header. Gnus normally uses the article number to
14155 refer to the article if the data shows that that article is in the
14156 current group, while it uses the @code{Message-ID} otherwise. However,
14157 some news servers, e.g., ones running Diablo, run multiple engines
14158 having the same articles but article numbers are not kept synchronized
14159 between them. In that case, the article number that appears in the
14160 @code{Xref} header varies by which engine is chosen, so you cannot refer
14161 to the parent article that is in the current group, for instance. If
14162 you connect to such a server, set this variable to a non-@code{nil}
14163 value, and Gnus never uses article numbers. For example:
14166 (setq gnus-select-method
14168 (nntp-address "newszilla.example.com")
14169 (nntp-xref-number-is-evil t)
14173 The default value of this server variable is @code{nil}.
14175 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
14176 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
14177 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
14179 @item nntp-record-commands
14180 @vindex nntp-record-commands
14181 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
14182 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
14183 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
14184 that doesn't seem to work.
14186 @item nntp-open-connection-function
14187 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
14188 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
14189 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
14190 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
14191 Seven pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped
14192 in two categories: direct connection functions (four pre-made), and
14193 indirect ones (three pre-made).
14195 @item nntp-never-echoes-commands
14196 @vindex nntp-never-echoes-commands
14197 Non-@code{nil} means the nntp server never echoes commands. It is
14198 reported that some nntps server doesn't echo commands. So, you may want
14199 to set this to non-@code{nil} in the method for such a server setting
14200 @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream} for
14201 example. The default value is @code{nil}. Note that the
14202 @code{nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands} variable
14203 overrides the @code{nil} value of this variable.
14205 @item nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
14206 @vindex nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
14207 List of functions that never echo commands. Add or set a function which
14208 you set to @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to this list if it does
14209 not echo commands. Note that a non-@code{nil} value of the
14210 @code{nntp-never-echoes-commands} variable overrides this variable. The
14211 default value is @code{(nntp-open-network-stream)}.
14213 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
14214 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
14215 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
14216 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
14217 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
14218 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
14219 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
14222 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
14225 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
14226 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
14231 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
14232 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
14233 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
14234 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
14238 @node Direct Functions
14239 @subsubsection Direct Functions
14240 @cindex direct connection functions
14242 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
14243 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
14244 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
14245 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
14248 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
14249 @item nntp-open-network-stream
14250 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
14253 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
14254 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
14255 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
14256 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
14257 installed. You then define a server as follows:
14260 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
14261 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
14263 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
14264 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
14265 (nntp-port-number )
14266 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
14269 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
14270 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
14271 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
14272 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
14273 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
14274 then define a server as follows:
14277 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
14278 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
14280 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
14281 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
14282 (nntp-port-number 563)
14283 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
14286 @findex nntp-open-netcat-stream
14287 @item nntp-open-netcat-stream
14288 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server using the @code{netcat}
14289 program. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have
14290 the default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
14291 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
14292 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
14293 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
14297 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
14298 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-netcat-stream)
14299 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
14302 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
14303 session, which is not a good idea.
14305 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
14306 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
14307 Like @code{nntp-open-netcat-stream}, but uses @code{telnet} rather than
14308 @code{netcat}. @code{telnet} is a bit less robust because of things
14309 like line-end-conversion, but sometimes netcat is simply
14310 not available. The previous example would turn into:
14314 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
14315 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
14316 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
14317 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
14322 @node Indirect Functions
14323 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
14324 @cindex indirect connection functions
14326 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
14327 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
14328 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
14329 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
14330 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
14331 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
14334 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
14335 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
14336 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then uses @code{netcat} to connect
14337 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
14338 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
14340 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat}-specific variables:
14343 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
14344 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
14345 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
14346 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
14348 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
14349 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
14350 List of strings to be used as the switches to
14351 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
14352 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
14353 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections.
14356 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
14357 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
14358 Does essentially the same, but uses @code{telnet} instead of @samp{netcat}
14359 to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the intermediate host.
14360 @code{telnet} is a bit less robust because of things like
14361 line-end-conversion, but sometimes @code{netcat} is simply not available.
14363 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
14366 @item nntp-telnet-command
14367 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
14368 Command used to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the
14369 intermediate host. The default is @samp{telnet}.
14371 @item nntp-telnet-switches
14372 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
14373 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
14374 @code{nntp-telnet-command} command. The default is @code{("-8")}.
14376 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
14377 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
14378 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
14379 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
14381 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
14382 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
14383 List of strings to be used as the switches to
14384 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. If you use @samp{ssh}, you may need to set
14385 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
14386 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
14387 host. The default is @code{nil}.
14390 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
14391 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
14393 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
14394 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
14395 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
14396 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
14398 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
14401 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
14402 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
14403 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
14406 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
14407 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
14408 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
14409 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
14411 @item nntp-via-user-password
14412 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
14413 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
14415 @item nntp-via-envuser
14416 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
14417 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
14418 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
14419 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
14421 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
14422 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
14423 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
14424 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
14428 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
14429 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
14433 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
14438 @item nntp-via-user-name
14439 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
14440 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
14442 @item nntp-via-address
14443 @vindex nntp-via-address
14444 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
14449 @node Common Variables
14450 @subsubsection Common Variables
14452 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
14453 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
14454 affected (the values of the following variables will be used as the
14455 default if each virtual @code{nntp} server doesn't specify those server
14456 variables individually).
14460 @item nntp-pre-command
14461 @vindex nntp-pre-command
14462 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
14463 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
14464 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}). This is
14465 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
14468 @vindex nntp-address
14469 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
14471 @item nntp-port-number
14472 @vindex nntp-port-number
14473 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
14474 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
14475 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
14476 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
14477 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
14478 not work with named ports.
14480 @item nntp-end-of-line
14481 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
14482 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
14483 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
14484 using a non native telnet connection function.
14486 @item nntp-netcat-command
14487 @vindex nntp-netcat-command
14488 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
14489 @samp{netcat}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
14490 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
14493 @item nntp-netcat-switches
14494 @vindex nntp-netcat-switches
14495 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-netcat-command}. The default
14501 @subsubsection NNTP marks
14502 @cindex storing NNTP marks
14504 Gnus stores marks (@pxref{Marking Articles}) for @acronym{NNTP}
14505 servers in marks files. A marks file records what marks you have set
14506 in a group and each file is specific to the corresponding server.
14507 Marks files are stored in @file{~/News/marks}
14508 (@code{nntp-marks-directory}) under a classic hierarchy resembling
14509 that of a news server, for example marks for the group
14510 @samp{gmane.discuss} on the news.gmane.org server will be stored in
14511 the file @file{~/News/marks/news.gmane.org/gmane/discuss/.marks}.
14513 Marks files are useful because you can copy the @file{~/News/marks}
14514 directory (using rsync, scp or whatever) to another Gnus installation,
14515 and it will realize what articles you have read and marked. The data
14516 in @file{~/News/marks} has priority over the same data in
14517 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
14519 Note that marks files are very much server-specific: Gnus remembers
14520 the article numbers so if you don't use the same servers on both
14521 installations things are most likely to break (most @acronym{NNTP}
14522 servers do not use the same article numbers as any other server).
14523 However, if you use servers A, B, C on one installation and servers A,
14524 D, E on the other, you can sync the marks files for A and then you'll
14525 get synchronization for that server between the two installations.
14527 Using @acronym{NNTP} marks can possibly incur a performance penalty so
14528 if Gnus feels sluggish, try setting the @code{nntp-marks-is-evil}
14529 variable to @code{t}. Marks will then be stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
14535 @item nntp-marks-is-evil
14536 @vindex nntp-marks-is-evil
14537 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any marks files. The
14538 default is @code{nil}.
14540 @item nntp-marks-directory
14541 @vindex nntp-marks-directory
14542 The directory where marks for nntp groups will be stored.
14548 @subsection News Spool
14552 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
14553 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
14554 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
14557 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
14558 anything else) as the address.
14560 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
14561 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
14562 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
14563 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
14567 @item nnspool-inews-program
14568 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
14569 Program used to post an article.
14571 @item nnspool-inews-switches
14572 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
14573 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
14575 @item nnspool-spool-directory
14576 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
14577 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
14578 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
14580 @item nnspool-nov-directory
14581 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
14582 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
14583 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
14585 @item nnspool-lib-dir
14586 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
14587 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
14589 @item nnspool-active-file
14590 @vindex nnspool-active-file
14591 The name of the active file.
14593 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
14594 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
14595 The name of the group descriptions file.
14597 @item nnspool-history-file
14598 @vindex nnspool-history-file
14599 The name of the news history file.
14601 @item nnspool-active-times-file
14602 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
14603 The name of the active date file.
14605 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
14606 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
14607 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
14610 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
14611 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
14613 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
14614 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
14615 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
14622 @section Getting Mail
14623 @cindex reading mail
14626 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
14630 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
14631 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
14632 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
14633 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
14634 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
14635 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
14636 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
14637 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
14638 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
14639 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
14640 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
14641 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
14642 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
14646 @node Mail in a Newsreader
14647 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
14649 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
14650 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
14651 of a culture shock.
14653 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
14654 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
14656 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
14657 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
14658 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
14659 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
14661 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
14663 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
14664 deleted? How awful!
14666 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
14667 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
14668 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
14669 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
14672 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
14673 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
14674 they want to treat a message.
14676 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
14677 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
14678 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
14679 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
14680 archived somewhere else.
14682 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
14683 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
14684 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
14685 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
14686 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
14688 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
14689 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
14690 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
14692 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
14693 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
14696 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
14697 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
14698 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
14699 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
14700 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
14702 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
14703 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
14704 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
14705 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
14706 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
14707 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
14711 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
14712 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
14714 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
14715 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
14716 and things will happen automatically.
14718 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
14719 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14722 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
14725 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
14726 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
14727 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
14728 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
14729 like any other group.
14731 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
14734 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14735 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14736 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14740 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
14741 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
14742 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
14745 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
14746 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
14747 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
14750 @node Splitting Mail
14751 @subsection Splitting Mail
14752 @cindex splitting mail
14753 @cindex mail splitting
14754 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
14756 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
14757 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
14758 to be split into groups.
14761 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14762 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14763 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14764 ("mail.other" "")))
14767 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
14768 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
14769 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
14770 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
14771 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
14772 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
14773 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
14776 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
14780 In that case, @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether
14781 the inserted text should be made lowercase. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14783 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14784 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
14785 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
14786 mail belongs in that group.
14788 @cindex @samp{bogus} group
14789 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
14790 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{""} so that it matches any mails
14791 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
14792 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first rule
14793 to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled. In
14794 that case, all matching rules will ``win''.) If no rule matched, the mail
14795 will end up in the @samp{bogus} group. When new groups are created by
14796 splitting mail, you may want to run @code{gnus-group-find-new-groups} to
14797 see the new groups. This also applies to the @samp{bogus} group.
14799 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
14800 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
14801 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
14802 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
14803 thinks should carry this mail message.
14805 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
14806 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
14807 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
14808 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
14810 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
14811 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
14812 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
14813 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
14814 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{""}) group.
14816 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
14819 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
14820 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
14821 links. If that's the case for you, set
14822 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
14823 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
14825 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
14826 @findex nnmail-split-history
14827 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
14828 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
14829 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
14830 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
14833 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
14834 Header lines longer than the value of
14835 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
14838 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
14839 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
14840 By default, splitting does not decode headers, so you can not match on
14841 non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. But it is useful if you want to match
14842 articles based on the raw header data. To enable it, set the
14843 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} variable to a non-@code{nil} value.
14844 In addition, the value of the @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
14845 variable is used for decoding non-@acronym{MIME} encoded string when
14846 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} is non-@code{nil}. The default
14847 value is @code{nil} which means not to decode non-@acronym{MIME} encoded
14848 string. A suitable value for you will be @code{undecided} or be the
14849 charset used normally in mails you are interested in.
14851 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14852 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
14853 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
14854 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
14855 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
14856 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
14857 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
14858 other kinds of entries.)
14860 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
14861 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
14862 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
14863 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
14864 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
14865 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
14866 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
14867 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
14868 month's rent money.
14872 @subsection Mail Sources
14874 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
14875 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
14876 maildir, for instance.
14879 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
14880 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
14881 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
14885 @node Mail Source Specifiers
14886 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
14888 @cindex mail server
14891 @cindex mail source
14893 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
14894 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
14899 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
14902 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
14903 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
14904 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
14907 The @code{mail-sources} is global for all mail groups. You can specify
14908 an additional mail source for a particular group by including the
14909 @code{group} mail specifier in @code{mail-sources}, and setting a
14910 @code{mail-source} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) specifying
14911 a single mail source. When this is used, @code{mail-sources} is
14912 typically just @code{(group)}; the @code{mail-source} parameter for a
14913 group might look like this:
14916 (mail-source . (file :path "home/user/spools/foo.spool"))
14919 This means that the group's (and only this group's) messages will be
14920 fetched from the spool file @samp{/user/spools/foo.spool}.
14922 The following mail source types are available:
14926 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
14932 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
14933 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
14934 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
14938 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14941 An example file mail source:
14944 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
14947 Or using the default file name:
14953 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
14954 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
14955 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
14956 mail spool while moving the mail.
14958 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
14962 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
14965 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
14969 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
14972 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
14974 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
14977 Alter this script to fit the @samp{movemail} and temporary
14978 file you want to use.
14982 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
14983 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
14984 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
14985 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
14986 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
14987 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
14988 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
14989 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
14990 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
14991 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
14993 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14994 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
14995 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
14996 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
15002 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
15006 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
15010 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
15011 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
15012 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
15013 predicate are considered.
15017 Script run before/after fetching mail.
15021 An example directory mail source:
15024 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
15029 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
15035 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
15036 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
15039 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
15040 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
15041 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
15042 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
15043 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
15046 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
15050 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
15051 the user is prompted.
15054 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
15055 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
15058 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
15061 The valid format specifier characters are:
15065 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
15066 included in this string.
15069 The name of the server.
15072 The port number of the server.
15075 The user name to use.
15078 The password to use.
15081 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
15082 corresponding keywords.
15085 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
15086 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
15089 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
15090 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
15093 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
15094 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
15095 mail should be moved to.
15097 @item :authentication
15098 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
15099 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
15104 @vindex pop3-movemail
15105 @vindex pop3-leave-mail-on-server
15106 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
15107 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used. If @code{pop3-leave-mail-on-server}
15108 is non-@code{nil} the mail is to be left on the @acronym{POP} server
15109 after fetching when using @code{pop3-movemail}. Note that POP servers
15110 maintain no state information between sessions, so what the client
15111 believes is there and what is actually there may not match up. If they
15112 do not, then you may get duplicate mails or the whole thing can fall
15113 apart and leave you with a corrupt mailbox.
15115 Here are some examples for getting mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
15116 Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server, using the default user
15117 name, and default fetcher:
15123 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
15126 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
15127 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
15130 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
15133 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
15137 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
15138 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
15139 contains exactly one mail.
15145 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
15146 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
15149 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
15150 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
15152 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
15153 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
15154 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
15157 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
15158 from locking problems).
15162 Two example maildir mail sources:
15165 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
15166 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
15170 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
15175 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
15176 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
15177 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
15178 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
15179 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
15181 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
15182 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
15188 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
15189 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
15192 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
15193 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
15196 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
15200 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
15204 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
15205 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
15206 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
15207 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
15209 @item :authentication
15210 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
15211 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
15212 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
15213 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
15216 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
15217 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
15218 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
15224 Make sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g.,
15225 don't forget to redirect the error output to the void. The valid format
15226 specifier characters are:
15230 The name of the server.
15233 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
15236 The port number of the server.
15239 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
15240 corresponding keywords.
15243 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
15244 which normally is the mailbox which receives incoming mail.
15247 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
15248 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
15249 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
15250 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
15251 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
15252 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
15255 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
15256 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
15257 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
15258 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
15261 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
15262 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
15266 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
15269 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
15271 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
15275 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{http://www.hotmail.com/},
15276 @uref{http://webmail.netscape.com/}, @uref{http://www.netaddress.com/},
15277 @uref{http://mail.yahoo.com/}.
15279 NOTE: Webmail largely depends on cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
15280 required for url "4.0pre.46".
15282 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
15288 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
15289 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
15292 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
15296 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
15300 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
15301 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
15305 An example webmail source:
15308 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
15310 :password "secret")
15314 Get the actual mail source from the @code{mail-source} group parameter,
15315 @xref{Group Parameters}.
15320 @item Common Keywords
15321 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
15327 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
15328 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
15333 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
15338 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
15339 useful when you use local mail and news.
15344 @subsubsection Function Interface
15346 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
15347 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
15348 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
15349 consider the following mail-source setting:
15352 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
15353 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
15356 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
15357 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
15358 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
15359 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
15360 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
15362 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
15365 @node Mail Source Customization
15366 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
15368 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
15369 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
15373 @item mail-source-crash-box
15374 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
15375 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
15376 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
15379 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
15380 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
15381 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
15382 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
15383 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
15384 (the deletion will only happen when receiving new mail). You may also
15385 set @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
15386 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
15387 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{2} in alpha Gnusae
15388 and @code{10} in released Gnusae. @xref{Gnus Development}.
15390 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
15391 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
15392 If non-@code{nil}, ask for confirmation before deleting old incoming
15393 files. This variable only applies when
15394 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
15396 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
15397 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
15398 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
15400 @item mail-source-directory
15401 @vindex mail-source-directory
15402 Directory where incoming mail source files (if any) will be stored. The
15403 default is @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for
15404 is to say where the incoming files will be stored if the variable
15405 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a number.
15407 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
15408 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
15409 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
15410 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
15411 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
15412 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a
15415 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
15416 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
15417 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
15419 @item mail-source-movemail-program
15420 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
15421 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
15422 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
15427 @node Fetching Mail
15428 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
15430 @vindex mail-sources
15431 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
15432 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
15433 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
15435 If this variable is @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to
15436 fetch mail by themselves.
15438 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
15439 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
15444 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
15445 :password "secret")))
15448 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
15452 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
15453 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
15456 :password "secret")))
15460 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
15461 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
15462 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
15463 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
15464 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
15465 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
15469 @node Mail Back End Variables
15470 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
15472 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
15476 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
15477 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
15478 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
15479 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
15481 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
15482 @item nnmail-split-hook
15483 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
15484 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
15485 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
15486 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
15487 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
15488 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
15489 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
15490 in the buffer will show up in any files.
15491 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
15494 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15495 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15496 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15497 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15498 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
15499 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
15500 starting to handle the new mail) and
15501 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
15502 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
15503 default file modes the new mail files get:
15506 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
15507 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
15509 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
15510 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
15513 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
15514 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
15515 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
15516 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
15517 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
15518 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
15519 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
15521 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
15522 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
15523 @findex delete-file
15524 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
15526 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15527 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15528 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
15529 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
15530 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
15532 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
15533 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
15534 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
15535 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
15536 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
15538 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
15539 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
15540 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
15545 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
15546 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
15547 @cindex mail splitting
15548 @cindex fancy mail splitting
15550 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
15551 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
15552 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
15553 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
15554 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
15555 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
15557 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
15560 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
15561 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
15562 ;; @r{from real errors.}
15563 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
15565 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
15566 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
15567 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
15568 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
15569 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
15570 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
15571 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
15572 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
15573 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
15574 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
15575 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
15576 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
15577 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
15578 (any "mypackage@@somewhere" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
15579 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
15580 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
15581 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
15585 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
15586 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
15587 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
15592 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
15593 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
15595 @c Don't fold this line.
15596 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split} [@var{invert-partial}])
15597 The split can be a list containing at least three elements. If the
15598 first element @var{field} (a regexp matching a header) contains
15599 @var{value} (also a regexp) then store the message as specified by
15602 If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp) matches some string after
15603 @var{field} and before the end of the matched @var{value}, the
15604 @var{split} is ignored. If none of the @var{restrict} clauses match,
15605 @var{split} is processed.
15607 The last element @var{invert-partial} is optional. If it is
15608 non-@code{nil}, the match-partial-words behavior controlled by the
15609 variable @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} (see below) is
15610 be inverted. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15612 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
15613 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
15614 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
15615 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
15616 stored in one or more groups.
15618 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
15619 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
15620 process all @var{split}s in the list.
15623 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
15624 this message. Use with extreme caution.
15626 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
15627 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
15628 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
15629 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
15632 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
15633 body of the messages:
15636 (defun split-on-body ()
15640 (goto-char (point-min))
15641 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
15645 The buffer is narrowed to the header of the message in question when
15646 @var{function} is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called
15647 after @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
15648 above. Also note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will
15649 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
15650 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
15651 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
15653 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
15654 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
15655 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
15656 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
15657 should return a split.
15660 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
15664 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
15666 Normally, @var{value} in these splits must match a complete @emph{word}
15667 according to the fundamental mode syntax table. In other words, all
15668 @var{value}'s will be implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers,
15669 which are word delimiters. Therefore, if you use the following split,
15673 (any "joe" "joemail")
15677 messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will normally not be filed
15678 in @samp{joemail}. If you want to alter this behavior, you can use any
15679 of the following three ways:
15683 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
15684 You can set the @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} variable
15685 to non-@code{nil} in order to ignore word boundaries and instead the
15686 match becomes more like a grep. This variable controls whether partial
15687 words are matched during fancy splitting. The default value is
15690 Note that it influences all @var{value}'s in your split rules.
15693 @var{value} beginning with @code{.*} ignores word boundaries in front of
15694 a word. Similarly, if @var{value} ends with @code{.*}, word boundaries
15695 in the rear of a word will be ignored. For example, the @var{value}
15696 @code{"@@example\\.com"} does not match @samp{foo@@example.com} but
15697 @code{".*@@example\\.com"} does.
15700 You can set the @var{invert-partial} flag in your split rules of the
15701 @samp{(@var{field} @var{value} @dots{})} types, aforementioned in this
15702 section. If the flag is set, word boundaries on both sides of a word
15703 are ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15704 @code{nil}. Contrarily, if the flag is set, word boundaries are not
15705 ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15706 non-@code{nil}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15709 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
15710 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
15711 they are expanded as specified by the variable
15712 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
15713 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
15714 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
15715 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
15719 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
15721 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
15722 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
15724 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
15727 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
15728 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
15729 when all this splitting is performed.
15731 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
15732 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
15733 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
15736 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
15739 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
15740 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
15742 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
15743 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
15744 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
15745 groupings 1 through 9.
15747 @vindex nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded
15748 Where @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether the
15749 lowercase of the matched string should be used for the substitution.
15750 Setting it as non-@code{nil} is useful to avoid the creation of multiple
15751 groups when users send to an address using different case
15752 (i.e. mailing-list@@domain vs Mailing-List@@Domain). The default value
15755 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
15756 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
15757 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
15758 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
15759 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
15760 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
15761 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
15762 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
15763 it once per thread.
15765 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
15766 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
15767 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
15768 using the colon feature, like so:
15770 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
15771 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
15773 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
15774 ;; @r{other splits go here}
15778 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
15779 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
15780 in the file specified by the variable
15781 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
15782 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
15783 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
15784 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
15785 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
15786 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
15787 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
15788 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
15789 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
15790 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
15791 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
15792 300 kBytes in size.)
15793 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15794 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
15795 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
15796 messages goes into the new group.
15798 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
15799 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
15800 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
15801 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
15802 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
15803 ``outgoing'' group.
15806 @node Group Mail Splitting
15807 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
15808 @cindex mail splitting
15809 @cindex group mail splitting
15811 @findex gnus-group-split
15812 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
15813 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
15814 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
15815 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
15816 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
15817 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
15818 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
15819 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
15821 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
15822 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
15823 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
15824 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
15826 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
15827 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
15828 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
15829 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
15830 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
15831 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
15832 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
15834 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
15835 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
15836 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
15837 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
15838 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
15839 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
15840 @code{gnus-group-split}.
15842 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
15843 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
15844 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
15845 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
15846 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
15847 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
15848 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
15849 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
15850 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
15851 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
15852 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
15853 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
15854 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
15856 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
15861 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
15862 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
15864 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
15865 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
15866 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
15867 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
15869 ((split-spec . catch-all))
15872 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
15873 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
15874 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
15877 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
15878 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
15879 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
15883 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
15884 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
15885 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15889 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
15892 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
15893 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
15894 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
15895 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
15896 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
15897 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
15898 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
15899 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
15900 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
15902 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
15903 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
15904 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
15905 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
15906 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
15907 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
15908 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
15909 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
15910 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
15912 @findex gnus-group-split-update
15913 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
15914 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
15915 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
15916 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
15917 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
15920 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
15923 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
15924 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
15925 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
15926 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
15927 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
15930 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
15931 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
15932 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
15933 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
15935 @node Incorporating Old Mail
15936 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
15937 @cindex incorporating old mail
15938 @cindex import old mail
15940 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
15941 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
15942 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
15945 Doing so can be quite easy.
15947 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
15948 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
15949 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
15950 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
15951 your @code{nnml} groups.
15957 Go to the group buffer.
15960 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
15961 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15964 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
15967 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
15968 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15971 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
15972 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
15975 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
15976 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
15977 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
15978 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
15979 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
15981 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
15982 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
15983 using the new mail back end.
15986 @node Expiring Mail
15987 @subsection Expiring Mail
15988 @cindex article expiry
15989 @cindex expiring mail
15991 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
15992 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
15993 different approach to mail reading.
15995 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
15996 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
15997 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
15998 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
15999 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
16000 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
16003 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
16004 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
16005 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
16006 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
16007 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
16008 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
16009 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
16010 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
16011 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
16013 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
16014 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
16015 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
16016 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
16017 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
16018 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
16019 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
16022 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
16023 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
16024 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
16025 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
16026 into its own group.)
16028 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
16029 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
16030 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
16031 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
16032 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
16033 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
16034 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
16035 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
16038 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
16039 Groups that match the regular expression
16040 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
16041 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
16042 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
16044 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
16045 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
16046 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
16047 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
16048 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
16050 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
16052 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
16053 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
16054 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
16057 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
16058 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
16059 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
16060 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
16061 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
16063 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
16064 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
16067 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
16068 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
16071 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
16072 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
16074 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
16075 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
16076 don't really mix very well.
16078 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
16079 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
16080 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
16081 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
16084 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
16085 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
16086 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
16087 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
16090 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16092 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16094 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
16096 ((string= group "mail.junk")
16098 ((string= group "important")
16104 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
16105 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
16107 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
16108 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
16109 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
16112 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
16113 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
16115 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
16116 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
16117 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
16118 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
16119 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
16120 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
16121 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
16122 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
16123 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
16124 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
16125 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
16126 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
16127 name or @code{delete}.
16129 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
16131 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
16134 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
16135 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
16136 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
16137 expire mail to groups according to the variable
16138 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
16141 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
16142 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
16143 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
16144 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
16145 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
16148 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
16149 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
16150 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
16151 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
16152 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
16153 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
16155 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
16156 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
16157 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
16158 easier for procmail users.
16160 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
16161 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
16162 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
16163 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
16164 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
16165 caution. Even more dangerous is the
16166 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
16167 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
16168 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
16169 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
16170 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
16171 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
16172 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
16175 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
16177 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
16178 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
16179 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
16180 auto-expire turned on.
16184 @subsection Washing Mail
16185 @cindex mail washing
16186 @cindex list server brain damage
16187 @cindex incoming mail treatment
16189 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
16190 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
16191 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
16192 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
16193 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
16194 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
16196 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
16197 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
16198 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
16201 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
16202 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
16203 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
16204 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
16207 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
16208 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
16209 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
16210 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
16211 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
16214 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
16215 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
16216 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
16217 Emacs running on MS machines.
16221 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
16222 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
16223 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
16224 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
16227 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
16228 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
16229 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
16230 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
16232 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
16233 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
16234 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
16235 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
16236 into a feature by documenting it.)
16238 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
16239 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
16240 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
16241 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
16242 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
16243 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
16244 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
16247 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
16248 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
16251 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
16252 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
16255 This can also be done non-destructively with
16256 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
16258 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
16259 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
16260 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
16262 @item nnmail-ignore-broken-references
16263 @findex nnmail-ignore-broken-references
16264 @c @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
16267 Some mail user agents (e.g. Eudora and Pegasus) produce broken
16268 @code{References} headers, but correct @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This
16269 function will get rid of the @code{References} header if the headers
16270 contain a line matching the regular expression
16271 @code{nnmail-broken-references-mailers}.
16275 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
16276 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
16277 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
16281 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
16282 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
16283 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
16290 @subsection Duplicates
16292 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
16293 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
16294 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
16295 @cindex duplicate mails
16296 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
16297 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
16298 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
16299 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
16300 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
16301 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
16302 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
16303 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
16304 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
16305 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
16306 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
16307 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
16308 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
16310 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
16311 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
16312 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
16313 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
16315 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
16318 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
16319 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
16323 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
16324 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
16325 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
16326 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
16327 (any mail "mail.misc")
16328 ;; @r{Other rules.}
16334 (setq nnmail-split-methods
16335 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
16336 ;; @r{Other rules.}
16340 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
16341 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
16342 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
16343 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
16344 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
16347 @node Not Reading Mail
16348 @subsection Not Reading Mail
16350 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
16351 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
16352 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
16354 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
16355 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
16356 mail, which should help.
16358 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16359 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
16360 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
16361 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
16362 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
16363 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
16364 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
16365 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
16366 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
16367 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
16368 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
16370 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
16371 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
16375 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
16376 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
16378 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
16379 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
16380 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
16382 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
16383 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
16384 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
16388 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
16389 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
16390 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
16391 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
16392 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
16393 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
16394 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
16398 @node Unix Mail Box
16399 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
16401 @cindex unix mail box
16403 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
16404 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
16405 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
16406 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
16407 which group it belongs in.
16409 Virtual server settings:
16412 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
16413 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
16414 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
16417 @item nnmbox-active-file
16418 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
16419 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
16420 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
16422 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
16423 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
16424 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
16425 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
16430 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
16434 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
16435 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
16436 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
16437 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
16438 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
16440 Virtual server settings:
16443 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
16444 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
16445 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
16447 @item nnbabyl-active-file
16448 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
16449 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
16450 @file{~/.rmail-active}
16452 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16453 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
16454 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
16460 @subsubsection Mail Spool
16462 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
16464 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
16465 format. It should be used with some caution.
16467 @vindex nnml-directory
16468 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
16469 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
16470 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
16471 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
16473 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
16476 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
16477 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
16478 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
16479 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
16480 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
16481 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
16482 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
16483 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
16485 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
16486 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
16487 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
16488 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
16490 @cindex self contained nnml servers
16492 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
16493 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
16494 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
16495 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
16496 for a group are usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
16497 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
16498 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
16499 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
16502 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
16503 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
16504 them next time it starts.
16506 Virtual server settings:
16509 @item nnml-directory
16510 @vindex nnml-directory
16511 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
16512 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
16515 @item nnml-active-file
16516 @vindex nnml-active-file
16517 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
16518 @file{~/Mail/active}.
16520 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
16521 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
16522 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16523 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
16525 @item nnml-get-new-mail
16526 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
16527 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
16530 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
16531 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
16532 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16533 default is @code{nil}.
16535 @item nnml-nov-file-name
16536 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
16537 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
16539 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
16540 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
16541 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
16543 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
16544 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
16545 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
16546 default is @code{nil}.
16548 @item nnml-marks-file-name
16549 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
16550 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
16552 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
16553 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
16554 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
16555 files. This requires @code{auto-compression-mode} to be enabled
16556 (@pxref{Compressed Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
16557 If the value of @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is a string, it is used
16558 as the file extension specifying the compression program. You can set it
16559 to @samp{.bz2} if your Emacs supports it. A value of @code{t} is
16560 equivalent to @samp{.gz}.
16562 @item nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
16563 @vindex nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
16564 Default size threshold for compressed message files. Message files with
16565 bodies larger than that many characters will be automatically compressed
16566 if @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil}.
16570 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
16571 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
16572 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
16573 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
16574 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
16575 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
16576 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
16581 @subsubsection MH Spool
16583 @cindex mh-e mail spool
16585 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
16586 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
16587 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
16588 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
16591 Virtual server settings:
16594 @item nnmh-directory
16595 @vindex nnmh-directory
16596 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
16597 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
16600 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
16601 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
16602 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
16606 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
16607 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
16608 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
16609 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
16610 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
16611 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
16612 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
16617 @subsubsection Maildir
16621 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
16622 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
16623 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
16624 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
16625 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
16628 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
16629 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
16630 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
16631 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
16632 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
16633 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
16634 that appear as group in Gnus.
16636 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
16637 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
16638 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
16640 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
16641 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
16642 another, and you will keep your marks.
16644 Virtual server settings:
16648 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
16649 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
16650 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
16651 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
16652 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
16653 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
16654 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
16655 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
16656 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
16657 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
16659 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
16660 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
16661 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
16662 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
16663 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
16664 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
16665 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
16666 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
16667 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
16668 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
16671 @item target-prefix
16672 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
16673 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
16674 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
16677 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
16678 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
16679 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
16680 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
16681 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
16682 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
16683 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
16684 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
16685 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
16687 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
16688 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
16689 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
16690 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
16691 symlinks pointing to them will be).
16693 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
16694 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
16695 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
16696 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
16697 @code{force} argument.
16699 @item directory-files
16700 This should be a function with the same interface as
16701 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
16702 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
16703 parameter is optional; the default is
16704 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
16705 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
16706 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
16707 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
16708 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
16709 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
16712 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
16713 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
16714 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
16715 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
16716 value is @code{nil}.
16718 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
16719 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
16720 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
16721 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
16722 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
16725 @subsubsection Group parameters
16727 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
16728 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
16729 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
16730 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
16731 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
16732 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
16735 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
16736 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
16737 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
16738 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
16739 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
16740 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
16741 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
16742 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
16743 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
16747 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
16748 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
16749 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
16750 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
16751 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (the
16752 @code{expiry-wait} group parameter overrides @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}
16753 and makes @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} ineffective). If you
16754 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
16755 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
16756 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
16757 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
16758 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
16759 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
16762 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
16764 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
16766 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
16767 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
16768 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
16769 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
16770 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
16771 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
16772 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
16773 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
16774 article. So that form can refer to
16775 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
16776 article. @emph{Even if this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir}
16777 does not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
16778 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
16781 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
16782 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
16783 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
16784 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
16785 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
16786 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
16787 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
16788 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
16789 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
16790 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
16791 contain extra copies of the articles.
16793 @item directory-files
16794 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
16795 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
16796 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
16797 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
16799 @item distrust-Lines:
16800 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
16801 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
16802 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
16805 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
16806 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16807 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
16808 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
16809 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
16810 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16813 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
16814 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16815 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
16816 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
16817 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
16818 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
16819 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16821 @item nov-cache-size
16822 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
16823 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
16824 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
16825 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
16826 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
16827 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
16828 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
16829 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
16830 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
16831 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
16832 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
16835 @subsubsection Article identification
16836 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
16837 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
16838 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
16839 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
16840 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
16841 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
16842 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
16843 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
16844 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
16845 request the article in the summary buffer.
16847 @subsubsection NOV data
16848 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
16849 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
16850 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
16851 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
16852 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
16853 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
16854 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
16855 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
16856 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
16857 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
16858 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
16860 @subsubsection Article marks
16861 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
16862 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
16863 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16864 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
16865 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16866 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
16867 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
16868 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
16870 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
16871 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
16872 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
16873 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
16874 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
16875 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
16876 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
16877 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
16878 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
16882 @subsubsection Mail Folders
16884 @cindex mbox folders
16885 @cindex mail folders
16887 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
16888 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
16889 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
16890 numbers and arrival dates.
16892 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
16894 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
16895 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
16896 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
16897 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
16898 Marks for a group are usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
16899 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
16900 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder}
16901 directory. Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to
16902 backup, use @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup
16903 into the @code{nnfolder} directory).
16905 Virtual server settings:
16908 @item nnfolder-directory
16909 @vindex nnfolder-directory
16910 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
16911 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
16912 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
16914 @item nnfolder-active-file
16915 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
16916 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
16918 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16919 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16920 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16921 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
16923 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
16924 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
16925 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
16926 default is @code{t}
16928 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16929 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16930 @cindex backup files
16931 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
16932 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
16933 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
16934 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
16937 (defun turn-off-backup ()
16938 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
16940 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
16943 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16944 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16945 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
16946 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
16947 extract some information from it before removing it.
16949 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16950 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16951 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16952 default is @code{nil}.
16954 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16955 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16956 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
16958 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
16959 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
16960 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
16961 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16963 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16964 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16965 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
16966 default is @code{nil}.
16968 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16969 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16970 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
16972 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
16973 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
16974 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
16975 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16980 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
16981 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
16982 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
16983 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
16984 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
16985 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
16988 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
16989 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
16991 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
16992 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
16993 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
16994 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
16995 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
16997 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
16998 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
16999 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
17000 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
17001 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
17002 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
17003 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
17004 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
17007 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
17008 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
17009 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
17010 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
17015 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
17016 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
17017 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
17018 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
17019 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
17020 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
17021 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
17022 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
17023 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
17024 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
17025 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
17026 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
17027 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
17032 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
17033 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
17034 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
17035 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
17036 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
17037 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
17038 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
17039 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
17040 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
17041 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
17042 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
17043 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
17044 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
17045 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
17047 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
17048 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
17053 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
17054 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
17055 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
17056 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
17057 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
17058 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
17059 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
17060 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
17061 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
17062 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
17063 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
17064 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
17065 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
17066 provided by the active file and overviews.
17068 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
17069 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
17070 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
17071 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
17072 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
17075 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
17076 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
17081 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
17082 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
17083 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
17084 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
17085 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
17086 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
17087 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
17091 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
17092 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
17093 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
17094 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
17095 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
17096 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
17097 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
17098 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
17099 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
17101 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
17102 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
17103 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
17104 friendly mail back end all over.
17108 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
17109 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
17112 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
17113 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
17114 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
17115 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
17116 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
17117 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
17118 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
17119 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
17122 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
17123 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
17124 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
17125 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
17126 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
17127 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
17128 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
17129 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
17130 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
17131 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
17132 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
17134 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
17135 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
17136 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
17137 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
17138 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
17141 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
17142 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
17143 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
17144 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
17145 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
17146 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
17147 removed in the future.
17149 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
17150 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
17151 on your file system.
17153 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
17154 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
17159 @node Browsing the Web
17160 @section Browsing the Web
17162 @cindex browsing the web
17166 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
17167 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
17168 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
17169 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
17170 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
17171 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
17172 even know what a news group is.
17174 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
17175 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
17176 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
17177 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
17178 you mad in the end.
17180 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
17183 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
17184 interfaces to these sources.
17188 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
17189 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
17190 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
17191 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
17192 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
17193 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
17196 All the web sources require Emacs/W3 and the url library or those
17197 alternatives to work.
17199 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
17200 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
17201 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
17202 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
17203 though, you should be ok.
17205 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
17206 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
17207 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
17208 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
17209 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
17211 @node Archiving Mail
17212 @subsection Archiving Mail
17213 @cindex archiving mail
17214 @cindex backup of mail
17216 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
17217 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
17218 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
17219 marks is fairly simple.
17221 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
17222 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
17225 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
17226 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
17227 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
17228 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
17229 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
17230 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
17231 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
17232 before you restore the data.
17234 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
17235 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
17236 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
17237 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
17238 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
17239 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
17240 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
17241 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
17242 is unnecessary in that case.
17245 @subsection Web Searches
17250 @cindex Usenet searches
17251 @cindex searching the Usenet
17253 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
17254 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
17255 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
17256 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
17257 searches without having to use a browser.
17259 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
17260 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
17261 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
17262 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
17263 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
17265 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
17266 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
17267 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
17268 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
17269 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
17270 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
17271 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
17272 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
17273 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
17274 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
17277 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
17278 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
17279 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'@^etre} is to
17280 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
17281 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
17282 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
17284 You must have the @code{url} and @code{W3} package or those alternatives
17285 (try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{mm-url} variable group)
17286 installed to be able to use @code{nnweb}.
17288 Virtual server variables:
17293 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
17294 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
17295 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
17298 @vindex nnweb-search
17299 The search string to feed to the search engine.
17301 @item nnweb-max-hits
17302 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
17303 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
17306 @item nnweb-type-definition
17307 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
17308 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
17309 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
17314 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
17318 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
17321 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
17324 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
17328 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
17335 @subsection Slashdot
17339 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
17340 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
17341 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
17343 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
17344 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
17347 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
17348 '((nnslashdot "")))
17351 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
17352 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
17353 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
17354 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
17355 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
17358 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
17359 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
17361 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
17362 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
17363 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
17364 @samp{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @samp{br} added to
17365 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
17366 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
17367 @acronym{HTML} forms.
17369 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
17372 @item nnslashdot-threaded
17373 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
17374 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
17375 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
17376 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
17377 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
17378 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
17380 @item nnslashdot-login-name
17381 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
17382 The login name to use when posting.
17384 @item nnslashdot-password
17385 @vindex nnslashdot-password
17386 The password to use when posting.
17388 @item nnslashdot-directory
17389 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
17390 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
17391 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
17393 @item nnslashdot-active-url
17394 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
17395 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the
17396 information on news articles and comments. The default is@*
17397 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
17399 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
17400 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
17401 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch comments.
17403 @item nnslashdot-article-url
17404 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
17405 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the news
17406 article. The default is
17407 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
17409 @item nnslashdot-threshold
17410 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
17411 The score threshold. The default is -1.
17413 @item nnslashdot-group-number
17414 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
17415 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
17416 updated. The default is 0.
17423 @subsection Ultimate
17425 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
17427 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
17428 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
17429 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
17430 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
17432 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
17433 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
17434 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @acronym{URL}
17435 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
17436 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
17437 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
17438 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
17440 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
17443 @item nnultimate-directory
17444 @vindex nnultimate-directory
17445 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
17446 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
17451 @subsection Web Archive
17453 @cindex Web Archive
17455 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
17456 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
17457 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
17458 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
17461 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
17462 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
17463 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
17464 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
17465 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
17466 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
17467 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
17468 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
17470 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
17473 @item nnwarchive-directory
17474 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
17475 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
17476 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
17478 @item nnwarchive-login
17479 @vindex nnwarchive-login
17480 The account name on the web server.
17482 @item nnwarchive-passwd
17483 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
17484 The password for your account on the web server.
17492 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
17493 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
17494 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
17495 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
17496 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
17498 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
17499 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
17501 Note: you had better use Emacs which supports the @code{utf-8} coding
17502 system because @acronym{RSS} uses UTF-8 for encoding non-@acronym{ASCII}
17503 text by default. It is also used by default for non-@acronym{ASCII}
17506 @kindex G R (Group)
17507 Use @kbd{G R} from the group buffer to subscribe to a feed---you will be
17508 prompted for the location, the title and the description of the feed.
17509 The title, which allows any characters, will be used for the group name
17510 and the name of the group data file. The description can be omitted.
17512 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
17513 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET y}, then
17514 subscribe to groups.
17516 The @code{nnrss} back end saves the group data file in
17517 @code{nnrss-directory} (see below) for each @code{nnrss} group. File
17518 names containing non-@acronym{ASCII} characters will be encoded by the
17519 coding system specified with the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}
17520 variable. If it is @code{nil}, in Emacs the coding system defaults to
17521 the value of @code{default-file-name-coding-system}. If you are using
17522 XEmacs and want to use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names, you should set
17523 the value for the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} variable properly.
17525 The @code{nnrss} back end generates @samp{multipart/alternative}
17526 @acronym{MIME} articles in which each contains a @samp{text/plain} part
17527 and a @samp{text/html} part.
17530 You can also use the following commands to import and export your
17531 subscriptions from a file in @acronym{OPML} format (Outline Processor
17534 @defun nnrss-opml-import file
17535 Prompt for an @acronym{OPML} file, and subscribe to each feed in the
17539 @defun nnrss-opml-export
17540 Write your current @acronym{RSS} subscriptions to a buffer in
17541 @acronym{OPML} format.
17544 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
17547 @item nnrss-directory
17548 @vindex nnrss-directory
17549 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
17550 @file{~/News/rss/}.
17552 @item nnrss-file-coding-system
17553 @vindex nnrss-file-coding-system
17554 The coding system used when reading and writing the @code{nnrss} groups
17555 data files. The default is the value of
17556 @code{mm-universal-coding-system} (which defaults to @code{emacs-mule}
17557 in Emacs or @code{escape-quoted} in XEmacs).
17559 @item nnrss-ignore-article-fields
17560 @vindex nnrss-ignore-article-fields
17561 Some feeds update constantly article fields during their publications,
17562 e.g. to indicate the number of comments. However, if there is
17563 a difference between the local article and the distant one, the latter
17564 is considered to be new. To avoid this and discard some fields, set this
17565 variable to the list of fields to be ignored. The default is
17566 @code{'(slash:comments)}.
17568 @item nnrss-use-local
17569 @vindex nnrss-use-local
17570 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
17571 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
17572 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
17573 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
17574 download script using @command{wget}.
17576 @item nnrss-wash-html-in-text-plain-parts
17577 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{nnrss} renders text in @samp{text/plain}
17578 parts as @acronym{HTML}. The function specified by the
17579 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} variable (@pxref{Display Customization,
17580 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) will be used
17581 to render text. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default, text will
17582 simply be folded. Leave it @code{nil} if you prefer to see
17583 @samp{text/html} parts.
17586 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
17587 the summary buffer.
17590 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
17591 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
17593 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
17595 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
17596 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
17599 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
17603 (require 'browse-url)
17605 (defun browse-nnrss-url (arg)
17607 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
17610 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
17611 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
17614 (browse-url (cdr url))
17615 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
17616 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
17618 (eval-after-load "gnus"
17619 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
17620 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
17621 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
17624 Even if you have added @samp{text/html} to the
17625 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} variable (@pxref{Display
17626 Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
17627 Manual}) since you don't want to see @acronym{HTML} parts, it might be
17628 more useful especially in @code{nnrss} groups to display
17629 @samp{text/html} parts. Here's an example of setting
17630 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} as a group parameter (@pxref{Group
17631 Parameters}) in order to display @samp{text/html} parts only in
17632 @code{nnrss} groups:
17635 ;; @r{Set the default value of @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}.}
17636 (eval-after-load "gnus-sum"
17638 'gnus-newsgroup-variables
17639 '(mm-discouraged-alternatives
17640 . '("text/html" "image/.*"))))
17642 ;; @r{Display @samp{text/html} parts in @code{nnrss} groups.}
17645 '("\\`nnrss:" (mm-discouraged-alternatives nil)))
17649 @node Customizing W3
17650 @subsection Customizing W3
17656 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/W3 (or those
17657 alternatives) to display web pages. Emacs/W3 is documented in its own
17658 manual, but there are some things that may be more relevant for Gnus
17661 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/W3 follow links
17662 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
17663 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
17666 (eval-after-load "w3"
17668 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
17669 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
17670 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
17671 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
17673 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
17676 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in W3-rendered
17677 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
17684 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
17686 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
17687 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
17688 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
17689 specify the network address of the server.
17691 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
17692 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
17693 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
17694 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
17695 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
17696 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
17698 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
17699 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
17700 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
17701 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
17703 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
17704 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
17705 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
17706 usage explained in this section.
17708 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP}
17709 servers might look something like the following. (Note that for
17710 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you need external programs and libraries,
17714 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
17715 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
17716 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
17718 (nnimap-address "localhost")
17719 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
17720 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
17722 (nnimap-server-port 143)
17723 (nnimap-address "localhost")
17724 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
17725 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
17726 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
17727 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
17728 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
17729 (nnimap-stream network))
17730 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
17732 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
17733 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
17734 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
17737 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
17738 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
17739 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
17740 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
17742 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
17747 @item nnimap-address
17748 @vindex nnimap-address
17750 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
17751 server name if not specified.
17753 @item nnimap-server-port
17754 @vindex nnimap-server-port
17755 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
17757 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
17760 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17761 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
17764 @item nnimap-list-pattern
17765 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
17766 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
17767 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
17768 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
17769 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
17770 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
17772 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
17773 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
17774 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
17777 Example server specification:
17780 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17781 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
17782 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
17785 @item nnimap-stream
17786 @vindex nnimap-stream
17787 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
17788 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
17789 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over
17790 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can
17791 be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
17793 Example server specification:
17796 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17797 (nnimap-stream ssl))
17800 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
17804 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
17805 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
17807 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
17809 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
17810 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
17813 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
17814 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
17816 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
17817 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
17819 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
17821 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
17824 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
17825 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
17826 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
17827 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
17828 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
17829 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
17830 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
17831 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
17832 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
17835 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
17836 needed. It is available from
17837 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
17839 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
17840 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
17841 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
17842 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
17843 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
17844 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
17845 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
17848 @vindex imap-ssl-program
17849 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
17850 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
17851 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
17852 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
17853 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
17854 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
17857 @vindex imap-shell-program
17858 @vindex imap-shell-host
17859 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the
17860 variable @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call. Make
17861 sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g., don't
17862 forget to redirect the error output to the void.
17864 @item nnimap-authenticator
17865 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
17867 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
17868 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
17870 Example server specification:
17873 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17874 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
17877 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
17881 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
17882 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
17884 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
17887 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
17888 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
17890 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
17892 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
17894 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as ``anonymous'', supplying your email address as password.
17897 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
17899 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
17900 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers have decided things that
17901 don't exist actually do exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
17902 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
17903 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
17904 nnimap does when you delete an article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
17907 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
17908 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
17909 running in circles yet?
17911 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
17912 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
17915 The possible options are:
17920 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
17923 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
17924 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
17925 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
17926 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
17928 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
17933 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
17934 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
17936 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
17937 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
17938 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
17939 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
17940 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
17943 Probably the only reason for frobbing this would be if you're trying
17944 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
17947 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
17948 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
17949 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
17950 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
17953 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
17954 as ticked for other users.
17956 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
17958 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
17959 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
17961 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
17962 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
17963 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
17964 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
17966 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
17967 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
17968 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
17969 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
17971 However, if @code{nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil}
17972 is true, this variable has no effect since the search logic
17973 is reversed, as described below.
17975 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
17976 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
17978 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
17979 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
17980 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
17981 @ref{NNTP}. An example of an .authinfo line for an IMAP server, is:
17984 machine students.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis port imap
17987 Note that it should be @code{port imap}, or @code{port 143}, if you
17988 use a @code{nnimap-stream} of @code{tls} or @code{ssl}, even if the
17989 actual port number used is port 993 for secured IMAP. For
17990 convenience, Gnus will accept @code{port imaps} as a synonym of
17993 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
17994 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
17996 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
17997 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
18000 @item nnimap-nov-is-evil
18001 @vindex nnimap-nov-is-evil
18002 @cindex Courier @acronym{IMAP} server
18003 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
18005 Never generate or use a local @acronym{NOV} database. Defaults to the
18006 value of @code{gnus-agent}.
18008 Using a @acronym{NOV} database usually makes header fetching much
18009 faster, but it uses the @code{UID SEARCH UID} command, which is very
18010 slow on some servers (notably some versions of Courier). Since the Gnus
18011 Agent caches the information in the @acronym{NOV} database without using
18012 the slow command, this variable defaults to true if the Agent is in use,
18013 and false otherwise.
18015 @item nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil
18016 @vindex nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil
18017 @cindex Courier @acronym{IMAP} server
18018 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
18020 Avoid the @code{UID SEARCH UID @var{message numbers} NOT SINCE
18021 @var{date}} command, which is slow on some @acronym{IMAP} servers
18022 (notably, some versions of Courier). Instead, use @code{UID SEARCH SINCE
18023 @var{date}} and prune the list of expirable articles within Gnus.
18025 When Gnus expires your mail (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), it starts with a
18026 list of expirable articles and asks the IMAP server questions like ``Of
18027 these articles, which ones are older than a week?'' While this seems
18028 like a perfectly reasonable question, some IMAP servers take a long time
18029 to answer it, since they seemingly go looking into every old article to
18030 see if it is one of the expirable ones. Curiously, the question ``Of
18031 @emph{all} articles, which ones are newer than a week?'' seems to be
18032 much faster to answer, so setting this variable causes Gnus to ask this
18033 question and figure out the answer to the real question itself.
18035 This problem can really sneak up on you: when you first configure Gnus,
18036 everything works fine, but once you accumulate a couple thousand
18037 messages, you start cursing Gnus for being so slow. On the other hand,
18038 if you get a lot of email within a week, setting this variable will
18039 cause a lot of network traffic between Gnus and the IMAP server.
18041 @item nnimap-logout-timeout
18042 @vindex nnimap-logout-timeout
18044 There is a case where a connection to a @acronym{IMAP} server is unable
18045 to close, when connecting to the server via a certain kind of network,
18046 e.g. @acronym{VPN}. In that case, it will be observed that a connection
18047 between Emacs and the local network looks alive even if the server has
18048 closed a connection for some reason (typically, a timeout).
18049 Consequently, Emacs continues waiting for a response from the server for
18050 the @code{LOGOUT} command that Emacs sent, or hangs in other words. If
18051 you are in such a network, setting this variable to a number of seconds
18052 will be helpful. If it is set, a hung connection will be closed
18053 forcibly, after this number of seconds from the time Emacs sends the
18054 @code{LOGOUT} command. It should not be too small value but too large
18055 value will be inconvenient too. Perhaps the value 1.0 will be a good
18056 candidate but it might be worth trying some other values.
18058 Example server specification:
18061 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
18062 (nnimap-logout-timeout 1.0))
18068 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
18069 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
18070 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
18071 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
18072 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
18073 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
18078 @node Splitting in IMAP
18079 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
18080 @cindex splitting imap mail
18082 Splitting is something Gnus users have loved and used for years, and now
18083 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
18084 @acronym{IMAP} servers have server side splitting and those that have
18085 splitting seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that
18086 @acronym{IMAP} support for Gnus has to do its own splitting.
18090 (Incidentally, people seem to have been dreaming on, and Sieve has
18091 gaining a market share and is supported by several IMAP servers.
18092 Fortunately, Gnus support it too, @xref{Sieve Commands}.)
18094 Here are the variables of interest:
18098 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
18099 @cindex splitting, crosspost
18101 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
18103 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
18104 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
18105 found will be used.
18107 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
18109 @item nnimap-split-inbox
18110 @cindex splitting, inbox
18112 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
18114 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
18115 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
18116 splitting is disabled!
18119 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
18120 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
18123 No nnmail equivalent.
18125 @item nnimap-split-rule
18126 @cindex splitting, rules
18127 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
18129 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
18132 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
18133 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
18134 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
18135 Neither did I, we need examples.
18138 (setq nnimap-split-rule
18140 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
18141 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
18142 ("INBOX.private" "")))
18145 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
18146 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
18147 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
18149 The first string may contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by
18150 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
18154 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
18157 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
18158 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
18160 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
18161 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
18162 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
18163 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
18165 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
18166 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
18167 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
18168 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
18169 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
18170 them every time you fetch new mail.)
18172 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
18173 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
18174 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
18176 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
18177 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
18178 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
18180 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
18182 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
18183 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
18184 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
18187 (setq nnimap-split-rule
18188 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
18189 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
18190 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
18191 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
18192 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
18195 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
18196 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
18197 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
18198 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
18199 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
18200 group/function elements.
18202 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
18204 @item nnimap-split-predicate
18206 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
18208 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
18209 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
18211 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
18212 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
18213 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
18216 @item nnimap-split-fancy
18217 @cindex splitting, fancy
18218 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
18219 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
18221 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
18222 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
18223 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
18225 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
18226 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
18227 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
18228 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
18233 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
18234 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
18237 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
18239 @item nnimap-split-download-body
18240 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
18241 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
18243 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
18244 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
18245 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
18246 splitting function that analyzes the body to split the article.
18250 @node Expiring in IMAP
18251 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
18252 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
18254 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
18255 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
18256 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
18257 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
18258 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
18259 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
18262 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
18263 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
18264 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
18265 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
18266 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
18267 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
18268 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
18269 messages. Most do, fortunately.
18271 If expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail seems very slow, try setting the server
18272 variable @code{nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil}.
18276 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
18277 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
18279 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
18280 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
18282 @item nnmail-expiry-target
18284 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
18285 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
18286 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
18287 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
18291 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
18292 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
18293 @cindex editing imap acls
18294 @cindex Access Control Lists
18295 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
18296 @kindex G l (Group)
18297 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
18299 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
18300 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
18301 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
18304 To edit an ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
18305 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with an ACL
18306 editing window with detailed instructions.
18308 Some possible uses:
18312 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
18313 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
18314 follow the list without subscribing to it.
18316 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
18317 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
18318 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
18322 @node Expunging mailboxes
18323 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
18327 @cindex manual expunging
18328 @kindex G x (Group)
18329 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
18331 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
18332 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
18333 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
18335 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
18338 @node A note on namespaces
18339 @subsection A note on namespaces
18340 @cindex IMAP namespace
18343 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
18344 by the following text in the RFC2060:
18347 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
18349 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
18350 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
18351 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
18352 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
18354 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
18355 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
18356 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
18357 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
18358 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
18359 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
18362 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
18363 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
18364 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
18366 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
18367 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
18368 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
18369 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
18370 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
18371 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
18372 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
18373 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
18376 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
18377 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
18378 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
18380 @node Debugging IMAP
18381 @subsection Debugging IMAP
18382 @cindex IMAP debugging
18383 @cindex protocol dump (IMAP)
18385 @acronym{IMAP} is a complex protocol, more so than @acronym{NNTP} or
18386 @acronym{POP3}. Implementation bugs are not unlikely, and we do our
18387 best to fix them right away. If you encounter odd behavior, chances
18388 are that either the server or Gnus is buggy.
18390 If you are familiar with network protocols in general, you will
18391 probably be able to extract some clues from the protocol dump of the
18392 exchanges between Gnus and the server. Even if you are not familiar
18393 with network protocols, when you include the protocol dump in
18394 @acronym{IMAP}-related bug reports you are helping us with data
18395 critical to solving the problem. Therefore, we strongly encourage you
18396 to include the protocol dump when reporting IMAP bugs in Gnus.
18400 Because the protocol dump, when enabled, generates lots of data, it is
18401 disabled by default. You can enable it by setting @code{imap-log} as
18408 This instructs the @code{imap.el} package to log any exchanges with
18409 the server. The log is stored in the buffer @samp{*imap-log*}. Look
18410 for error messages, which sometimes are tagged with the keyword
18411 @code{BAD}---but when submitting a bug, make sure to include all the
18414 @node Other Sources
18415 @section Other Sources
18417 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
18418 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
18422 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
18423 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
18424 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
18425 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
18426 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
18430 @node Directory Groups
18431 @subsection Directory Groups
18433 @cindex directory groups
18435 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
18436 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
18439 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
18440 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
18441 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
18442 back end to read directories. Big deal.
18444 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
18445 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
18446 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
18447 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
18448 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
18450 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
18452 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
18453 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
18454 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
18455 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
18458 @node Anything Groups
18459 @subsection Anything Groups
18462 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
18463 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
18464 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
18467 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
18468 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
18469 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
18470 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
18471 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
18472 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
18473 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
18474 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
18475 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
18476 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
18479 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
18480 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
18481 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
18482 in the article buffer, just as usual.
18484 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
18485 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
18486 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
18487 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
18489 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
18490 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
18491 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
18492 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
18493 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
18494 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
18495 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
18496 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
18501 @item nneething-map-file-directory
18502 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
18503 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
18504 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
18506 @item nneething-exclude-files
18507 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
18508 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
18509 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
18511 @item nneething-include-files
18512 @vindex nneething-include-files
18513 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
18514 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
18516 @item nneething-map-file
18517 @vindex nneething-map-file
18518 Name of the map files.
18522 @node Document Groups
18523 @subsection Document Groups
18525 @cindex documentation group
18528 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
18529 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
18535 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
18540 The standard Unix mbox file.
18542 @cindex MMDF mail box
18544 The MMDF mail box format.
18547 Several news articles appended into a file.
18549 @cindex rnews batch files
18551 The rnews batch transport format.
18554 Netscape mail boxes.
18557 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
18559 @item standard-digest
18560 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
18563 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
18565 @item lanl-gov-announce
18566 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
18568 @cindex forwarded messages
18569 @item rfc822-forward
18570 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
18573 The Outlook mail box.
18576 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
18579 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
18582 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
18585 An RFC934-forwarded message.
18591 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
18594 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
18600 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
18601 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
18602 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
18605 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
18606 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
18607 group. And that's it.
18609 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
18610 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
18611 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
18612 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
18613 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
18614 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
18615 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
18616 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
18617 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
18618 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
18620 Virtual server variables:
18623 @item nndoc-article-type
18624 @vindex nndoc-article-type
18625 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
18626 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
18627 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
18628 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
18629 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
18631 @item nndoc-post-type
18632 @vindex nndoc-post-type
18633 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
18634 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
18639 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
18643 @node Document Server Internals
18644 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
18646 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
18647 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
18648 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
18649 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
18651 First, here's an example document type definition:
18655 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
18656 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
18659 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
18660 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
18661 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
18662 types can be defined with very few settings:
18665 @item first-article
18666 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
18667 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
18670 @item article-begin
18671 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
18672 says what the beginning of each article looks like. To do more
18673 complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you can
18674 use @code{article-begin-function} instead of this.
18676 @item article-begin-function
18677 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the beginning
18678 of each article. This setting overrides @code{article-begin}.
18681 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
18682 article. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a
18683 simple regexp, you can use @code{head-begin-function} instead of this.
18685 @item head-begin-function
18686 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
18687 the article. This setting overrides @code{head-begin}.
18690 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
18691 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
18694 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
18695 to @samp{^\n}. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with
18696 a simple regexp, you can use @code{body-begin-function} instead of this.
18698 @item body-begin-function
18699 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
18700 of the article. This setting overrides @code{body-begin}.
18703 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article. To do
18704 more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you
18705 can use @code{body-end-function} instead of this.
18707 @item body-end-function
18708 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
18709 the article. This setting overrides @code{body-end}.
18712 If present, this should match the beginning of the file. All text
18713 before this regexp will be totally ignored.
18716 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
18717 regexp will be totally ignored.
18721 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
18722 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
18723 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
18724 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
18725 something that's palatable for Gnus:
18728 @item prepare-body-function
18729 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
18730 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
18731 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
18733 @item article-transform-function
18734 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
18735 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
18736 body of the article.
18738 @item generate-head-function
18739 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
18740 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
18741 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
18742 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
18744 @item generate-article-function
18745 If present, this function is called to generate an entire article that
18746 Gnus can understand. It is called with the article number as a
18747 parameter when requesting all articles.
18749 @item dissection-function
18750 If present, this function is called to dissect a document by itself,
18751 overriding @code{first-article}, @code{article-begin},
18752 @code{article-begin-function}, @code{head-begin},
18753 @code{head-begin-function}, @code{head-end}, @code{body-begin},
18754 @code{body-begin-function}, @code{body-end}, @code{body-end-function},
18755 @code{file-begin}, and @code{file-end}.
18759 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
18764 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
18765 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
18766 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
18767 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
18768 (head-end . "^ ?$")
18769 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
18770 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
18771 (subtype digest guess))
18774 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
18775 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
18776 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
18777 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
18778 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
18780 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
18781 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
18782 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
18783 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
18784 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
18785 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
18786 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
18787 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
18788 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
18789 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
18790 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
18791 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
18799 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
18800 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
18801 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
18803 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
18804 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
18805 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
18808 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
18809 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
18810 that interested in doing things properly.
18812 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
18813 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
18816 First some terminology:
18821 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
18822 get news and/or mail from.
18825 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
18826 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
18829 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
18833 @item message packets
18834 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
18835 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
18836 default, where @var{x} is a number.
18838 @item response packets
18839 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
18840 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
18841 default, where @var{x} is a number.
18851 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
18852 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
18853 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
18854 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
18857 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
18860 You put the packet in your home directory.
18863 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
18864 the native or secondary server.
18867 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
18868 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
18871 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
18875 You transfer this packet to the server.
18878 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
18881 You then repeat until you die.
18885 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
18886 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
18889 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
18890 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
18891 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
18895 @node SOUP Commands
18896 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
18898 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
18902 @kindex G s b (Group)
18903 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
18904 Pack all unread articles in the current group
18905 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
18906 process/prefix convention.
18909 @kindex G s w (Group)
18910 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
18911 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
18914 @kindex G s s (Group)
18915 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
18916 Send all replies from the replies packet
18917 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
18920 @kindex G s p (Group)
18921 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
18922 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
18925 @kindex G s r (Group)
18926 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
18927 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
18930 @kindex O s (Summary)
18931 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
18932 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
18933 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
18934 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18939 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
18944 @item gnus-soup-directory
18945 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
18946 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
18947 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
18949 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
18950 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
18951 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
18952 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
18954 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
18955 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
18956 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
18957 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
18959 @item gnus-soup-packer
18960 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
18961 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
18962 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
18964 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
18965 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
18966 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
18967 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
18969 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
18970 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
18971 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
18973 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
18974 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
18975 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
18976 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
18982 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
18985 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
18986 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
18987 you can read them at leisure.
18989 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
18993 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
18994 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
18995 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
18996 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
18998 @item nnsoup-directory
18999 @vindex nnsoup-directory
19000 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
19001 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
19003 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
19004 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
19005 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
19006 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
19008 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
19009 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
19010 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
19011 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
19012 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
19014 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
19015 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
19016 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
19017 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
19019 @item nnsoup-active-file
19020 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
19021 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
19022 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
19023 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
19024 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
19026 @item nnsoup-packer
19027 @vindex nnsoup-packer
19028 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
19029 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
19031 @item nnsoup-unpacker
19032 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
19033 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
19034 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
19036 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
19037 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
19038 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
19041 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
19042 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
19043 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
19046 @item nnsoup-always-save
19047 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
19048 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
19054 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
19056 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
19057 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
19058 more for that to happen.
19060 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
19061 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
19062 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
19065 In specific, this is what it does:
19068 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
19069 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
19072 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
19073 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
19074 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
19077 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
19078 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
19079 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
19082 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
19083 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
19084 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
19086 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
19092 @item nngateway-address
19093 @vindex nngateway-address
19094 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
19096 @item nngateway-header-transformation
19097 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
19098 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
19099 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
19100 transformation should be called, and defaults to
19101 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
19102 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
19105 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
19106 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
19107 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
19110 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
19113 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
19116 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
19119 The following pre-defined functions exist:
19121 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
19124 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
19125 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
19126 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
19128 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
19130 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
19131 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
19132 @code{nngateway-address}.
19140 (setq gnus-post-method
19142 "mail2news@@replay.com"
19143 (nngateway-header-transformation
19144 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
19147 So, to use this, simply say something like:
19150 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
19155 @node Combined Groups
19156 @section Combined Groups
19158 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
19162 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
19163 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
19167 @node Virtual Groups
19168 @subsection Virtual Groups
19170 @cindex virtual groups
19171 @cindex merging groups
19173 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
19176 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
19177 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
19178 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
19180 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
19181 regexp to match component groups.
19183 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
19184 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
19185 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
19186 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
19187 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
19188 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
19189 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
19190 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
19192 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
19193 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
19196 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
19199 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
19200 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
19202 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
19203 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
19204 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
19205 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
19208 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
19211 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
19212 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
19213 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
19215 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
19216 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
19217 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
19218 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
19219 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
19221 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
19222 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
19223 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
19225 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
19226 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} variable is non-@code{nil} (which
19227 is the default), @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread
19228 articles when entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil}
19229 and you read articles in a component group after the virtual group has
19230 been activated, the read articles from the component group will show up
19231 when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this effect if you
19232 have two virtual groups that have a component group in common. If
19233 that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}. Or you can
19234 just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before you enter
19235 it---it'll have much the same effect.
19237 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
19238 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
19239 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
19240 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
19241 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
19242 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
19243 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
19245 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
19246 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
19248 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
19249 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
19253 @node Kibozed Groups
19254 @subsection Kibozed Groups
19258 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by the @acronym{OED} as ``grepping through
19259 (parts of) the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will
19260 do this for you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server
19261 down to a halt with useless requests! Oh happiness!
19263 @kindex G k (Group)
19264 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
19267 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
19268 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
19269 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
19270 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
19272 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
19273 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
19274 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
19276 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
19277 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
19278 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
19279 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
19280 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
19281 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
19282 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
19283 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
19285 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
19286 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
19287 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
19288 Stranger things have happened.
19290 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
19291 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
19293 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
19294 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
19295 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/kiboze/} by default.
19296 One contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in
19297 the group, and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store
19298 information on what groups have been searched through to find
19299 component articles.
19301 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
19302 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
19305 @node Email Based Diary
19306 @section Email Based Diary
19308 @cindex email based diary
19311 This section describes a special mail back end called @code{nndiary},
19312 and its companion library @code{gnus-diary}. It is ``special'' in the
19313 sense that it is not meant to be one of the standard alternatives for
19314 reading mail with Gnus. See @ref{Choosing a Mail Back End} for that.
19315 Instead, it is used to treat @emph{some} of your mails in a special way,
19316 namely, as event reminders.
19318 Here is a typical scenario:
19322 You've got a date with Andy Mc Dowell or Bruce Willis (select according
19323 to your sexual preference) in one month. You don't want to forget it.
19325 So you send a ``reminder'' message (actually, a diary one) to yourself.
19327 You forget all about it and keep on getting and reading new mail, as usual.
19329 From time to time, as you type `g' in the group buffer and as the date
19330 is getting closer, the message will pop up again to remind you of your
19331 appointment, just as if it were new and unread.
19333 Read your ``new'' messages, this one included, and start dreaming again
19334 of the night you're gonna have.
19336 Once the date is over (you actually fell asleep just after dinner), the
19337 message will be automatically deleted if it is marked as expirable.
19340 The Gnus Diary back end has the ability to handle regular appointments
19341 (that wouldn't ever be deleted) as well as punctual ones, operates as a
19342 real mail back end and is configurable in many ways. All of this is
19343 explained in the sections below.
19346 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
19347 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
19348 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
19352 @node The NNDiary Back End
19353 @subsection The NNDiary Back End
19355 @cindex the nndiary back end
19357 @code{nndiary} is a back end very similar to @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
19358 Spool}). Actually, it could appear as a mix of @code{nnml} and
19359 @code{nndraft}. If you know @code{nnml}, you're already familiar with
19360 the message storing scheme of @code{nndiary}: one file per message, one
19361 directory per group.
19363 Before anything, there is one requirement to be able to run
19364 @code{nndiary} properly: you @emph{must} use the group timestamp feature
19365 of Gnus. This adds a timestamp to each group's parameters. @ref{Group
19366 Timestamp} to see how it's done.
19369 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
19370 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
19371 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
19374 @node Diary Messages
19375 @subsubsection Diary Messages
19376 @cindex nndiary messages
19377 @cindex nndiary mails
19379 @code{nndiary} messages are just normal ones, except for the mandatory
19380 presence of 7 special headers. These headers are of the form
19381 @code{X-Diary-<something>}, @code{<something>} being one of
19382 @code{Minute}, @code{Hour}, @code{Dom}, @code{Month}, @code{Year},
19383 @code{Time-Zone} and @code{Dow}. @code{Dom} means ``Day of Month'', and
19384 @code{dow} means ``Day of Week''. These headers actually behave like
19385 crontab specifications and define the event date(s):
19389 For all headers except the @code{Time-Zone} one, a header value is
19390 either a star (meaning all possible values), or a list of fields
19391 (separated by a comma).
19393 A field is either an integer, or a range.
19395 A range is two integers separated by a dash.
19397 Possible integer values are 0--59 for @code{Minute}, 0--23 for
19398 @code{Hour}, 1--31 for @code{Dom}, 1--12 for @code{Month}, above 1971
19399 for @code{Year} and 0--6 for @code{Dow} (0 meaning Sunday).
19401 As a special case, a star in either @code{Dom} or @code{Dow} doesn't
19402 mean ``all possible values'', but ``use only the other field''. Note
19403 that if both are star'ed, the use of either one gives the same result.
19405 The @code{Time-Zone} header is special in that it can only have one
19406 value (@code{GMT}, for instance). A star doesn't mean ``all possible
19407 values'' (because it makes no sense), but ``the current local time
19408 zone''. Most of the time, you'll be using a star here. However, for a
19409 list of available time zone values, see the variable
19410 @code{nndiary-headers}.
19413 As a concrete example, here are the diary headers to add to your message
19414 for specifying ``Each Monday and each 1st of month, at 12:00, 20:00,
19415 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and 24:00, from 1999 to 2010'' (I'll let you find
19420 X-Diary-Hour: 12, 20-24
19423 X-Diary-Year: 1999-2010
19425 X-Diary-Time-Zone: *
19428 @node Running NNDiary
19429 @subsubsection Running NNDiary
19430 @cindex running nndiary
19431 @cindex nndiary operation modes
19433 @code{nndiary} has two modes of operation: ``traditional'' (the default)
19434 and ``autonomous''. In traditional mode, @code{nndiary} does not get new
19435 mail by itself. You have to move (@kbd{B m}) or copy (@kbd{B c}) mails
19436 from your primary mail back end to nndiary groups in order to handle them
19437 as diary messages. In autonomous mode, @code{nndiary} retrieves its own
19438 mail and handles it independently from your primary mail back end.
19440 One should note that Gnus is not inherently designed to allow several
19441 ``master'' mail back ends at the same time. However, this does make
19442 sense with @code{nndiary}: you really want to send and receive diary
19443 messages to your diary groups directly. So, @code{nndiary} supports
19444 being sort of a ``second primary mail back end'' (to my knowledge, it is
19445 the only back end offering this feature). However, there is a limitation
19446 (which I hope to fix some day): respooling doesn't work in autonomous
19449 In order to use @code{nndiary} in autonomous mode, you have several
19454 Allow @code{nndiary} to retrieve new mail by itself. Put the following
19455 line in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
19458 (setq nndiary-get-new-mail t)
19461 You must arrange for diary messages (those containing @code{X-Diary-*}
19462 headers) to be split in a private folder @emph{before} Gnus treat them.
19463 Again, this is needed because Gnus cannot (yet ?) properly handle
19464 multiple primary mail back ends. Getting those messages from a separate
19465 source will compensate this misfeature to some extent.
19467 As an example, here's my procmailrc entry to store diary files in
19468 @file{~/.nndiary} (the default @code{nndiary} mail source file):
19477 Once this is done, you might want to customize the following two options
19478 that affect the diary mail retrieval and splitting processes:
19480 @defvar nndiary-mail-sources
19481 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
19482 @code{mail-sources} variable. It obeys the same syntax, and defaults to
19483 @code{(file :path "~/.nndiary")}.
19486 @defvar nndiary-split-methods
19487 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
19488 @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable. It obeys the same syntax.
19491 Finally, you may add a permanent @code{nndiary} virtual server
19492 (something like @code{(nndiary "diary")} should do) to your
19493 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}.
19495 Hopefully, almost everything (see the TODO section in
19496 @file{nndiary.el}) will work as expected when you restart Gnus: in
19497 autonomous mode, typing @kbd{g} and @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer, will
19498 also get your new diary mails and split them according to your
19499 diary-specific rules, @kbd{F} will find your new diary groups etc.
19501 @node Customizing NNDiary
19502 @subsubsection Customizing NNDiary
19503 @cindex customizing nndiary
19504 @cindex nndiary customization
19506 Now that @code{nndiary} is up and running, it's time to customize it.
19507 The custom group is called @code{nndiary} (no, really ?!). You should
19508 browse it to figure out which options you'd like to tweak. The following
19509 two variables are probably the only ones you will want to change:
19511 @defvar nndiary-reminders
19512 This is the list of times when you want to be reminded of your
19513 appointments (e.g. 3 weeks before, then 2 days before, then 1 hour
19514 before and that's it). Remember that ``being reminded'' means that the
19515 diary message will pop up as brand new and unread again when you get new
19519 @defvar nndiary-week-starts-on-monday
19520 Rather self-explanatory. Otherwise, Sunday is assumed (this is the
19525 @node The Gnus Diary Library
19526 @subsection The Gnus Diary Library
19528 @cindex the gnus diary library
19530 Using @code{nndiary} manually (I mean, writing the headers by hand and
19531 so on) would be rather boring. Fortunately, there is a library called
19532 @code{gnus-diary} written on top of @code{nndiary}, that does many
19533 useful things for you.
19535 In order to use it, add the following line to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
19538 (require 'gnus-diary)
19541 Also, you shouldn't use any @code{gnus-user-format-function-[d|D]}
19542 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} provides both of these
19543 (sorry if you used them before).
19547 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
19548 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
19549 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
19550 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
19553 @node Diary Summary Line Format
19554 @subsubsection Diary Summary Line Format
19555 @cindex diary summary buffer line
19556 @cindex diary summary line format
19558 Displaying diary messages in standard summary line format (usually
19559 something like @samp{From Joe: Subject}) is pretty useless. Most of
19560 the time, you're the one who wrote the message, and you mostly want to
19561 see the event's date.
19563 @code{gnus-diary} provides two supplemental user formats to be used in
19564 summary line formats. @code{D} corresponds to a formatted time string
19565 for the next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00''),
19566 while @code{d} corresponds to an approximative remaining time until the
19567 next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``in 6 months, 1 week'').
19569 For example, here's how Joe's birthday is displayed in my
19570 @code{nndiary+diary:birthdays} summary buffer (note that the message is
19571 expirable, but will never be deleted, as it specifies a periodic event):
19574 E Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00: Joe's birthday (in 6 months, 1 week)
19577 In order to get something like the above, you would normally add the
19578 following line to your diary groups'parameters:
19581 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z %uD: %(%s%) (%ud)\n")
19584 However, @code{gnus-diary} does it automatically (@pxref{Diary Group
19585 Parameters}). You can however customize the provided summary line format
19586 with the following user options:
19588 @defvar gnus-diary-summary-line-format
19589 Defines the summary line format used for diary groups (@pxref{Summary
19590 Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} uses it to automatically update the
19591 diary groups'parameters.
19594 @defvar gnus-diary-time-format
19595 Defines the format to display dates in diary summary buffers. This is
19596 used by the @code{D} user format. See the docstring for details.
19599 @defvar gnus-diary-delay-format-function
19600 Defines the format function to use for displaying delays (remaining
19601 times) in diary summary buffers. This is used by the @code{d} user
19602 format. There are currently built-in functions for English and French;
19603 you can also define your own. See the docstring for details.
19606 @node Diary Articles Sorting
19607 @subsubsection Diary Articles Sorting
19608 @cindex diary articles sorting
19609 @cindex diary summary lines sorting
19610 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule
19611 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule
19612 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-schedule
19614 @code{gnus-diary} provides new sorting functions (@pxref{Sorting the
19615 Summary Buffer} ) called @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule},
19616 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule} and
19617 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-schedule}. These functions let you organize
19618 your diary summary buffers from the closest event to the farthest one.
19620 @code{gnus-diary} automatically installs
19621 @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule} as a menu item in the summary
19622 buffer's ``sort'' menu, and the two others as the primary (hence
19623 default) sorting functions in the group parameters (@pxref{Diary Group
19626 @node Diary Headers Generation
19627 @subsubsection Diary Headers Generation
19628 @cindex diary headers generation
19629 @findex gnus-diary-check-message
19631 @code{gnus-diary} provides a function called
19632 @code{gnus-diary-check-message} to help you handle the @code{X-Diary-*}
19633 headers. This function ensures that the current message contains all the
19634 required diary headers, and prompts you for values or corrections if
19637 This function is hooked into the @code{nndiary} back end, so that
19638 moving or copying an article to a diary group will trigger it
19639 automatically. It is also bound to @kbd{C-c C-f d} in
19640 @code{message-mode} and @code{article-edit-mode} in order to ease the
19641 process of converting a usual mail to a diary one.
19643 This function takes a prefix argument which will force prompting of
19644 all diary headers, regardless of their presence or validity. That way,
19645 you can very easily reschedule an already valid diary message, for
19648 @node Diary Group Parameters
19649 @subsubsection Diary Group Parameters
19650 @cindex diary group parameters
19652 When you create a new diary group, or visit one, @code{gnus-diary}
19653 automatically checks your group parameters and if needed, sets the
19654 summary line format to the diary-specific value, installs the
19655 diary-specific sorting functions, and also adds the different
19656 @code{X-Diary-*} headers to the group's posting-style. It is then easier
19657 to send a diary message, because if you use @kbd{C-u a} or @kbd{C-u m}
19658 on a diary group to prepare a message, these headers will be inserted
19659 automatically (although not filled with proper values yet).
19661 @node Sending or Not Sending
19662 @subsection Sending or Not Sending
19664 Well, assuming you've read all of the above, here are two final notes on
19665 mail sending with @code{nndiary}:
19669 @code{nndiary} is a @emph{real} mail back end. You really send real diary
19670 messsages for real. This means for instance that you can give
19671 appointments to anybody (provided they use Gnus and @code{nndiary}) by
19672 sending the diary message to them as well.
19674 However, since @code{nndiary} also has a @code{request-post} method, you
19675 can also use @kbd{C-u a} instead of @kbd{C-u m} on a diary group and the
19676 message won't actually be sent; just stored locally in the group. This
19677 comes in very handy for private appointments.
19680 @node Gnus Unplugged
19681 @section Gnus Unplugged
19686 @cindex Gnus unplugged
19688 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
19689 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
19690 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
19691 read news. Believe it or not.
19693 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
19694 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
19695 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
19696 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
19697 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
19699 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
19700 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
19701 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
19702 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
19703 reading news on a machine.
19705 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
19706 fact, you don't have to configure anything as the agent is now enabled
19707 by default (@pxref{Agent Variables, gnus-agent}).
19709 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
19712 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
19713 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
19714 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
19715 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
19716 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
19717 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
19718 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
19719 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
19720 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
19721 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
19722 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
19723 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
19724 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
19725 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
19730 @subsection Agent Basics
19732 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
19734 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
19735 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
19736 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
19737 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
19739 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
19740 connected to the net continuously.
19742 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
19743 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
19745 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
19746 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
19747 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
19748 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
19749 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
19751 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
19752 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
19753 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
19754 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
19755 they're kinda like plugged always).
19757 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
19758 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
19759 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
19762 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
19763 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
19764 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
19765 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
19766 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
19768 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
19773 @findex gnus-unplugged
19774 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
19775 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
19776 already fetched while in this mode.
19779 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
19780 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
19781 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
19782 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
19783 Source Specifiers}).
19786 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
19787 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
19788 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
19789 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
19790 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
19793 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
19794 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
19795 then you read the news offline.
19798 And then you go to step 2.
19801 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
19807 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
19808 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
19809 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
19810 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
19811 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
19812 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
19813 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
19814 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
19817 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
19818 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
19819 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
19820 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
19822 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
19823 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
19824 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
19825 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
19826 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
19827 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
19831 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
19835 @node Agent Categories
19836 @subsection Agent Categories
19838 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
19839 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
19840 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
19841 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
19842 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
19843 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
19844 you're interested in the articles anyway.
19846 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
19847 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
19848 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
19849 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
19850 buffer for creating and managing categories.
19852 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
19853 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
19854 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
19855 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
19856 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
19859 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
19860 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
19861 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
19862 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
19863 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
19864 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
19868 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
19869 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
19870 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
19874 @node Category Syntax
19875 @subsubsection Category Syntax
19877 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
19878 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
19879 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
19882 @cindex Agent Parameters
19885 The list of groups that are in this category.
19887 @item agent-predicate
19888 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
19889 are eligible for downloading; and
19892 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
19893 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
19894 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
19896 @item agent-enable-expiration
19897 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
19898 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
19899 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
19900 only groups that should not be expired.
19902 @item agent-days-until-old
19903 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
19904 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
19906 @item agent-low-score
19907 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
19909 @item agent-high-score
19910 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
19912 @item agent-short-article
19913 an integer that overrides the value of
19914 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
19916 @item agent-long-article
19917 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
19919 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
19920 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
19921 undownloaded articles using the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face}
19922 faces. Any symbol other than @code{nil} will enable the use of
19923 undownloaded faces.
19926 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
19929 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
19930 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
19931 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
19934 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
19935 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
19936 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
19937 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
19939 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
19940 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
19941 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
19943 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
19944 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
19945 operators sprinkled in between.
19947 Perhaps some examples are in order.
19949 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
19950 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
19956 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
19957 short (for some value of ``short'').
19959 Here's a more complex predicate:
19968 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
19969 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
19972 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
19973 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
19974 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
19976 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
19977 you want to do, you can write your own.
19979 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
19980 bound to the value determined by calling
19981 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
19982 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
19983 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
19984 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
19985 predicate to individual groups.
19989 True if the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
19990 lines; default 100.
19993 True if the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
19994 lines; default 200.
19997 True if the article has a download score less than
19998 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
20001 True if the article has a download score greater than
20002 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
20005 True if the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
20006 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
20007 checksum and sees whether articles match.
20016 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
20017 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
20018 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
20021 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
20022 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
20023 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
20024 something along the lines of the following:
20027 (defun my-article-old-p ()
20028 "Say whether an article is old."
20029 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
20030 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
20033 with the predicate then defined as:
20036 (not my-article-old-p)
20039 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
20040 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
20044 (require 'gnus-agent)
20045 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
20046 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
20047 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
20050 and simply specify your predicate as:
20056 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
20057 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
20058 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
20059 just don't give a damn.
20061 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
20062 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
20063 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
20064 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
20065 parameters like so:
20068 (agent-predicate . short)
20071 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
20072 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
20073 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
20075 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
20078 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
20081 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
20082 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
20083 predicate is assumed to be a list.
20086 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
20087 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
20088 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
20089 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
20090 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
20091 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
20093 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
20094 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
20095 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
20096 if it's to be specific to that group.
20098 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
20105 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
20106 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
20112 Category specification
20116 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
20122 Group/Topic Parameter specification
20125 (agent-score ("from"
20126 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
20131 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
20137 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
20138 keywords stated above.
20144 Category specification
20147 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
20153 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
20157 Group Parameter specification
20160 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
20163 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
20168 Use @code{normal} score files
20170 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
20171 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
20172 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
20173 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
20175 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
20176 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
20177 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
20178 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
20182 Category Specification
20189 Group Parameter specification
20192 (agent-score . file)
20197 @node Category Buffer
20198 @subsubsection Category Buffer
20200 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
20201 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
20202 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
20204 The following commands are available in this buffer:
20208 @kindex q (Category)
20209 @findex gnus-category-exit
20210 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
20213 @kindex e (Category)
20214 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
20215 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
20216 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
20219 @kindex k (Category)
20220 @findex gnus-category-kill
20221 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
20224 @kindex c (Category)
20225 @findex gnus-category-copy
20226 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
20229 @kindex a (Category)
20230 @findex gnus-category-add
20231 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
20234 @kindex p (Category)
20235 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
20236 Edit the predicate of the current category
20237 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
20240 @kindex g (Category)
20241 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
20242 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
20243 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
20246 @kindex s (Category)
20247 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
20248 Edit the download score rule of the current category
20249 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
20252 @kindex l (Category)
20253 @findex gnus-category-list
20254 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
20258 @node Category Variables
20259 @subsubsection Category Variables
20262 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
20263 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
20264 Hook run in category buffers.
20266 @item gnus-category-line-format
20267 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
20268 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
20269 Variables}). Valid elements are:
20273 The name of the category.
20276 The number of groups in the category.
20279 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
20280 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
20281 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
20283 @item gnus-agent-short-article
20284 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
20285 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
20287 @item gnus-agent-long-article
20288 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
20289 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
20291 @item gnus-agent-low-score
20292 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
20293 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
20296 @item gnus-agent-high-score
20297 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
20298 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
20301 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
20302 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
20303 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
20304 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
20305 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
20306 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
20307 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
20308 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
20312 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
20313 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
20314 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
20315 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
20316 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
20317 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
20318 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
20323 @node Agent Commands
20324 @subsection Agent Commands
20325 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
20326 @kindex J j (Agent)
20328 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
20329 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
20330 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
20334 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
20335 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
20336 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
20342 @node Group Agent Commands
20343 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
20347 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
20348 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
20349 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
20350 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
20353 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
20354 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
20355 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
20358 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
20359 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
20360 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
20361 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
20364 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
20365 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
20366 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
20367 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
20370 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
20371 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
20372 Add the current group to an Agent category
20373 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
20374 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
20377 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
20378 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
20379 Remove the current group from its category, if any
20380 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
20381 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
20384 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
20385 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20386 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
20392 @node Summary Agent Commands
20393 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
20397 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
20398 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
20399 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
20402 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
20403 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
20404 Remove the downloading mark from the article
20405 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
20409 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
20410 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
20411 Toggle whether to download the article
20412 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
20416 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
20417 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
20418 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
20421 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
20422 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
20423 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
20424 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
20427 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
20428 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series
20429 Download all processable articles in this group.
20430 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series}).
20433 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
20434 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
20435 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
20436 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
20441 @node Server Agent Commands
20442 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
20446 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
20447 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
20448 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
20449 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
20452 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
20453 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
20454 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
20455 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
20460 @node Agent Visuals
20461 @subsection Agent Visuals
20463 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
20464 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
20465 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
20466 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
20467 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
20468 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
20469 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
20470 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
20471 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
20472 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
20474 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
20475 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
20476 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
20477 way, ``If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
20478 less than satisfying unplugged session''. For this reason, the Agent
20479 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
20480 the download status of each article so that you always know which
20481 articles will be available when unplugged.
20483 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
20484 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
20485 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
20486 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
20487 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
20488 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
20489 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
20490 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
20492 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
20493 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
20494 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
20495 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
20496 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
20497 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
20498 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
20499 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
20500 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
20502 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
20503 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
20504 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
20505 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
20506 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
20507 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
20508 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
20509 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
20510 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
20511 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
20513 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
20514 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
20515 group parameter to @code{t}. This parameter, like all other agent
20516 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent Categories}),
20517 a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an individual group
20518 (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
20520 The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
20521 can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
20522 even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
20523 is the @samp{%F} format available in @code{gnus-group-line-format}.
20524 This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
20525 fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
20526 the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when ``agent
20527 expiring'' articles.
20529 @node Agent as Cache
20530 @subsection Agent as Cache
20532 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
20533 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
20534 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
20535 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
20536 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
20537 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
20538 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
20539 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
20540 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
20542 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
20543 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
20544 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
20545 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
20546 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
20549 @subsection Agent Expiry
20551 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
20552 @findex gnus-agent-expire
20553 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
20554 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
20555 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
20556 @cindex agent expiry
20557 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
20558 @cindex expiry, in Gnus agent
20560 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
20561 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
20562 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
20563 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
20564 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
20565 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
20566 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
20567 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
20569 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
20570 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
20571 synchronized with the group.
20573 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
20574 prevent expiration in selected groups.
20576 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
20577 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
20578 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
20579 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
20580 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
20581 be kept indefinitely.
20583 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
20584 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
20585 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
20586 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
20588 @node Agent Regeneration
20589 @subsection Agent Regeneration
20591 @cindex agent regeneration
20592 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
20593 @cindex regeneration
20595 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
20596 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
20597 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
20598 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
20599 internal inconsistencies.
20601 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
20602 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
20603 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
20604 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
20605 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
20606 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
20608 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
20609 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
20610 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
20611 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
20612 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
20613 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
20615 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
20616 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
20617 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
20618 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
20619 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
20620 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
20623 @node Agent and flags
20624 @subsection Agent and flags
20626 The Agent works with any Gnus back end including those, such as
20627 nnimap, that store flags (read, ticked, etc) on the server. Sadly,
20628 the Agent does not actually know which backends keep their flags in
20629 the backend server rather than in @file{.newsrc}. This means that the
20630 Agent, while unplugged or disconnected, will always record all changes
20631 to the flags in its own files.
20633 When you plug back in, Gnus will then check to see if you have any
20634 changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the
20635 server. This behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
20637 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20638 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
20639 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
20640 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
20641 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
20642 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
20644 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
20645 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
20646 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
20647 in the group buffer.
20649 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
20650 all local flags to the server, but rather by incrementally updated the
20651 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
20652 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group then
20653 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
20654 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
20655 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
20656 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
20658 @node Agent and IMAP
20659 @subsection Agent and IMAP
20661 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
20662 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
20663 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
20664 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
20666 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
20667 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
20672 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
20675 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
20679 @node Outgoing Messages
20680 @subsection Outgoing Messages
20682 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
20683 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
20684 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
20686 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
20687 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
20688 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
20690 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
20691 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
20692 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
20693 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
20696 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
20697 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
20698 ask you to confirm your action (see
20699 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
20701 @node Agent Variables
20702 @subsection Agent Variables
20707 Is the agent enabled? The default is @code{t}. When first enabled,
20708 the agent will use @code{gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods} to
20709 automatically mark some back ends as agentized. You may change which
20710 back ends are agentized using the agent commands in the server buffer.
20712 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
20713 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
20716 @item gnus-agent-directory
20717 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
20718 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
20719 @file{~/News/agent/}.
20721 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
20722 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
20723 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
20724 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
20725 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
20728 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
20729 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
20730 Hook run when connecting to the network.
20732 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
20733 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
20734 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
20736 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
20737 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
20738 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
20740 @item gnus-agent-cache
20741 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
20742 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
20743 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
20744 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
20746 @item gnus-agent-go-online
20747 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
20748 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
20749 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
20750 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
20751 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
20752 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
20755 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
20756 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
20757 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
20758 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
20759 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
20760 read. The default is @code{t}.
20762 @item gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20763 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20764 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
20765 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
20766 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
20767 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
20768 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
20770 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
20771 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
20772 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
20773 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
20774 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
20775 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
20776 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
20777 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
20778 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
20779 over and over again.
20781 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
20782 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
20783 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
20784 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
20785 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
20786 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
20787 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
20788 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
20789 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
20790 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
20791 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
20792 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
20795 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
20796 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
20797 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
20798 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
20799 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
20800 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
20801 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
20802 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
20803 is only valid if the Agent is used.
20805 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
20806 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
20807 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
20808 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
20809 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
20810 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
20812 The valid values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
20813 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
20814 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
20815 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
20816 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
20818 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
20819 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
20820 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
20821 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
20822 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
20823 mail. The default is @code{t}.
20825 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
20826 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
20827 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
20828 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
20829 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
20831 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
20832 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
20833 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
20834 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
20835 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
20836 which back ends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
20837 to agentize remote back ends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
20838 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
20839 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
20840 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
20841 start Gnus. The default is @samp{(nntp nnimap)}.
20846 @node Example Setup
20847 @subsection Example Setup
20849 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
20850 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
20851 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
20854 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
20855 ;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
20856 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
20858 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
20859 ;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
20860 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
20862 ;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
20863 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
20865 ;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
20866 ;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
20867 ;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
20870 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
20871 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
20874 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
20875 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
20876 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
20877 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
20878 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
20881 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
20882 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
20883 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
20884 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
20885 back all the killed groups.)
20887 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
20888 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
20889 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
20892 @node Batching Agents
20893 @subsection Batching Agents
20894 @findex gnus-agent-batch
20896 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
20897 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
20898 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
20900 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
20901 following incantation:
20905 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
20909 @node Agent Caveats
20910 @subsection Agent Caveats
20912 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
20913 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
20917 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
20919 @strong{No}. If you want this behavior, add
20920 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
20921 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
20923 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
20924 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
20926 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
20930 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
20931 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
20932 locally stored articles.
20939 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
20940 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
20941 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
20944 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
20945 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
20946 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
20947 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
20948 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
20950 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
20951 before generating the summary buffer.
20953 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
20954 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
20955 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
20957 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
20958 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
20959 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
20960 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
20963 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
20964 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
20965 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
20966 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
20967 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
20968 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
20969 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
20970 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
20971 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
20972 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
20973 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
20974 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
20975 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
20976 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
20977 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
20978 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
20982 @node Summary Score Commands
20983 @section Summary Score Commands
20984 @cindex score commands
20986 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
20987 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
20988 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
20989 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
20990 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
20992 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
20993 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
20994 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
20995 score file the current one.
20997 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
21002 @kindex V s (Summary)
21003 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
21004 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
21007 @kindex V S (Summary)
21008 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
21009 Display the score of the current article
21010 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
21013 @kindex V t (Summary)
21014 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
21015 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
21016 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
21017 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
21018 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
21019 score file and edit it.
21022 @kindex V w (Summary)
21023 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
21024 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
21027 @kindex V R (Summary)
21028 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
21029 Run the current summary through the scoring process
21030 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
21031 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
21032 effect you're having.
21035 @kindex V c (Summary)
21036 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
21037 Make a different score file the current
21038 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
21041 @kindex V e (Summary)
21042 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
21043 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
21044 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
21048 @kindex V f (Summary)
21049 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
21050 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
21051 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
21054 @kindex V F (Summary)
21055 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
21056 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
21057 after editing score files.
21060 @kindex V C (Summary)
21061 @findex gnus-score-customize
21062 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
21063 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
21067 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
21072 @kindex V m (Summary)
21073 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
21074 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
21075 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
21078 @kindex V x (Summary)
21079 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
21080 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
21081 expunge all articles below this score
21082 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
21085 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
21086 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
21089 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
21090 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
21094 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
21095 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
21097 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
21098 keys are available:
21102 Score on the author name.
21105 Score on the subject line.
21108 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
21111 Score on the @code{References} line.
21117 Score on the number of lines.
21120 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
21123 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
21124 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
21127 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
21128 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
21129 @file{ADAPT} files.)
21138 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
21144 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
21145 what headers you are scoring on.
21157 Substring matching.
21160 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
21189 Greater than number.
21194 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
21195 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
21196 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
21201 Temporary score entry.
21204 Permanent score entry.
21207 Immediately scoring.
21211 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
21212 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
21213 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
21217 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
21218 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
21219 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
21220 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
21222 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
21223 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
21224 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
21225 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
21226 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
21228 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
21229 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
21230 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
21231 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
21232 current score file.
21234 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
21235 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
21236 pretend they are keymaps or not.
21239 @node Group Score Commands
21240 @section Group Score Commands
21241 @cindex group score commands
21243 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
21248 @kindex W e (Group)
21249 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
21250 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
21251 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
21254 @kindex W f (Group)
21255 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
21256 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
21257 all the time. This command will flush the cache
21258 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
21262 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
21264 @findex gnus-batch-score
21265 @cindex batch scoring
21267 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
21271 @node Score Variables
21272 @section Score Variables
21273 @cindex score variables
21277 @item gnus-use-scoring
21278 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
21279 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
21280 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
21282 @item gnus-kill-killed
21283 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
21284 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
21285 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
21286 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
21287 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
21288 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
21289 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
21291 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
21292 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
21293 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
21294 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
21295 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
21297 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
21298 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
21299 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
21300 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
21302 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
21303 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
21304 @cindex score cache
21305 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
21306 score files. However, this might make your Emacs grow big and
21307 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
21308 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
21309 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
21310 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
21311 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
21314 @item gnus-save-score
21315 @vindex gnus-save-score
21316 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
21317 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
21318 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
21320 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
21321 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
21322 across group visits.
21324 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
21325 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
21326 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
21327 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
21328 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
21329 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
21330 manually entered data.
21332 @item gnus-summary-default-score
21333 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
21334 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
21336 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
21337 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
21338 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
21339 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
21340 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
21341 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
21343 @item gnus-score-over-mark
21344 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
21345 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
21346 default. Default is @samp{+}.
21348 @item gnus-score-below-mark
21349 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
21350 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
21351 default. Default is @samp{-}.
21353 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
21354 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
21355 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
21356 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
21358 Predefined functions available are:
21361 @item gnus-score-find-single
21362 @findex gnus-score-find-single
21363 Only apply the group's own score file.
21365 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
21366 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
21367 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
21368 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
21369 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
21370 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
21371 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
21372 then a regexp match is done.
21374 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
21375 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
21377 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
21378 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
21379 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
21380 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
21382 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
21383 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
21384 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
21385 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
21386 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
21390 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
21391 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
21392 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
21393 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
21394 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
21395 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
21396 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
21399 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
21400 overall score file, you could use the value
21402 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
21403 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
21406 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
21407 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
21408 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
21409 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
21410 are expired. It's 7 by default.
21412 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
21413 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
21414 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
21415 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
21416 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
21417 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
21418 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
21419 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
21421 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
21422 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
21423 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
21425 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
21426 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
21427 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
21428 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
21429 threading---according to the current value of
21430 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
21431 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
21432 simplified in this manner.
21437 @node Score File Format
21438 @section Score File Format
21439 @cindex score file format
21441 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
21442 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
21443 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
21445 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
21449 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
21451 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
21453 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
21455 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
21460 (mark-and-expunge -10)
21464 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
21465 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
21466 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
21467 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
21471 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
21472 Scoring}, for a different approach.
21474 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
21475 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
21476 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
21478 Six keys are supported by this alist:
21483 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
21484 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
21485 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
21486 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
21487 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
21488 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
21489 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
21490 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
21491 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
21492 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
21493 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
21494 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
21495 to articles that matches these score entries.
21497 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
21498 score entry has one to four elements.
21502 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
21503 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
21507 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
21508 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
21509 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
21510 is successful. If this element is not present, the
21511 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
21512 instead. This is 1000 by default.
21515 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
21516 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
21517 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
21518 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
21519 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
21522 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
21523 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
21524 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
21525 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
21528 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
21529 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
21530 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
21531 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
21532 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
21533 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
21534 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
21535 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
21536 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
21537 instead, if you feel like.
21540 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
21541 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
21542 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
21543 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
21544 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
21545 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
21549 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
21550 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
21554 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
21555 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
21557 These predicates are true if
21560 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
21563 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
21564 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
21571 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
21572 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
21573 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
21574 it's not. I think.)
21576 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
21577 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
21578 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
21579 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
21582 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
21583 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
21584 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
21585 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
21586 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
21587 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
21588 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
21592 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
21593 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
21594 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
21595 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
21596 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
21597 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
21598 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
21599 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
21602 @item Head, Body, All
21603 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
21607 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
21608 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
21609 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
21610 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
21611 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
21612 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
21613 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
21617 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
21618 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
21619 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
21620 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
21621 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
21622 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
21623 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
21624 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
21625 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
21626 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
21627 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
21631 @cindex score file atoms
21633 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
21634 lower than this number will be marked as read.
21637 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
21638 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
21640 @item mark-and-expunge
21641 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
21642 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
21645 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
21646 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
21647 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
21648 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
21649 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
21652 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
21653 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
21656 @item exclude-files
21657 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
21658 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
21662 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
21663 ignored when handling global score files.
21666 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
21667 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
21668 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
21669 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
21672 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
21673 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
21674 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
21675 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
21677 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
21681 (mark-and-expunge -100)
21684 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
21685 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
21686 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
21687 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
21688 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
21690 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
21691 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
21692 scoring rules exist.
21695 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
21696 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
21697 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
21698 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
21699 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
21700 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
21701 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
21702 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
21703 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
21704 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
21705 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
21709 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
21710 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
21711 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
21712 file for a number of groups.
21715 @cindex local variables
21716 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
21717 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
21718 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
21719 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
21720 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
21725 @node Score File Editing
21726 @section Score File Editing
21728 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
21729 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
21730 with a mode for that.
21732 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
21733 additional commands:
21738 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
21739 @findex gnus-score-edit-exit
21740 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
21741 (@code{gnus-score-edit-exit}).
21744 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
21745 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
21746 Insert the current date in numerical format
21747 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
21748 you were wondering.
21751 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
21752 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
21753 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
21754 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
21755 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
21760 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
21762 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
21763 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
21765 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
21766 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
21769 @node Adaptive Scoring
21770 @section Adaptive Scoring
21771 @cindex adaptive scoring
21773 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
21774 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
21775 stupidity, to be precise.
21777 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
21778 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
21779 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
21780 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
21781 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
21782 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
21783 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
21784 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
21785 variable to @code{(word line)}.
21787 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
21788 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
21789 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
21790 might look something like this:
21793 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
21794 '((gnus-unread-mark)
21795 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
21796 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
21797 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
21798 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
21799 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
21800 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
21801 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
21802 (gnus-ancient-mark)
21803 (gnus-low-score-mark)
21804 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
21807 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
21808 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
21809 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
21810 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
21811 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
21812 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
21815 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
21816 will be applied to each article.
21818 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
21819 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
21820 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
21821 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
21823 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
21824 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
21825 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
21826 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
21828 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
21829 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
21830 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
21831 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
21833 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
21834 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
21835 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
21836 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
21837 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
21838 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
21840 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
21841 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
21842 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
21844 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
21845 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
21846 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
21848 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
21849 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
21850 let you use different rules in different groups.
21852 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
21853 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
21854 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
21857 @vindex gnus-adaptive-pretty-print
21858 Adaptive score files can get huge and are not meant to be edited by
21859 human hands. If @code{gnus-adaptive-pretty-print} is @code{nil} (the
21860 deafult) those files will not be written in a human readable way.
21862 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
21863 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
21864 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
21865 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
21866 the length of the match is less than
21867 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
21868 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
21871 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
21872 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
21873 headers. If you adapt on words, the
21874 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
21875 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
21878 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
21879 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
21880 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
21881 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
21882 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
21885 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
21886 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
21887 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
21888 score with 30 points.
21890 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
21891 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
21892 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
21893 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
21894 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
21896 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
21897 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
21898 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
21899 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
21900 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
21902 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
21903 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
21904 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
21905 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
21907 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
21908 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
21909 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
21910 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
21912 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
21913 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
21914 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
21915 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
21916 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
21918 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
21919 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
21920 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
21922 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
21923 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
21924 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
21925 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
21928 @node Home Score File
21929 @section Home Score File
21931 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
21932 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
21933 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
21934 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
21936 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
21937 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
21938 could perhaps use the same home score file.
21940 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
21941 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
21946 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
21950 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
21951 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
21955 A list. The elements in this list can be:
21959 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
21960 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
21963 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
21964 be used as the home score file. The function will be called with the
21965 name of the group as the parameter.
21968 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
21971 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
21976 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
21979 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21980 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
21983 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
21984 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
21986 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
21988 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21989 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
21992 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
21993 Other functions include
21996 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
21997 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
21998 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
21999 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
22003 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
22004 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
22005 their own home score files:
22008 (setq gnus-home-score-file
22009 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
22010 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
22011 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
22012 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
22015 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
22016 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
22017 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
22018 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
22019 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
22021 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
22022 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
22023 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
22024 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
22025 precedence over this variable.
22028 @node Followups To Yourself
22029 @section Followups To Yourself
22031 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
22032 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
22033 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
22034 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
22035 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
22036 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
22040 @item gnus-score-followup-article
22041 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
22042 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
22045 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
22046 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
22047 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
22051 @vindex message-sent-hook
22052 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
22053 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
22055 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
22059 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
22060 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
22064 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
22065 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
22068 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
22069 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
22074 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
22078 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
22079 is system-dependent.
22082 @node Scoring On Other Headers
22083 @section Scoring On Other Headers
22084 @cindex scoring on other headers
22086 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
22087 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
22088 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
22089 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
22090 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
22092 @vindex gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring
22093 You can inhibit this slow scoring on headers or body by setting the
22094 variable @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring}. If
22095 @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring} is regexp, slow scoring is inhibited if
22096 the group matches the regexp. If it is t, slow scoring on it is
22097 inhibited for all groups.
22099 Now, there's not much you can do about the slowness for news groups, but for
22100 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
22101 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
22102 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
22103 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
22105 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
22108 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
22109 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
22112 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
22113 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
22114 time if you have much mail.
22116 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
22117 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
22123 @section Scoring Tips
22124 @cindex scoring tips
22130 @cindex scoring crossposts
22131 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
22132 the @code{Xref} header.
22134 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
22137 @item Multiple crossposts
22138 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
22139 more than, say, 3 groups:
22142 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
22146 @item Matching on the body
22147 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
22148 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
22149 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
22150 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
22151 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
22152 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
22153 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
22156 @item Marking as read
22157 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
22158 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
22159 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
22163 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
22165 @item Negated character classes
22166 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
22167 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
22168 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
22172 @node Reverse Scoring
22173 @section Reverse Scoring
22174 @cindex reverse scoring
22176 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
22177 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
22178 like this in your score file:
22182 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
22187 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
22188 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
22191 @node Global Score Files
22192 @section Global Score Files
22193 @cindex global score files
22195 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
22196 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
22197 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
22199 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
22200 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
22201 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
22203 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
22204 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
22205 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
22206 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
22207 files are applicable to which group.
22209 To use the score file
22210 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
22211 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
22215 (setq gnus-global-score-files
22216 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
22217 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
22220 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
22222 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
22223 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
22224 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
22225 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
22227 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
22228 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
22230 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
22231 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
22232 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
22233 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
22234 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
22235 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
22237 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
22243 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
22245 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
22247 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
22249 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
22250 lowered out of existence.
22252 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
22253 articles completely.
22256 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
22257 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
22258 old articles for a long time.
22261 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
22262 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
22263 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
22264 holding our breath yet?
22268 @section Kill Files
22271 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
22272 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
22273 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
22275 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
22276 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
22277 files into score files.
22279 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
22280 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
22281 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
22282 that isn't a very good idea.
22284 Normal kill files look like this:
22287 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
22288 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
22292 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
22293 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
22295 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
22296 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
22299 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
22304 @kindex M-k (Summary)
22305 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
22306 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
22309 @kindex M-K (Summary)
22310 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
22311 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
22314 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
22319 @kindex M-k (Group)
22320 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
22321 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
22324 @kindex M-K (Group)
22325 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
22326 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
22329 Kill file variables:
22332 @item gnus-kill-file-name
22333 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
22334 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
22335 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
22336 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
22337 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
22338 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
22340 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
22341 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
22342 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
22343 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
22346 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
22347 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
22348 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
22349 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
22350 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
22351 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
22352 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
22353 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
22354 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
22356 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
22357 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
22358 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
22363 @node Converting Kill Files
22364 @section Converting Kill Files
22366 @cindex converting kill files
22368 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
22369 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
22370 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
22373 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
22374 You can fetch it from
22375 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
22377 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
22378 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
22379 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
22383 @node Advanced Scoring
22384 @section Advanced Scoring
22386 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
22387 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
22388 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
22389 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
22390 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
22392 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
22396 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
22397 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
22398 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
22402 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
22403 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
22405 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
22406 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
22407 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
22408 non-@code{nil} value.
22410 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
22411 operator, and various match operators.
22418 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
22419 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
22420 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
22425 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
22426 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
22427 then this operator will return @code{false}.
22432 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
22433 logical negation of the value of its argument.
22437 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
22438 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
22439 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
22440 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
22441 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
22442 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
22443 the ancestry you want to go.
22445 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
22446 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
22447 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
22448 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
22449 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
22452 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
22453 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
22455 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
22456 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
22459 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
22460 when he's talking about Gnus:
22465 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
22466 ("subject" "Gnus"))
22473 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
22477 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
22484 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
22485 really don't want to read what he's written:
22489 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
22490 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigil Logge")))
22494 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
22495 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
22496 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
22503 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
22504 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
22505 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
22506 ("body" "white.*socks"))
22510 Suppose you're reading a high volume group and you're only interested
22511 in replies. The plan is to score down all articles that don't have
22512 subject that begin with "Re:", "Fw:" or "Fwd:" and then score up all
22513 parents of articles that have subjects that begin with reply marks.
22516 ((! ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
22518 ((1- ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
22522 The possibilities are endless.
22524 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
22525 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
22527 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
22528 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
22529 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
22530 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
22531 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
22532 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
22533 @samp{subject}) first.
22535 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
22536 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
22547 Then that means ``score on the from header of the grandparent of the
22548 current article''. An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
22554 ("subject" "Gnus")))
22561 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
22562 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
22567 @section Score Decays
22568 @cindex score decays
22571 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
22572 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
22573 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
22574 use them in any sensible way.
22576 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
22577 @findex gnus-decay-score
22578 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
22579 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
22580 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
22581 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
22582 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
22583 If @code{gnus-decay-scores} is a regexp, only score files matching this
22584 regexp are treated. E.g. you may set it to @samp{\\.ADAPT\\'} if only
22585 @emph{adaptive} score files should be decayed. The decay itself if
22586 performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function} function, which is
22587 @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the definition of that
22591 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
22592 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
22593 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
22595 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
22597 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
22599 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
22600 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
22601 ;; XEmacs' floor can handle only the floating point
22602 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
22603 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
22605 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
22609 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
22610 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
22611 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
22612 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
22616 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
22619 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
22622 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
22626 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
22627 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
22628 the new score, which should be an integer.
22630 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
22631 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
22636 @include message.texi
22637 @chapter Emacs MIME
22638 @include emacs-mime.texi
22640 @include sieve.texi
22652 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
22653 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
22654 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
22655 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
22656 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
22657 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
22658 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
22659 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
22660 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
22661 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
22662 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
22663 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
22664 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
22665 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
22666 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
22667 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
22668 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
22669 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
22670 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
22671 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
22672 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
22673 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
22677 @node Process/Prefix
22678 @section Process/Prefix
22679 @cindex process/prefix convention
22681 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
22682 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
22684 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
22685 command to be performed on.
22689 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
22690 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
22691 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
22692 with the current one.
22694 @vindex transient-mark-mode
22695 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
22696 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
22698 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
22699 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
22702 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
22703 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
22705 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
22708 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
22709 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
22710 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
22711 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
22713 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
22714 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
22715 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
22716 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
22717 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
22718 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
22719 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
22720 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
22722 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
22723 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
22724 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
22725 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
22726 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
22730 @section Interactive
22731 @cindex interaction
22735 @item gnus-novice-user
22736 @vindex gnus-novice-user
22737 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
22738 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
22739 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
22740 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
22743 @item gnus-expert-user
22744 @vindex gnus-expert-user
22745 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
22746 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
22747 matter how strange.
22749 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
22750 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
22751 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
22752 is @code{t} by default.
22754 @item gnus-interactive-exit
22755 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
22756 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22761 @node Symbolic Prefixes
22762 @section Symbolic Prefixes
22763 @cindex symbolic prefixes
22765 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
22766 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
22767 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
22768 rule of 900 to the current article.
22770 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
22771 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
22772 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
22773 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
22774 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
22775 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
22776 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
22778 @kindex M-i (Summary)
22779 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
22780 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
22781 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
22782 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
22783 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
22784 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
22785 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
22786 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
22788 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
22789 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
22790 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
22792 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
22796 @node Formatting Variables
22797 @section Formatting Variables
22798 @cindex formatting variables
22800 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
22801 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
22802 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
22803 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
22804 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
22807 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
22808 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
22809 lots of percentages everywhere.
22812 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
22813 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
22814 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
22815 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
22816 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
22817 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
22818 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
22819 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
22822 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
22823 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
22824 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
22825 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
22826 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
22827 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
22828 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
22829 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
22831 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
22832 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
22834 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
22835 @findex gnus-update-format
22836 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
22837 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
22838 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
22839 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
22843 @node Formatting Basics
22844 @subsection Formatting Basics
22846 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
22847 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
22848 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
22850 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
22851 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
22852 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
22853 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
22854 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
22857 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
22858 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
22859 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
22860 less than 4 characters wide.
22862 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
22863 @samp{%&user-date;}.
22866 @node Mode Line Formatting
22867 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
22869 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
22870 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
22871 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
22872 with the following two differences:
22877 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
22880 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
22881 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
22882 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
22883 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
22884 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
22885 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
22886 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
22891 @node Advanced Formatting
22892 @subsection Advanced Formatting
22894 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
22895 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
22896 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
22897 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
22899 These are the valid modifiers:
22904 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
22908 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
22913 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
22916 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
22921 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
22924 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
22927 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
22930 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
22936 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
22941 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
22942 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
22943 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
22944 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
22945 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
22946 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
22947 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
22949 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
22950 last operation, padding.
22952 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
22953 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
22954 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
22955 @xref{Compilation}.
22958 @node User-Defined Specs
22959 @subsection User-Defined Specs
22961 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
22962 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
22963 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
22964 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
22965 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
22966 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
22967 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
22968 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
22969 should protect against that.
22971 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
22972 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
22974 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
22975 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
22976 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
22977 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
22981 @node Formatting Fonts
22982 @subsection Formatting Fonts
22985 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22986 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
22987 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
22988 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
22989 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
22993 @vindex gnus-face-0
22994 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
22995 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
22996 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
22997 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
22998 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
22999 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
23001 @cindex %<<, %>>, guillemets
23002 @c @cindex %<<, %>>, %«, %», guillemets
23003 @vindex gnus-balloon-face-0
23004 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
23005 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
23006 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
23007 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
23008 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
23009 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
23010 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
23011 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
23012 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
23013 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
23014 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
23017 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
23020 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
23021 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
23022 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
23024 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
23025 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
23026 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
23027 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
23028 ;; @r{Set the color.}
23029 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
23030 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
23032 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
23033 (setq gnus-group-line-format
23034 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
23037 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
23038 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
23040 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
23041 mode-line variables.
23043 @node Positioning Point
23044 @subsection Positioning Point
23046 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
23047 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
23048 line. You can customize this behavior in three different ways.
23050 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
23052 @findex gnus-goto-colon
23053 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
23054 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
23056 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
23057 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
23058 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
23063 @subsection Tabulation
23065 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
23066 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
23067 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
23068 about lining up the following text afterwards.
23070 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
23071 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
23073 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
23074 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
23075 This is the soft tabulator.
23077 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
23078 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
23079 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
23082 @node Wide Characters
23083 @subsection Wide Characters
23085 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
23086 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
23087 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
23089 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
23090 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
23091 these countries, that's not true.
23093 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
23094 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
23095 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
23096 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
23100 @node Window Layout
23101 @section Window Layout
23102 @cindex window layout
23104 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
23106 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
23107 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
23108 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
23109 @code{t} by default.
23111 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
23112 glitches. Use at your own peril.
23114 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
23115 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
23116 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
23119 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
23120 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
23121 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
23125 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
23126 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
23127 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
23128 possible names is listed below.
23130 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
23131 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
23134 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
23138 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
23139 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
23140 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
23141 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
23142 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
23143 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
23144 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
23145 size spec per split.
23147 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
23148 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
23149 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
23150 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
23151 present) gets focus.
23153 Here's a more complicated example:
23156 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
23157 (summary 0.25 point)
23158 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
23162 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
23163 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
23164 occupy, not a percentage.
23166 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
23167 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
23168 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
23169 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
23170 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
23173 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
23176 (article (horizontal 1.0
23181 (summary 0.25 point)
23186 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
23187 @code{horizontal} thingie?
23189 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
23190 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
23191 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
23192 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
23193 the screen is to be given to this strip.
23195 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
23196 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
23197 lines from the splits.
23199 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
23204 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
23205 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
23206 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
23207 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
23208 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
23209 size = number | frame-params
23210 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
23214 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
23215 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
23216 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
23217 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
23219 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
23220 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
23221 @cindex window height
23222 @cindex window width
23223 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
23224 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
23225 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
23226 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
23227 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
23228 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
23230 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
23231 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
23232 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
23233 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
23235 @findex gnus-configure-frame
23236 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
23237 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
23238 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
23239 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
23240 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
23241 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
23242 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
23243 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
23244 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
23245 configuration list.
23248 (gnus-configure-frame
23252 (article 0.3 point))
23260 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
23261 @code{frame} split:
23264 (gnus-configure-frame
23267 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
23269 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
23270 (user-position . t)
23271 (left . -1) (top . 1))
23276 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
23277 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
23278 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
23279 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
23280 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
23281 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
23282 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
23283 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
23285 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
23286 be found in its default value.
23288 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
23289 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
23290 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
23294 (message (horizontal 1.0
23295 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
23297 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
23302 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
23303 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
23304 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
23309 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
23310 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
23311 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
23312 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
23313 (name . "Message"))
23314 (message 1.0 point))))
23317 @findex gnus-add-configuration
23318 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
23319 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
23320 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
23321 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
23324 (gnus-add-configuration
23325 '(article (vertical 1.0
23327 (summary .25 point)
23331 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
23332 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
23333 Gnus has been loaded.
23335 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
23336 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
23337 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
23338 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
23339 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
23341 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
23342 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
23343 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
23346 @subsection Example Window Configurations
23350 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
23351 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
23366 (gnus-add-configuration
23369 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
23371 (summary 0.16 point)
23374 (gnus-add-configuration
23377 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
23378 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
23384 @node Faces and Fonts
23385 @section Faces and Fonts
23390 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
23391 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
23392 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
23397 @section Compilation
23398 @cindex compilation
23399 @cindex byte-compilation
23401 @findex gnus-compile
23403 Remember all those line format specification variables?
23404 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
23405 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
23406 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
23407 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
23408 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
23411 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
23412 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
23413 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
23414 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
23415 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
23416 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
23417 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
23421 @section Mode Lines
23424 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
23425 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
23426 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
23427 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
23428 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
23429 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
23430 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
23433 @cindex display-time
23435 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
23436 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
23437 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
23438 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
23439 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
23440 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
23441 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
23442 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
23445 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
23447 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
23448 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
23450 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
23451 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
23452 (length display-time-string)))))
23455 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
23456 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
23457 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
23458 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
23459 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
23462 @node Highlighting and Menus
23463 @section Highlighting and Menus
23465 @cindex highlighting
23468 @vindex gnus-visual
23469 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
23470 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
23471 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
23474 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
23475 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
23478 @item group-highlight
23479 Do highlights in the group buffer.
23480 @item summary-highlight
23481 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
23482 @item article-highlight
23483 Do highlights in the article buffer.
23485 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
23487 Create menus in the group buffer.
23489 Create menus in the summary buffers.
23491 Create menus in the article buffer.
23493 Create menus in the browse buffer.
23495 Create menus in the server buffer.
23497 Create menus in the score buffers.
23499 Create menus in all buffers.
23502 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
23503 buffers, you could say something like:
23506 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
23509 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
23512 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
23515 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
23516 in all Gnus buffers.
23518 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
23521 @item gnus-mouse-face
23522 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
23523 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
23524 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
23528 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
23532 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
23533 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
23534 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
23536 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
23537 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
23538 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
23540 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
23541 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
23542 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
23544 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
23545 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
23546 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
23548 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
23549 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
23550 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
23552 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
23553 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
23554 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
23565 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
23566 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
23567 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
23568 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
23569 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
23573 @vindex gnus-carpal
23574 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
23575 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
23576 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
23581 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
23582 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
23583 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
23585 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
23586 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
23587 Face used on buttons.
23589 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
23590 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
23591 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
23593 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
23594 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
23595 Buttons in the group buffer.
23597 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
23598 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
23599 Buttons in the summary buffer.
23601 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
23602 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
23603 Buttons in the server buffer.
23605 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
23606 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
23607 Buttons in the browse buffer.
23610 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
23611 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
23612 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
23620 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
23621 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
23622 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
23623 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
23624 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
23626 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
23627 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
23628 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
23630 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
23631 been idle for thirty minutes:
23634 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
23637 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
23641 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
23644 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
23645 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
23646 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
23648 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
23649 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
23650 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
23651 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
23653 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
23654 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
23655 @var{idle} minutes.
23657 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
23658 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
23661 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
23662 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
23663 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
23665 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
23666 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
23667 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
23668 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
23670 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
23671 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23673 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
23675 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
23678 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
23679 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
23680 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
23681 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
23682 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
23683 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
23684 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
23685 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
23686 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
23687 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
23688 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
23690 @findex gnus-demon-init
23691 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
23692 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
23693 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
23694 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
23695 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
23697 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
23698 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
23699 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
23708 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
23709 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
23711 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
23712 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
23713 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
23714 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
23717 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
23718 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
23719 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
23720 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
23722 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
23723 this will make spam disappear.
23725 There are some variables to customize, of course:
23728 @item gnus-use-nocem
23729 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
23730 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
23733 You can also set this variable to a positive number as a group level.
23734 In that case, Gnus scans NoCeM messages when checking new news if this
23735 value is not exceeding a group level that you specify as the prefix
23736 argument to some commands, e.g. @code{gnus},
23737 @code{gnus-group-get-new-news}, etc. Otherwise, Gnus does not scan
23738 NoCeM messages if you specify a group level to those commands. For
23739 example, if you use 1 or 2 on the mail groups and the levels on the news
23740 groups remain the default, 3 is the best choice.
23742 @item gnus-nocem-groups
23743 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
23744 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
23747 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
23748 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
23751 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
23752 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
23753 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
23754 people you want to listen to. The default is
23756 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
23757 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
23759 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
23761 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
23762 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
23764 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
23765 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
23766 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
23767 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
23768 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
23769 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
23770 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
23771 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
23772 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
23773 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
23775 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
23776 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
23779 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
23782 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
23783 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
23786 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
23789 The specs are applied left-to-right.
23792 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
23793 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
23795 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
23796 says she is. The default is @code{pgg-verify}, which returns
23797 non-@code{nil} if the verification is successful, otherwise (including
23798 the case the NoCeM message was not signed) returns @code{nil}. If this
23799 is too slow and you don't care for verification (which may be dangerous),
23800 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
23802 Formerly the default was @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
23803 function. While you can still use it, you can change it into
23804 @code{pgg-verify} running with GnuPG if you are willing to add the
23805 @acronym{PGP} public keys to GnuPG's keyring.
23807 @item gnus-nocem-directory
23808 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
23809 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
23810 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
23812 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
23813 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
23814 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
23815 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
23816 might then see old spam.
23818 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
23819 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
23820 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
23821 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
23822 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
23825 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
23826 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
23827 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
23828 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
23832 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
23833 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
23834 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
23835 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
23842 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
23843 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
23844 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
23846 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
23847 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
23848 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
23849 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
23850 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
23851 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
23852 @code{undo} function.
23854 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
23855 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
23856 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
23857 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
23858 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
23859 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
23860 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
23861 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
23862 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
23863 never be totally undoable.
23865 @findex gnus-undo-mode
23866 @vindex gnus-use-undo
23868 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
23869 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
23870 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
23871 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
23875 @node Predicate Specifiers
23876 @section Predicate Specifiers
23877 @cindex predicate specifiers
23879 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
23880 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
23881 to type all that much.
23883 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
23888 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
23889 gnus-article-unread-p)
23892 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
23893 functions all take one parameter.
23895 @findex gnus-make-predicate
23896 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
23897 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
23898 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
23903 @section Moderation
23906 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
23907 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
23908 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
23911 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
23915 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
23918 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
23920 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
23925 You split your incoming mail by matching on
23926 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
23927 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
23930 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
23931 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
23934 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
23935 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
23939 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
23942 (setq gnus-moderated-list
23943 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
23947 @node Fetching a Group
23948 @section Fetching a Group
23949 @cindex fetching a group
23951 @findex gnus-fetch-group
23952 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
23953 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
23954 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
23955 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
23956 It takes the group name as a parameter.
23959 @node Image Enhancements
23960 @section Image Enhancements
23962 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
23963 support images, Emacs 22 does.} and up, are able to display pictures and
23964 stuff, so Gnus has taken advantage of that.
23967 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
23968 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
23969 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
23970 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
23971 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
23979 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
23980 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
23981 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
23985 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
23986 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
23987 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
23995 Viewing an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
23996 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions have), or that you
23997 have suitable conversion or display programs installed. If your Emacs
23998 has image support the default action is to display the face before the
23999 @code{From} header. If there's no native @code{X-Face} support, Gnus
24000 will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using external programs
24001 from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends, see below. For XEmacs it's
24002 faster if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support. The
24003 default action under Emacs without image support is to fork off the
24004 @code{display} program.
24006 On a GNU/Linux system, the @code{display} program is included in the
24007 ImageMagick package. For external conversion programs look for packages
24008 with names like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.
24009 On Windows, you may use the packages @code{netpbm} and @code{compface}
24010 from @url{http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net}. You need to add the
24011 @code{bin} directory to your @code{PATH} environment variable.
24012 @c In fact only the following DLLs and binaries seem to be required:
24013 @c compface1.dll uncompface.exe libnetpbm10.dll icontopbm.exe
24015 The variable @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} controls which programs
24016 are used to display the @code{X-Face} header. If this variable is a
24017 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
24018 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
24019 If @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches the
24020 @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
24022 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
24030 @vindex gnus-x-face
24031 Face to show X-Face. The colors from this face are used as the
24032 foreground and background colors of the displayed X-Faces. The
24033 default colors are black and white.
24035 @item gnus-face-properties-alist
24036 @vindex gnus-face-properties-alist
24037 Alist of image types and properties applied to Face (@pxref{Face}) and
24038 X-Face images. The default value is @code{((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face))
24039 (png . nil))} for Emacs or @code{((xface . (:face gnus-x-face)))} for
24040 XEmacs. Here are examples:
24043 ;; Specify the altitude of Face and X-Face images in the From header.
24044 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
24045 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :ascent 80))
24046 (png . (:ascent 80))))
24048 ;; Show Face and X-Face images as pressed buttons.
24049 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
24050 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :relief -2))
24051 (png . (:relief -2))))
24054 @pxref{Image Descriptors, ,Image Descriptors, elisp, The Emacs Lisp
24055 Reference Manual} for the valid properties for various image types.
24056 Currently, @code{pbm} is used for X-Face images and @code{png} is used
24057 for Face images in Emacs. Only the @code{:face} property is effective
24058 on the @code{xface} image type in XEmacs if it is built with the
24059 @samp{libcompface} library.
24062 If you use posting styles, you can use an @code{x-face-file} entry in
24063 @code{gnus-posting-styles}, @xref{Posting Styles}. If you don't, Gnus
24064 provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow easier
24065 insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages. You also need the
24066 above mentioned ImageMagick, netpbm or other image conversion packages
24067 (depending the values of the variables below) for these functions.
24069 @findex gnus-random-x-face
24070 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
24071 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
24072 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
24073 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
24074 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
24075 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
24076 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
24077 header data as a string.
24079 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
24080 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
24081 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
24082 randomly generated data.
24084 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
24085 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
24086 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
24087 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
24088 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
24090 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
24091 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
24094 (setq message-required-news-headers
24095 (nconc message-required-news-headers
24096 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
24099 Using the last function would be something like this:
24102 (setq message-required-news-headers
24103 (nconc message-required-news-headers
24104 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
24105 (gnus-x-face-from-file
24106 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
24114 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces' implementations should really be harmonized.
24116 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
24117 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
24118 represent the author of the message.
24121 @findex gnus-article-display-face
24122 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
24123 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
24126 The @code{gnus-face-properties-alist} variable affects the appearance of
24127 displayed Face images. @xref{X-Face}.
24129 Viewing an @code{Face} header requires an Emacs that is able to display
24132 @c (if (featurep 'xemacs)
24134 @c (image-type-available-p 'png))
24136 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
24137 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
24139 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
24140 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
24141 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
24143 @findex gnus-face-from-file
24144 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
24145 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
24146 converts the file to Face format by using the
24147 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
24149 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
24150 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
24153 (setq message-required-news-headers
24154 (nconc message-required-news-headers
24155 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
24156 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
24161 @subsection Smileys
24166 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
24171 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
24172 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
24174 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
24175 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
24178 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
24181 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
24182 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
24183 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
24184 text and maps that to file names.
24186 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
24187 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
24188 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
24189 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
24190 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
24193 The following variables customize the appearance of the smileys:
24198 @vindex smiley-style
24199 Specifies the smiley style. Predefined smiley styles include
24200 @code{low-color} (small 13x14 pixel, three-color images), @code{medium}
24201 (more colorful images, 16x16 pixel), and @code{grayscale} (grayscale
24202 images, 14x14 pixel). The default depends on the height of the default
24205 @item smiley-data-directory
24206 @vindex smiley-data-directory
24207 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files. You shouldn't set this
24208 variable anymore. Customize @code{smiley-style} instead.
24210 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
24211 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
24212 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
24226 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
24227 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
24228 over your shoulder as you read news.
24230 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
24239 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
24240 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
24241 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
24242 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
24243 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
24244 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
24245 @code{GIF} formats.
24248 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
24249 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
24250 point your Web browser at
24251 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
24253 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
24254 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
24256 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
24257 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
24260 @vindex gnus-picon-style
24261 The variable @code{gnus-picon-style} controls how picons are displayed.
24262 If @code{inline}, the textual representation is replaced. If
24263 @code{right}, picons are added right to the textual representation.
24265 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
24269 @item gnus-picon-databases
24270 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
24271 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
24272 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
24273 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
24274 "/usr/local/faces")}.
24276 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
24277 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
24278 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
24279 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
24281 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
24282 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
24283 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
24284 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
24286 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
24287 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
24288 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
24289 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
24290 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
24292 @item gnus-picon-file-types
24293 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
24294 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
24295 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
24301 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
24304 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
24305 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
24306 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
24307 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
24308 unusual directory structure.
24310 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
24311 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
24312 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
24317 @subsubsection Toolbar
24321 @item gnus-use-toolbar
24322 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
24323 This variable specifies the position to display the toolbar. If
24324 @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If it is non-@code{nil}, it should
24325 be one of the symbols @code{default}, @code{top}, @code{bottom},
24326 @code{right}, and @code{left}. @code{default} means to use the default
24327 toolbar, the rest mean to display the toolbar on the place which those
24328 names show. The default is @code{default}.
24330 @item gnus-toolbar-thickness
24331 @vindex gnus-toolbar-thickness
24332 Cons of the height and the width specifying the thickness of a toolbar.
24333 The height is used for the toolbar displayed on the top or the bottom,
24334 the width is used for the toolbar displayed on the right or the left.
24335 The default is that of the default toolbar.
24337 @item gnus-group-toolbar
24338 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
24339 The toolbar in the group buffer.
24341 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
24342 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
24343 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
24345 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
24346 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
24347 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
24358 @node Fuzzy Matching
24359 @section Fuzzy Matching
24360 @cindex fuzzy matching
24362 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
24363 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
24365 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
24366 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
24367 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
24369 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
24370 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
24371 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
24372 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
24373 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
24376 @node Thwarting Email Spam
24377 @section Thwarting Email Spam
24381 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
24383 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
24384 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
24385 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
24386 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
24387 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
24388 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
24389 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
24390 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
24393 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
24394 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
24395 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
24396 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
24397 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
24398 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
24400 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
24403 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
24404 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
24405 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
24406 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
24409 @node The problem of spam
24410 @subsection The problem of spam
24412 @cindex spam filtering approaches
24413 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
24415 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
24417 First, some background on spam.
24419 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
24420 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
24421 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
24422 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
24423 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
24424 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
24425 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
24426 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
24427 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
24429 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
24430 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
24431 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
24432 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
24433 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
24434 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
24435 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
24436 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
24437 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
24440 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
24441 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
24442 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
24443 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
24444 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
24445 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
24446 from Bulgarian IPs.
24448 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
24449 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
24450 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
24451 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
24453 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
24454 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
24455 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
24456 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
24458 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
24459 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
24460 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
24461 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
24462 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
24463 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
24464 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
24465 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
24466 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
24468 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
24469 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
24470 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
24471 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
24472 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
24473 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
24474 down for some time because of the incident.
24476 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
24477 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
24478 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
24479 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
24480 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
24481 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
24482 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
24483 to store the database of spam analysis. Statistical analysis on the
24484 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
24485 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
24486 the server that it has misclassified mail.
24488 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
24489 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
24490 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
24491 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
24492 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
24493 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
24494 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
24497 @node Anti-Spam Basics
24498 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
24502 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
24504 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
24505 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
24507 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
24508 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
24509 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
24510 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
24511 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
24512 part of the mail address.)
24515 (setq message-default-news-headers
24516 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
24519 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
24520 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
24524 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
24525 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
24526 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
24531 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
24532 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
24533 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
24534 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
24536 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
24537 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
24538 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
24539 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
24540 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
24541 your fancy split rule in this way:
24546 (to "larsi" "misc")
24550 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
24551 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
24552 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
24553 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
24554 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
24556 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
24557 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
24558 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
24559 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
24561 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
24565 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
24566 @cindex SpamAssassin
24567 @cindex Vipul's Razor
24570 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
24571 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
24572 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
24573 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
24574 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
24575 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
24576 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
24578 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
24579 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
24580 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
24583 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
24584 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
24585 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
24586 Specifiers}) follow.
24590 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
24594 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
24597 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
24598 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
24599 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
24602 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
24606 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
24609 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
24610 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
24614 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
24615 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
24616 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
24617 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
24620 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
24622 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
24626 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
24627 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
24631 Note that with the nnimap back end, message bodies will not be
24632 downloaded by default. You need to set
24633 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
24634 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
24636 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
24637 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
24638 spam. And here is the nifty function:
24641 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
24642 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
24644 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
24645 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
24646 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
24650 @subsection Hashcash
24653 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
24654 costly and demonstrably unique for each message they send. This has
24655 the obvious drawback that you cannot rely on everyone in the world
24656 using this technique, since it is not part of the Internet standards,
24657 but it may be useful in smaller communities.
24659 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
24660 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
24661 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
24662 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
24663 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
24664 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
24665 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
24666 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
24667 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
24668 one of them separately.
24671 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
24672 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
24673 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:} header.
24674 For more details, and for the external application @code{hashcash} you
24675 need to install to use this feature, see
24676 @uref{http://www.hashcash.org/}. Even more information can be found
24677 at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
24679 If you wish to generate hashcash for each message you send, you can
24680 customize @code{message-generate-hashcash} (@pxref{Mail Headers, ,Mail
24681 Headers,message, The Message Manual}), as in:
24684 (setq message-generate-hashcash t)
24687 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
24691 @item hashcash-default-payment
24692 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
24693 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
24694 should consist of. By default this is 20. Suggested useful values
24697 @item hashcash-payment-alist
24698 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
24699 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
24700 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
24701 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
24702 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
24703 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
24704 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
24705 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
24707 @item hashcash-path
24708 @vindex hashcash-path
24709 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed. This variable should
24710 be automatically set by @code{executable-find}, but if it's @code{nil}
24711 (usually because the @code{hashcash} binary is not in your path)
24712 you'll get a warning when you check hashcash payments and an error
24713 when you generate hashcash payments.
24717 Gnus can verify hashcash cookies, although this can also be done by
24718 hand customized mail filtering scripts. To verify a hashcash cookie
24719 in a message, use the @code{mail-check-payment} function in the
24720 @code{hashcash.el} library. You can also use the @code{spam.el}
24721 package with the @code{spam-use-hashcash} back end to validate hashcash
24722 cookies in incoming mail and filter mail accordingly (@pxref{Anti-spam
24723 Hashcash Payments}).
24726 @section Spam Package
24727 @cindex spam filtering
24730 The Spam package provides Gnus with a centralized mechanism for
24731 detecting and filtering spam. It filters new mail, and processes
24732 messages according to whether they are spam or ham. (@dfn{Ham} is the
24733 name used throughout this manual to indicate non-spam messages.)
24736 * Spam Package Introduction::
24737 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
24738 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
24739 * Spam and Ham Processors::
24740 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
24742 * Extending the Spam package::
24743 * Spam Statistics Package::
24746 @node Spam Package Introduction
24747 @subsection Spam Package Introduction
24748 @cindex spam filtering
24749 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
24752 You must read this section to understand how the Spam package works.
24753 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
24755 Make sure you read the section on the @code{spam.el} sequence of
24756 events. See @xref{Extending the Spam package}.
24758 @cindex spam-initialize
24759 @vindex spam-use-stat
24760 To use the Spam package, you @strong{must} first run the function
24761 @code{spam-initialize}:
24767 This autoloads @code{spam.el} and installs the various hooks necessary
24768 to let the Spam package do its job. In order to make use of the Spam
24769 package, you have to set up certain group parameters and variables,
24770 which we will describe below. All of the variables controlling the
24771 Spam package can be found in the @samp{spam} customization group.
24773 There are two ``contact points'' between the Spam package and the rest
24774 of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and leaving a group.
24776 Checking new mail for spam is done in one of two ways: while splitting
24777 incoming mail, or when you enter a group.
24779 The first way, checking for spam while splitting incoming mail, is
24780 suited to mail back ends such as @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap}, where
24781 new mail appears in a single spool file. The Spam package processes
24782 incoming mail, and sends mail considered to be spam to a designated
24783 ``spam'' group. @xref{Filtering Incoming Mail}.
24785 The second way is suited to back ends such as @code{nntp}, which have
24786 no incoming mail spool, or back ends where the server is in charge of
24787 splitting incoming mail. In this case, when you enter a Gnus group,
24788 the unseen or unread messages in that group are checked for spam.
24789 Detected spam messages are marked as spam. @xref{Detecting Spam in
24792 @cindex spam back ends
24793 In either case, you have to tell the Spam package what method to use
24794 to detect spam messages. There are several methods, or @dfn{spam back
24795 ends} (not to be confused with Gnus back ends!) to choose from: spam
24796 ``blacklists'' and ``whitelists'', dictionary-based filters, and so
24797 forth. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24799 In the Gnus summary buffer, messages that have been identified as spam
24800 always appear with a @samp{$} symbol.
24802 The Spam package divides Gnus groups into three categories: ham
24803 groups, spam groups, and unclassified groups. You should mark each of
24804 the groups you subscribe to as either a ham group or a spam group,
24805 using the @code{spam-contents} group parameter (@pxref{Group
24806 Parameters}). Spam groups have a special property: when you enter a
24807 spam group, all unseen articles are marked as spam. Thus, mail split
24808 into a spam group is automatically marked as spam.
24810 Identifying spam messages is only half of the Spam package's job. The
24811 second half comes into play whenever you exit a group buffer. At this
24812 point, the Spam package does several things:
24814 First, it calls @dfn{spam and ham processors} to process the articles
24815 according to whether they are spam or ham. There is a pair of spam
24816 and ham processors associated with each spam back end, and what the
24817 processors do depends on the back end. At present, the main role of
24818 spam and ham processors is for dictionary-based spam filters: they add
24819 the contents of the messages in the group to the filter's dictionary,
24820 to improve its ability to detect future spam. The @code{spam-process}
24821 group parameter specifies what spam processors to use. @xref{Spam and
24824 If the spam filter failed to mark a spam message, you can mark it
24825 yourself, so that the message is processed as spam when you exit the
24835 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24836 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24837 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark
24838 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}).
24842 Similarly, you can unmark an article if it has been erroneously marked
24843 as spam. @xref{Setting Marks}.
24845 Normally, a ham message found in a non-ham group is not processed as
24846 ham---the rationale is that it should be moved into a ham group for
24847 further processing (see below). However, you can force these articles
24848 to be processed as ham by setting
24849 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
24850 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups}.
24852 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24853 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24854 The second thing that the Spam package does when you exit a group is
24855 to move ham articles out of spam groups, and spam articles out of ham
24856 groups. Ham in a spam group is moved to the group specified by the
24857 variable @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}, or the group parameter
24858 @code{ham-process-destination}. Spam in a ham group is moved to the
24859 group specified by the variable @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations},
24860 or the group parameter @code{spam-process-destination}. If these
24861 variables are not set, the articles are left in their current group.
24862 If an article cannot be moved (e.g., with a read-only backend such
24863 as @acronym{NNTP}), it is copied.
24865 If an article is moved to another group, it is processed again when
24866 you visit the new group. Normally, this is not a problem, but if you
24867 want each article to be processed only once, load the
24868 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and set the variable
24869 @code{spam-log-to-registry} to @code{t}. @xref{Spam Package
24870 Configuration Examples}.
24872 Normally, spam groups ignore @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations}.
24873 However, if you set @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only} to
24874 @code{nil}, spam will also be moved out of spam groups, depending on
24875 the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter.
24877 The final thing the Spam package does is to mark spam articles as
24878 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
24880 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
24881 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
24882 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
24884 @node Filtering Incoming Mail
24885 @subsection Filtering Incoming Mail
24886 @cindex spam filtering
24887 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
24890 To use the Spam package to filter incoming mail, you must first set up
24891 fancy mail splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}. The Spam package
24892 defines a special splitting function that you can add to your fancy
24893 split variable (either @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
24894 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on your mail back end):
24900 @vindex spam-split-group
24902 The @code{spam-split} function scans incoming mail according to your
24903 chosen spam back end(s), and sends messages identified as spam to a
24904 spam group. By default, the spam group is a group named @samp{spam},
24905 but you can change this by customizing @code{spam-split-group}. Make
24906 sure the contents of @code{spam-split-group} are an unqualified group
24907 name. For instance, in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server},
24908 the value @samp{spam} means @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The value
24909 @samp{nnimap+server:spam} is therefore wrong---it gives the group
24910 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam}.
24912 @code{spam-split} does not modify the contents of messages in any way.
24914 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
24915 Note for IMAP users: if you use the @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
24916 @code{spam-check-ifile}, and @code{spam-check-stat} spam back ends,
24917 you should also set set the variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body}
24918 to @code{t}. These spam back ends are most useful when they can
24919 ``scan'' the full message body. By default, the nnimap back end only
24920 retrieves the message headers; @code{nnimap-split-download-body} tells
24921 it to retrieve the message bodies as well. We don't set this by
24922 default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and that is not an
24923 appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user. @xref{Splitting
24926 You have to specify one or more spam back ends for @code{spam-split}
24927 to use, by setting the @code{spam-use-*} variables. @xref{Spam Back
24928 Ends}. Normally, @code{spam-split} simply uses all the spam back ends
24929 you enabled in this way. However, you can tell @code{spam-split} to
24930 use only some of them. Why this is useful? Suppose you are using the
24931 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and @code{spam-use-blackholes} spam back
24932 ends, and the following split rule:
24935 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24936 (any "ding" "ding")
24938 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24943 The problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the ding
24944 folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam detected by
24945 SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through, when it's
24946 sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to the ding
24947 list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the invocation
24948 of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
24950 The solution is to let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, and
24951 perform the other @code{spam-split} rules (including a second
24952 invocation of the regex-headers check) after the ding rule. This is
24953 done by passing a parameter to @code{spam-split}:
24958 ;; @r{spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
24959 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24960 (any "ding" "ding")
24961 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
24963 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24968 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
24969 your particular needs, and target the results of those checks to a
24970 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
24971 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
24972 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
24973 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
24974 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
24976 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24977 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24978 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24979 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24981 @c @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
24982 @c statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
24985 @node Detecting Spam in Groups
24986 @subsection Detecting Spam in Groups
24988 To detect spam when visiting a group, set the group's
24989 @code{spam-autodetect} and @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group
24990 parameters. These are accessible with @kbd{G c} or @kbd{G p}, as
24991 usual (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24993 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24994 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24995 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24996 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
24998 By default, only unseen articles are processed for spam. You can
24999 force Gnus to recheck all messages in the group by setting the
25000 variable @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages} to @code{t}.
25002 If you use the @code{spam-autodetect} method of checking for spam, you
25003 can specify different spam detection methods for different groups.
25004 For instance, the @samp{ding} group may have @code{spam-use-BBDB} as
25005 the autodetection method, while the @samp{suspect} group may have the
25006 @code{spam-use-blacklist} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods
25007 enabled. Unlike with @code{spam-split}, you don't have any control
25008 over the @emph{sequence} of checks, but this is probably unimportant.
25010 @node Spam and Ham Processors
25011 @subsection Spam and Ham Processors
25012 @cindex spam filtering
25013 @cindex spam filtering variables
25014 @cindex spam variables
25017 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
25018 Spam and ham processors specify special actions to take when you exit
25019 a group buffer. Spam processors act on spam messages, and ham
25020 processors on ham messages. At present, the main role of these
25021 processors is to update the dictionaries of dictionary-based spam back
25022 ends such as Bogofilter (@pxref{Bogofilter}) and the Spam Statistics
25023 package (@pxref{Spam Statistics Filtering}).
25025 The spam and ham processors that apply to each group are determined by
25026 the group's@code{spam-process} group parameter. If this group
25027 parameter is not defined, they are determined by the variable
25028 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups}.
25030 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
25031 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
25032 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
25033 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
25034 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
25035 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
25036 by customizing the corresponding variable
25037 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
25038 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
25039 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
25040 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
25041 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
25042 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
25043 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
25046 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
25048 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
25049 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
25050 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
25051 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
25052 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
25053 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
25054 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
25055 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
25056 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
25057 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
25058 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
25059 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
25060 processor which will study them as spam samples.
25062 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
25063 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
25064 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
25065 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
25066 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
25067 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
25068 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
25069 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
25072 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
25073 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
25074 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
25075 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
25076 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
25077 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
25078 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
25083 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
25084 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
25085 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
25086 you really want to.
25089 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
25090 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
25091 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
25092 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
25093 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
25094 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
25097 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
25098 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
25099 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
25100 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
25101 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
25102 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
25103 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
25104 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
25105 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
25106 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
25107 group name list is a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
25108 the variable manually. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
25109 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
25110 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
25111 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
25113 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
25114 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
25116 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
25117 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
25118 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
25120 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
25121 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
25123 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
25124 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
25125 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
25126 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
25127 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
25129 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
25130 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
25131 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
25132 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
25133 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
25136 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
25137 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
25138 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
25139 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
25140 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
25141 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
25142 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
25143 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each group name list is a standard
25144 Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable manually. If the
25145 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
25146 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
25147 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
25148 group buffer then you need it here as well.
25150 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
25151 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
25153 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
25154 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
25157 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
25158 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
25159 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
25160 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
25161 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
25162 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
25163 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
25165 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
25166 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
25167 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
25168 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
25170 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
25171 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
25172 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
25173 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
25174 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
25175 from the mail server.
25177 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
25178 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
25179 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
25180 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
25182 @node Spam Package Configuration Examples
25183 @subsection Spam Package Configuration Examples
25184 @cindex spam filtering
25185 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
25186 @cindex spam configuration examples
25189 @subsubheading Ted's setup
25191 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
25193 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
25194 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
25195 (gnus-registry-initialize)
25199 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
25201 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
25202 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
25203 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
25204 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
25205 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
25206 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
25207 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
25208 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
25209 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
25210 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
25211 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
25212 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
25213 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
25214 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
25215 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
25216 (any "ding" "ding")
25217 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
25219 ;; @r{default mailbox}
25222 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
25224 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
25225 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
25226 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
25227 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
25229 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
25231 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
25232 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
25233 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
25234 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
25235 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
25237 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
25238 ((spam-autodetect . t))
25240 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
25242 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
25243 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
25245 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
25246 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
25247 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
25249 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
25251 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
25252 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
25254 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
25255 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
25256 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
25258 (gnus-ticked-mark))
25259 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
25260 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
25261 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
25263 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
25264 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
25265 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
25269 @subsubheading Using @code{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
25270 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
25272 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
25273 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
25274 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
25275 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
25276 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
25277 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
25278 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
25279 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
25280 @samp{training.spam} folders.
25282 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
25283 does most of the job for me:
25286 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
25287 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
25288 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
25289 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
25290 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
25291 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
25292 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
25297 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
25299 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
25300 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
25301 bogofilter or DCC).
25303 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
25304 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
25305 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark
25306 (@code{ham-marks}, @ref{Spam and Ham Processors}). On group exit,
25307 those messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want
25308 to have the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter)
25309 and deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
25311 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
25312 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
25313 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
25314 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
25315 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
25316 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
25318 @item @b{Ham folders:}
25320 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
25321 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
25322 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
25323 @samp{training.spam}.
25326 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
25328 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
25330 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
25331 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
25332 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
25336 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
25339 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
25340 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
25341 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
25342 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
25343 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
25345 @node Spam Back Ends
25346 @subsection Spam Back Ends
25347 @cindex spam back ends
25349 The spam package offers a variety of back ends for detecting spam.
25350 Each back end defines a set of methods for detecting spam
25351 (@pxref{Filtering Incoming Mail}, @pxref{Detecting Spam in Groups}),
25352 and a pair of spam and ham processors (@pxref{Spam and Ham
25356 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
25357 * BBDB Whitelists::
25358 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
25359 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
25361 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
25363 * SpamAssassin back end::
25364 * ifile spam filtering::
25365 * Spam Statistics Filtering::
25369 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
25370 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
25371 @cindex spam filtering
25372 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
25373 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
25376 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
25378 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
25379 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
25380 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
25381 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
25386 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
25388 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
25389 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
25390 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
25391 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
25392 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
25396 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
25398 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
25399 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
25400 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
25404 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
25406 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25407 customizing the group parameters or the
25408 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25409 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
25410 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
25414 Instead of the obsolete
25415 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
25416 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
25417 the same way, we promise.
25421 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
25423 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25424 customizing the group parameters or the
25425 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25426 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
25427 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
25432 Instead of the obsolete
25433 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
25434 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
25435 the same way, we promise.
25439 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
25440 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
25441 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
25442 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
25443 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
25445 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
25446 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
25447 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
25448 Emacs regular expression syntax.
25450 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
25451 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
25452 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
25453 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
25454 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
25455 @file{blacklist} respectively.
25457 @node BBDB Whitelists
25458 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
25459 @cindex spam filtering
25460 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
25461 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
25464 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
25466 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
25467 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
25468 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
25469 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
25470 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
25471 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
25472 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
25476 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
25478 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
25479 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
25480 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
25481 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
25482 classified as spammers.
25484 While @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} @emph{can} be used as an alias
25485 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} as far as @code{spam.el} is concerned, it is
25486 @emph{not} a separate back end. If you set
25487 @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} to t, @emph{all} your BBDB splitting
25492 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
25494 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25495 customizing the group parameters or the
25496 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25497 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
25498 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
25503 Instead of the obsolete
25504 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
25505 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
25506 the same way, we promise.
25510 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
25511 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
25512 @cindex spam reporting
25513 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
25514 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
25517 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
25519 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25520 customizing the group parameters or the
25521 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25522 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
25523 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
25526 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
25530 Instead of the obsolete
25531 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
25532 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
25533 same way, we promise.
25537 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
25539 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
25540 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
25541 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
25542 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
25543 @code{spam-report.el} will fetch the number from the article headers.
25547 @defvar spam-report-user-mail-address
25549 Mail address exposed in the User-Agent spam reports to Gmane. It allows
25550 the Gmane administrators to contact you in case of misreports. The
25551 default is @code{user-mail-address}.
25555 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
25556 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
25557 @cindex spam filtering
25558 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
25561 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
25563 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
25564 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
25565 instead of the sender address. Messages without a hashcash payment
25566 token will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an explicit
25567 filter, meaning that unless a hashcash token is found, the messages
25568 are not assumed to be spam or ham.
25573 @subsubsection Blackholes
25574 @cindex spam filtering
25575 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
25578 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
25580 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
25581 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
25582 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
25583 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
25584 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
25585 contains outdated servers.
25587 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
25588 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
25589 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
25590 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
25591 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
25592 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
25596 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
25598 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
25602 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
25604 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
25605 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
25609 @defvar spam-use-dig
25611 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
25612 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
25616 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
25617 ham processor for blackholes.
25619 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
25620 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
25621 @cindex spam filtering
25622 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
25625 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
25627 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
25628 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
25629 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
25630 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
25631 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
25632 message is spam or ham, respectively.
25636 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
25638 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
25639 the message, positively identify it as spam.
25643 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
25645 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
25646 the message, positively identify it as ham.
25650 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
25651 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
25654 @subsubsection Bogofilter
25655 @cindex spam filtering
25656 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
25659 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
25661 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25664 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
25665 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
25666 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
25667 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
25668 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
25669 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
25671 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
25672 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
25675 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
25676 processing will be turned off.
25678 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
25687 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
25688 Get the Bogofilter spamicity score (@code{spam-bogofilter-score}).
25691 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
25693 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25694 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
25695 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
25696 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
25697 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
25698 installation documents for details.
25700 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
25704 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
25705 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25706 customizing the group parameters or the
25707 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25708 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
25709 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
25713 Instead of the obsolete
25714 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25715 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25716 the same way, we promise.
25719 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
25720 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25721 customizing the group parameters or the
25722 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25723 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25724 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
25725 of non-spam messages.
25729 Instead of the obsolete
25730 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25731 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25732 the same way, we promise.
25735 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
25737 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
25738 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
25739 database directory.
25743 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
25744 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25745 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
25746 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
25747 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
25748 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
25750 @node SpamAssassin back end
25751 @subsubsection SpamAssassin back end
25752 @cindex spam filtering
25753 @cindex spamassassin, spam filtering
25756 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin
25758 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use SpamAssassin.
25760 SpamAssassin assigns a score to each article based on a set of rules
25761 and tests, including a Bayesian filter. The Bayesian filter can be
25762 trained by associating the @samp{$} mark for spam articles. The
25763 spam score can be viewed by using the command @kbd{S t} in summary
25766 If you set this variable, each article will be processed by
25767 SpamAssassin when @code{spam-split} is called. If your mail is
25768 preprocessed by SpamAssassin, and you want to just use the
25769 SpamAssassin headers, set @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}
25772 You should not enable this if you use
25773 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}.
25777 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin-headers
25779 Set this variable if your mail is preprocessed by SpamAssassin and
25780 want @code{spam-split} to split based on the SpamAssassin headers.
25782 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-spamassassin}.
25786 @defvar spam-spamassassin-program
25788 This variable points to the SpamAssassin executable. If you have
25789 @code{spamd} running, you can set this variable to the @code{spamc}
25790 executable for faster processing. See the SpamAssassin documentation
25791 for more information on @code{spamd}/@code{spamc}.
25795 SpamAssassin is a powerful and flexible spam filter that uses a wide
25796 variety of tests to identify spam. A ham and a spam processors are
25797 provided, plus the @code{spam-use-spamassassin} and
25798 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers} variables to indicate to
25799 spam-split that SpamAssassin should be either used, or has already
25800 been used on the article. The 2.63 version of SpamAssassin was used
25801 to test this functionality.
25803 @node ifile spam filtering
25804 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
25805 @cindex spam filtering
25806 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
25809 @defvar spam-use-ifile
25811 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
25812 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
25816 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
25818 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
25819 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
25820 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
25824 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
25826 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
25827 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
25828 the default value of @samp{spam}.
25831 @defvar spam-ifile-database
25833 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
25834 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
25838 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
25839 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25840 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
25841 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
25844 @node Spam Statistics Filtering
25845 @subsubsection Spam Statistics Filtering
25846 @cindex spam filtering
25847 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
25851 This back end uses the Spam Statistics Emacs Lisp package to perform
25852 statistics-based filtering (@pxref{Spam Statistics Package}). Before
25853 using this, you may want to perform some additional steps to
25854 initialize your Spam Statistics dictionary. @xref{Creating a
25855 spam-stat dictionary}.
25857 @defvar spam-use-stat
25861 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
25862 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25863 customizing the group parameters or the
25864 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25865 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
25866 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
25870 Instead of the obsolete
25871 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25872 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25873 the same way, we promise.
25876 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
25877 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25878 customizing the group parameters or the
25879 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25880 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25881 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
25882 of non-spam messages.
25886 Instead of the obsolete
25887 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25888 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25889 the same way, we promise.
25892 This enables @code{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
25893 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
25894 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
25895 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
25896 @code{spam-split} are provided.
25899 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
25900 @cindex spam filtering
25904 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
25905 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
25906 installed separately.
25908 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
25909 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
25910 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
25911 mail as a spam mail or not.
25913 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
25914 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
25915 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
25917 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Spam Package})
25920 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
25921 To enable SpamOracle usage by @code{spam.el}, set the variable
25922 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
25923 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}. @xref{Spam
25924 Package}. In this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is
25925 filtered using SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be
25926 moved to @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham
25927 messages stay in @samp{INBOX}:
25930 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
25931 spam-split-group "Junk"
25932 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
25933 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
25934 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
25937 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
25938 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
25942 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
25943 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
25944 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
25948 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
25949 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
25950 store its analysis. This is controlled by the variable
25951 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
25952 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
25953 database to live somewhere special, set
25954 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
25957 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
25958 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
25959 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns
25960 the characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
25961 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
25962 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary
25963 buffer and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using
25964 @file{spam.el}'s spam- and ham-processors, which is much more
25965 convenient. For a detailed description of spam- and ham-processors,
25966 @xref{Spam Package}.
25968 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
25969 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25970 customizing the group parameter or the
25971 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25972 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
25973 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
25977 Instead of the obsolete
25978 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25979 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25980 the same way, we promise.
25983 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
25984 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25985 customizing the group parameter or the
25986 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25987 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
25988 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
25993 Instead of the obsolete
25994 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25995 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25996 the same way, we promise.
25999 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
26000 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
26003 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
26004 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
26005 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
26007 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
26008 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
26009 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
26010 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
26011 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
26012 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
26014 @node Extending the Spam package
26015 @subsection Extending the Spam package
26016 @cindex spam filtering
26017 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
26018 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
26020 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
26021 incoming mail, provide the following:
26029 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
26030 "True if blackbox should be used.")
26033 Write @code{spam-check-blackbox} if Blackbox can check incoming mail.
26035 Write @code{spam-blackbox-register-routine} and
26036 @code{spam-blackbox-unregister-routine} using the bogofilter
26037 register/unregister routines as a start, or other restister/unregister
26038 routines more appropriate to Blackbox, if Blackbox can
26039 register/unregister spam and ham.
26044 The @code{spam-check-blackbox} function should return @samp{nil} or
26045 @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other conventions. See the
26046 existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can
26047 do, and stick to the template unless you fully understand the reasons
26052 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
26059 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
26060 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
26062 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
26063 variables. Instead the form @code{(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
26064 @code{(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
26065 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
26068 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
26069 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
26070 Only applicable to spam groups.")
26072 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
26073 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
26074 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
26083 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
26084 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
26086 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
26087 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
26088 variable customization.
26092 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
26094 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
26095 @code{gnus.el} if Blackbox can check incoming mail for spam contents.
26097 Finally, use the appropriate @code{spam-install-*-backend} function in
26098 @code{spam.el}. Here are the available functions.
26104 @code{spam-install-backend-alias}
26106 This function will simply install an alias for a back end that does
26107 everything like the original back end. It is currently only used to
26108 make @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} act like @code{spam-use-BBDB}.
26111 @code{spam-install-nocheck-backend}
26113 This function installs a back end that has no check function, but can
26114 register/unregister ham or spam. The @code{spam-use-gmane} back end is
26118 @code{spam-install-checkonly-backend}
26120 This function will install a back end that can only check incoming mail
26121 for spam contents. It can't register or unregister messages.
26122 @code{spam-use-blackholes} and @code{spam-use-hashcash} are such
26126 @code{spam-install-statistical-checkonly-backend}
26128 This function installs a statistical back end (one which requires the
26129 full body of a message to check it) that can only check incoming mail
26130 for contents. @code{spam-use-regex-body} is such a filter.
26133 @code{spam-install-statistical-backend}
26135 This function install a statistical back end with incoming checks and
26136 registration/unregistration routines. @code{spam-use-bogofilter} is
26140 @code{spam-install-backend}
26142 This is the most normal back end installation, where a back end that can
26143 check and register/unregister messages is set up without statistical
26144 abilities. The @code{spam-use-BBDB} is such a back end.
26147 @code{spam-install-mover-backend}
26149 Mover back ends are internal to @code{spam.el} and specifically move
26150 articles around when the summary is exited. You will very probably
26151 never install such a back end.
26156 @node Spam Statistics Package
26157 @subsection Spam Statistics Package
26158 @cindex Paul Graham
26159 @cindex Graham, Paul
26160 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
26161 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
26162 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
26164 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
26165 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
26166 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
26167 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
26168 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
26169 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
26170 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
26171 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
26172 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
26175 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
26176 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
26177 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
26178 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
26179 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
26180 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
26181 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
26182 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
26184 The Spam Statistics package adds support to Gnus for this kind of
26185 filtering. It can be used as one of the back ends of the Spam package
26186 (@pxref{Spam Package}), or by itself.
26188 Before using the Spam Statistics package, you need to set it up.
26189 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
26190 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
26191 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
26192 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
26195 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
26196 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
26197 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
26200 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
26201 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
26203 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
26204 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
26205 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
26206 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
26207 need several hundred emails in both collections.
26209 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
26210 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
26211 per mail. Use the following:
26213 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
26214 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
26215 is treated as one spam mail.
26218 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
26219 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
26220 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
26223 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
26224 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds to
26225 the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
26226 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
26227 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds to the group
26228 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
26230 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
26231 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
26232 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
26233 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
26234 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
26237 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
26238 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
26239 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
26240 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
26243 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
26244 reset the dictionary.
26246 @defun spam-stat-reset
26247 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
26250 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
26251 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
26252 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
26253 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
26254 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
26255 only non-spam mails.
26257 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
26258 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
26259 to update the dictionary incrementally.
26262 @defun spam-stat-save
26263 Save the dictionary.
26266 @defvar spam-stat-file
26267 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
26268 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
26271 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
26272 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
26274 This section describes how to use the Spam statistics
26275 @emph{independently} of the @xref{Spam Package}.
26277 First, add the following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
26280 (require 'spam-stat)
26284 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
26287 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
26288 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
26289 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
26290 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
26292 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
26293 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
26294 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
26295 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
26298 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
26299 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
26303 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
26304 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
26307 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
26308 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
26309 expression are considered potential spam.
26312 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
26313 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
26314 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
26318 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
26319 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
26320 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
26321 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
26322 mails, when creating the dictionary!
26325 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
26326 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
26327 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
26331 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
26332 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
26333 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
26334 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
26335 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
26339 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
26340 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
26341 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
26342 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
26347 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
26348 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
26350 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
26352 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
26353 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
26354 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
26357 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
26358 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
26359 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
26362 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
26363 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
26364 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
26365 already been processed as non-spam.
26368 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
26369 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
26370 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
26371 been processed as spam.
26374 @defun spam-stat-save
26375 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
26376 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
26379 @defun spam-stat-load
26380 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
26381 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
26384 @defun spam-stat-score-word
26385 Return the spam score for a word.
26388 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
26389 Return the spam score for a buffer.
26392 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
26393 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
26394 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
26397 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
26398 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
26401 (require 'spam-stat)
26405 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
26408 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
26409 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
26410 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
26411 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
26412 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
26413 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
26414 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
26415 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
26416 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
26417 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
26418 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
26419 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
26420 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
26421 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
26424 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
26427 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
26428 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
26429 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
26430 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
26431 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
26432 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
26436 @section Interaction with other modes
26441 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provides some useful functions for dired
26442 buffers. It is enabled with
26444 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
26449 @findex gnus-dired-attach
26450 @cindex attachments, selection via dired
26451 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
26452 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
26455 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
26456 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
26457 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
26461 @findex gnus-dired-print
26462 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
26463 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
26466 @node Various Various
26467 @section Various Various
26473 @item gnus-home-directory
26474 @vindex gnus-home-directory
26475 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
26476 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
26478 @item gnus-directory
26479 @vindex gnus-directory
26480 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
26481 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
26482 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
26484 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
26485 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
26486 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
26487 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
26489 @item gnus-default-directory
26490 @vindex gnus-default-directory
26491 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
26492 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
26493 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
26494 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
26495 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
26496 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
26499 @vindex gnus-verbose
26500 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
26501 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
26502 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
26503 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
26504 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
26506 @item gnus-verbose-backends
26507 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
26508 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
26509 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
26511 @item gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
26512 @vindex gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
26513 This variable controls whether to add timestamps to messages that are
26514 controlled by @code{gnus-verbose} and @code{gnus-verbose-backends} and
26515 are issued. The default value is @code{nil} which means never to add
26516 timestamp. If it is @code{log}, add timestamps to only the messages
26517 that go into the @samp{*Messages*} buffer (in XEmacs, it is the
26518 @w{@samp{ *Message-Log*}} buffer). If it is neither @code{nil} nor
26519 @code{log}, add timestamps not only to log messages but also to the ones
26520 displayed in the echo area.
26522 @item nnheader-max-head-length
26523 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
26524 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
26525 as little as possible. This variable (default 8192) specifies
26526 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
26527 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
26528 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
26529 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
26530 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
26531 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
26533 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
26534 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
26535 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
26536 read when doing the operation described above.
26538 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26539 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26541 @cindex invalid characters in file names
26542 @cindex characters in file names
26543 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
26544 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
26545 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
26549 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
26554 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
26555 Windows (phooey) systems.
26557 @item gnus-hidden-properties
26558 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
26559 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
26560 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
26561 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
26563 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
26564 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
26565 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
26566 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
26567 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
26569 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
26570 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
26571 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
26573 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
26574 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
26576 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
26577 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
26578 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
26579 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
26582 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
26590 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
26591 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
26593 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
26595 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
26601 Not because of victories @*
26604 but for the common sunshine,@*
26606 the largess of the spring.
26610 but for the day's work done@*
26611 as well as I was able;@*
26612 not for a seat upon the dais@*
26613 but at the common table.@*
26618 @chapter Appendices
26621 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
26622 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
26623 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
26624 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
26625 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
26626 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
26627 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
26628 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
26629 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
26636 @cindex installing under XEmacs
26638 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
26639 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
26640 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
26641 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
26642 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{W3},
26643 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
26650 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
26651 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
26653 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
26654 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
26655 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
26656 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
26657 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
26659 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
26660 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
26661 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
26662 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
26663 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
26664 appropriate name, don't you think?)
26666 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
26667 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
26668 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
26669 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
26672 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
26673 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
26674 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
26675 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
26676 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
26677 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
26678 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
26679 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
26680 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
26684 @node Gnus Versions
26685 @subsection Gnus Versions
26687 @cindex September Gnus
26689 @cindex Quassia Gnus
26690 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
26693 @cindex Gnus versions
26695 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
26696 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
26697 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
26699 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
26700 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
26702 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
26703 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
26705 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
26706 It was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
26708 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
26709 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
26712 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun and was released as
26713 Gnus 5.10 on May 1st 2003 (24 releases).
26715 On the January 4th 2004, No Gnus was begun.
26717 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
26718 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
26719 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'', ``No Gnus'' -- don't panic.
26720 Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever
26721 you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach.
26722 Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
26725 @node Other Gnus Versions
26726 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
26729 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
26730 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
26731 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
26732 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
26734 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
26735 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
26736 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
26737 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
26744 What's the point of Gnus?
26746 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
26747 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
26748 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
26749 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
26750 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
26751 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
26752 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
26753 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
26754 keep track of millions of people who post?
26756 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
26757 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
26758 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
26759 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
26760 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
26761 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
26762 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
26763 every one of you to explore and invent.
26765 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
26766 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
26769 @node Compatibility
26770 @subsection Compatibility
26772 @cindex compatibility
26773 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
26774 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
26775 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
26780 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
26784 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
26787 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
26790 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
26791 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
26792 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
26793 important variables have their values copied into their global
26794 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
26795 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
26797 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
26798 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
26799 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
26800 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
26801 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
26805 @cindex highlighting
26806 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
26807 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
26808 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
26809 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
26810 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
26811 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
26814 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
26815 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
26816 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
26817 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
26819 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
26820 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
26821 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
26822 to stop doing it the old way.
26824 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
26826 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
26828 @cindex reporting bugs
26830 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
26831 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
26832 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
26834 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
26835 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
26836 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
26837 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
26842 @subsection Conformity
26844 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
26845 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
26853 There are no known breaches of this standard.
26857 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
26859 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
26860 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
26861 We do have some breaches to this one.
26867 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
26868 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
26869 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
26870 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
26871 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
26876 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
26877 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
26878 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
26879 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
26881 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
26882 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
26883 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
26885 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
26886 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
26888 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
26891 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
26892 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
26893 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
26894 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
26895 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
26898 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
26899 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
26900 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RFC 1991/2440 format.
26901 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
26903 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
26904 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
26906 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
26907 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
26908 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
26909 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
26910 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
26911 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
26912 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
26913 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
26917 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
26918 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
26923 @subsection Emacsen
26929 This version of Gnus should work on:
26937 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
26941 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
26942 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
26943 Emacs versions. Particularly, Gnus 5.10.8 should also work on Emacs
26944 20.7 and XEmacs 21.1.
26946 @c No-merge comment: The paragraph added in v5-10 here must not be
26949 @node Gnus Development
26950 @subsection Gnus Development
26952 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
26953 discussion on the development mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}, where people
26954 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
26955 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
26956 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
26957 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
26958 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
26959 have names like ``Oort Gnus'' and ``No Gnus''. @xref{Gnus Versions}.
26961 After futzing around for 10-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
26962 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
26963 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.10.1'' instead. Normal people are
26964 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
26965 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup. This newgroup is mirrored to the
26966 mailing list @samp{info-gnus-english@@gnu.org} which is carried on Gmane
26967 as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.user}. These releases are finally integrated
26971 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26972 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26973 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26974 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26975 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26977 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
26978 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
26979 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
26980 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
26981 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
26982 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
26983 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
26984 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
26985 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
26986 can't be assumed to do so.
26988 So if you have problems with or questions about the alpha versions,
26989 direct those to the ding mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}. This list
26990 is also available on Gmane as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.general}.
26993 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26994 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26995 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26996 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26997 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
27000 @subsection Contributors
27001 @cindex contributors
27003 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
27004 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
27005 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
27006 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
27007 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
27008 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
27009 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
27010 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
27011 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
27012 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
27014 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
27020 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
27023 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
27024 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
27025 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
27026 functionality and stuff.
27029 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
27030 well as numerous other things).
27033 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
27036 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
27039 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
27042 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
27045 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
27046 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
27049 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
27052 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section.
27055 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
27058 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
27061 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
27064 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
27067 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
27068 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
27071 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
27074 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
27077 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
27080 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
27084 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
27087 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
27090 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
27093 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
27094 well as autoconf support.
27098 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
27099 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
27101 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
27116 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
27118 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
27122 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
27132 Alexei V. Barantsev,
27147 Massimo Campostrini,
27152 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
27153 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
27157 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
27160 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
27166 Michael Welsh Duggan,
27171 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
27175 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
27183 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
27185 Michelangelo Grigni,
27189 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
27191 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
27193 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
27201 Fran@,{c}ois Felix Ingrand,
27202 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
27203 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
27205 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
27215 Peter Skov Knudsen,
27216 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
27218 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
27219 Thor Kristoffersen,
27222 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
27240 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
27241 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
27248 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
27253 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
27257 John McClary Prevost,
27263 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
27268 Christian von Roques,
27271 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
27278 Philippe Schnoebelen,
27280 Randal L. Schwartz,
27294 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
27299 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
27319 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
27320 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
27321 (550kB and counting).
27323 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
27326 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
27327 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
27331 @subsection New Features
27332 @cindex new features
27335 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
27336 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
27337 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
27338 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
27339 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
27340 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
27341 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
27344 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
27345 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
27346 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
27349 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
27351 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
27356 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
27357 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
27360 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
27361 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
27364 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
27367 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
27368 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
27369 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
27372 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
27373 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
27374 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
27375 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
27378 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
27379 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27382 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
27383 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
27384 (@pxref{The Active File}).
27387 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
27388 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
27391 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
27392 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
27393 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27396 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
27397 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
27398 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
27401 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
27402 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
27405 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
27406 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
27409 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
27410 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
27413 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
27414 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27417 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
27418 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
27421 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
27422 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27425 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
27428 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
27429 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
27432 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
27433 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
27436 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
27437 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
27440 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
27443 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
27444 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
27447 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
27451 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
27455 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
27456 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
27459 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
27465 @node September Gnus
27466 @subsubsection September Gnus
27470 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
27474 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
27479 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
27480 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
27484 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
27485 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
27489 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
27493 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
27494 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
27497 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
27501 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
27504 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
27507 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
27510 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
27514 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
27515 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
27518 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
27522 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
27526 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
27530 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
27534 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
27537 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
27538 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
27541 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
27545 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
27546 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
27549 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
27552 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
27553 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
27554 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
27557 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
27561 The Gnus cache is much faster.
27564 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
27568 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
27569 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
27572 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
27573 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
27576 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
27577 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
27580 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
27581 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
27582 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
27585 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
27586 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
27589 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
27592 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27595 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
27598 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
27601 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
27602 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
27605 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
27609 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
27612 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
27617 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
27620 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
27624 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
27627 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
27631 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
27634 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
27637 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
27638 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
27641 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
27642 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
27646 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
27647 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
27650 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
27654 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
27655 buffer to allow easier treatment.
27658 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
27661 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
27665 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
27669 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
27670 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
27673 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
27677 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
27678 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27681 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
27682 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27685 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
27689 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27692 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
27695 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
27701 @subsubsection Red Gnus
27703 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
27707 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
27714 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
27717 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
27718 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27721 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
27722 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
27726 Article washing status can be displayed in the
27727 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
27730 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
27733 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
27734 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
27737 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
27741 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
27742 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
27746 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
27747 Server Internals}).
27750 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
27754 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
27757 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
27758 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
27761 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
27762 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
27763 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
27766 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
27767 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27770 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
27771 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
27774 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
27778 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
27779 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27782 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
27783 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27786 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
27790 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
27793 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
27797 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
27798 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27801 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
27802 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27805 A new command for reading collections of documents
27806 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
27807 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
27810 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
27814 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
27815 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
27818 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
27819 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
27820 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
27823 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
27824 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
27828 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
27832 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
27836 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
27841 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
27845 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
27849 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
27850 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
27853 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
27859 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
27861 New features in Gnus 5.6:
27866 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
27867 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
27868 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
27871 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
27872 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
27873 group, which is created automatically.
27876 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
27880 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
27883 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
27884 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
27887 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
27891 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
27894 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
27895 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
27898 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
27901 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
27905 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
27906 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
27909 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
27910 control over simplification.
27913 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
27916 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
27920 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
27923 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
27926 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
27927 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
27928 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
27931 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
27932 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
27935 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
27939 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
27940 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
27943 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
27944 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
27947 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
27951 A history of where mails have been split is available.
27954 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
27957 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
27958 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
27961 A new function for citing in Message has been
27962 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
27965 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
27968 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
27972 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
27973 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
27976 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
27977 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
27980 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
27983 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
27987 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
27988 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
27990 New features in Gnus 5.8:
27995 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
27996 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
27998 If you used procmail like in
28001 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
28002 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
28003 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
28004 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
28007 this now has changed to
28011 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
28015 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
28018 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
28019 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
28022 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
28023 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
28026 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
28027 called to position point.
28030 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
28031 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
28034 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
28035 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
28038 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
28039 subtly different manner.
28042 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
28043 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
28044 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
28047 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
28052 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
28055 New features in Gnus 5.10:
28059 @item Installation changes
28060 @c ***********************
28064 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
28066 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
28067 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
28068 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
28069 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
28070 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
28071 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
28072 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
28073 isn't save in general.
28076 Lisp files are now installed in @file{.../site-lisp/gnus/} by default.
28077 It defaulted to @file{.../site-lisp/} formerly. In addition to this,
28078 the new installer issues a warning if other Gnus installations which
28079 will shadow the latest one are detected. You can then remove those
28080 shadows manually or remove them using @code{make
28081 remove-installed-shadows}.
28084 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
28086 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
28087 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
28088 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, if you want
28089 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
28090 the second parameter.
28092 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
28093 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
28094 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
28095 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
28096 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
28097 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
28098 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
28099 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
28100 cycle used under Unix systems.
28102 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} and @file{xemacs.mak}
28103 superfluous, so they have been removed.
28106 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
28108 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
28109 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
28112 @c FIXME: `gnus-load' is mentioned in README, which is not included in
28113 @c CVS. We should find a better place for this item.
28115 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
28117 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
28118 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
28119 lisp directory into load-path.
28121 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
28122 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
28126 @item New packages and libraries within Gnus
28127 @c *****************************************
28132 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
28133 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
28136 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
28138 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
28139 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
28140 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
28141 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
28144 Improved anti-spam features.
28146 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
28147 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
28148 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
28149 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
28150 are also new. @ref{Thwarting Email Spam} and @ref{Spam Package}.
28151 @c FIXME: @xref{Spam Package}?. Should this be under Misc?
28154 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
28156 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
28157 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
28158 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
28159 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
28160 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
28164 @item Changes in group mode
28165 @c ************************
28170 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
28174 Retrieval of charters and control messages
28176 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
28177 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
28180 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
28182 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
28183 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
28184 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
28185 variable in @file{~/.gnus.el} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
28186 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
28189 (setq gnus-parameters
28191 (gnus-show-threads nil)
28192 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
28193 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
28194 (to-group . "\\1"))))
28198 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
28200 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
28201 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
28202 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
28203 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
28204 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
28205 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
28206 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
28207 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
28208 when getting new mail, remove the function.
28211 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
28213 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
28214 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
28215 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
28218 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
28219 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
28221 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
28222 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
28223 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
28225 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
28229 Old intermediate incoming mail files (@file{Incoming*}) are deleted
28230 after a couple of days, not immediately. @xref{Mail Source
28231 Customization}. (New in Gnus 5.10.10 / Emacs 22.2)
28235 @item Changes in summary and article mode
28236 @c **************************************
28241 @kbd{F} (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}) and @kbd{R}
28242 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}) only yank the text in the
28243 region if the region is active.
28246 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
28247 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
28252 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
28253 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
28254 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
28255 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
28258 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
28263 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
28264 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
28266 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
28267 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
28271 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
28272 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
28275 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
28278 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
28279 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
28282 Warn about email replies to news
28284 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
28285 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
28289 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
28290 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
28294 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
28295 opposed to old but unread messages).
28298 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
28299 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
28302 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
28303 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
28306 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
28307 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
28310 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
28312 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
28313 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
28314 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
28315 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
28318 The new command @kbd{W Y f}
28319 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}) allows deuglifying broken
28320 Outlook (Express) articles.
28323 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
28325 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
28326 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
28327 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
28328 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
28330 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
28331 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
28332 message cited below.
28335 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now displayed graphically in
28338 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.gnus.el} to
28342 Face headers handling. @xref{Face}.
28345 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
28346 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
28349 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
28352 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
28354 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
28355 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
28356 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
28357 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
28358 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
28362 Deleting of attachments.
28364 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
28365 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
28366 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
28367 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
28368 that support editing.
28371 @code{gnus-default-charset}
28373 The default value is determined from the
28374 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
28375 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
28376 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
28379 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
28381 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
28382 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
28383 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
28386 Extended format specs.
28388 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
28389 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
28390 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
28391 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
28392 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
28393 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
28396 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
28397 @c FIXME: Was this a user-visible change?
28399 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
28400 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
28401 out other articles.
28404 Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
28406 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
28407 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
28408 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
28409 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
28412 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
28416 @item Changes in Message mode and related Gnus features
28417 @c ****************************************************
28424 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
28425 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
28426 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
28429 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
28430 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
28433 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
28434 Gcc articles as read.
28437 Externalizing of attachments
28439 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
28440 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
28441 local files as external parts.
28444 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
28445 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
28448 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
28450 Earlier it was generated when the user configurable email address was
28451 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
28452 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
28453 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
28454 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
28455 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
28456 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
28457 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
28458 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
28461 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
28463 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
28464 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
28465 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
28466 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
28467 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
28468 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
28471 References and X-Draft-From headers are no longer generated when you
28472 start composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
28476 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers. @xref{X-Face}.
28479 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
28481 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
28482 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
28483 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
28484 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
28485 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
28486 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
28487 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
28488 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
28489 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
28490 was inserted directly.
28493 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
28495 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
28496 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
28497 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
28498 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
28501 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
28503 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
28505 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
28506 'bbdb-complete-name)
28510 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
28512 Add a new format of match like
28514 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
28515 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
28517 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
28519 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
28520 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
28524 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
28526 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
28527 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
28528 need add those two headers too.
28531 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
28532 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
28533 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
28537 The option @code{mm-fill-flowed} can be used to disable treatment of
28538 ``format=flowed'' messages. Also, flowed text is disabled when sending
28539 inline PGP signed messages. @xref{Flowed text, , Flowed text,
28540 emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
28541 @c This entry is also present in the node "No Gnus".
28544 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
28546 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
28549 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
28551 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
28555 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
28557 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
28558 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
28559 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
28560 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
28561 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
28562 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
28563 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
28564 The behavior can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
28567 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
28568 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
28570 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
28571 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
28572 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
28573 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
28576 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
28579 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
28580 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
28583 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to the symbol
28586 The behavior for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
28587 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
28588 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
28589 invalidate the digital signature.
28592 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
28593 decompressed when activated.
28594 @c FIXME: Does this affect article or message mode?
28597 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
28599 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
28600 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
28601 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
28602 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
28603 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
28606 @item You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
28607 See @code{mml-dnd-protocol-alist} and @code{mml-dnd-attach-options}.
28608 @xref{MIME, ,MIME, message, Message Manual}.
28609 @c New in 5.10.9 / 5.11 (Emacs 21.1)
28611 @item @code{auto-fill-mode} is enabled by default in Message mode.
28612 See @code{message-fill-column}. @xref{Various Message Variables, ,
28613 Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
28614 @c New in Gnus 5.10.12 / 5.11 (Emacs 22.3)
28618 @item Changes in back ends
28619 @c ***********************
28623 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
28626 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
28629 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
28631 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
28634 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
28636 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
28637 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
28638 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
28639 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
28640 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
28641 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
28642 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
28643 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
28644 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
28645 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
28646 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
28656 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
28657 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
28660 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
28661 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
28662 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
28663 message, Message Manual}).
28666 The tool bars have been updated to use GNOME icons in Group, Summary and
28667 Message mode. You can also customize the tool bars: @kbd{M-x
28668 customize-apropos RET -tool-bar$} should get you started. This is a new
28669 feature in Gnus 5.10.10. (Only for Emacs, not in XEmacs.)
28671 @item The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly
28672 in the group buffer, see the variable @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}.
28673 Its default value depends on your Emacs version. This is a new feature
28678 @item Miscellaneous changes
28679 @c ************************
28686 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
28687 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
28688 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
28689 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
28690 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
28691 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
28692 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
28693 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
28694 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
28695 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
28696 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
28697 behavior of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
28698 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
28699 is not needed any more.
28702 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
28704 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
28705 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
28706 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
28711 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
28712 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
28713 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
28717 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
28720 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
28722 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
28729 @subsubsection No Gnus
28732 New features in No Gnus:
28733 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
28735 @include gnus-news.texi
28741 @section The Manual
28745 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
28746 either @code{texi2dvi}
28748 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
28749 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
28751 to get what you hold in your hands now.
28753 The following conventions have been used:
28758 This is a @samp{string}
28761 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
28764 This is a @file{file}
28767 This is a @code{symbol}
28771 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
28775 (setq flargnoze "yes")
28778 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
28781 (setq flumphel 'yes)
28784 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
28785 ever get them confused.
28789 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
28790 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
28791 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
28792 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
28793 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
28794 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
28795 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
28801 @node On Writing Manuals
28802 @section On Writing Manuals
28804 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
28805 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
28806 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
28807 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
28808 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
28809 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code go hand
28812 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
28813 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
28814 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
28817 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
28818 reference manual as source material. It would look quite different.
28823 @section Terminology
28825 @cindex terminology
28830 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
28831 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
28832 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
28833 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
28834 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
28838 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
28839 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
28840 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
28841 not posting, and replying is not following up.
28845 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
28849 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
28854 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
28855 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
28856 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
28857 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
28858 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
28859 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
28860 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
28861 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
28862 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
28865 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
28866 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
28867 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
28868 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
28869 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
28870 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
28872 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
28873 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
28874 access the articles.
28876 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
28877 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
28878 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
28883 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
28884 default, way of getting news.
28888 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
28889 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
28894 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
28895 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
28899 A message that has been posted as news.
28902 @cindex mail message
28903 A message that has been mailed.
28907 A mail message or news article
28911 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
28916 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
28921 A line from the head of an article.
28925 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
28926 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
28928 @item @acronym{NOV}
28929 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
28930 @acronym{NOV} stands for News OverView, which is a type of news server
28931 header which provide datas containing the condensed header information
28932 of articles. They are produced by the server itself; in the @code{nntp}
28933 back end Gnus uses the ones that the @acronym{NNTP} server makes, but
28934 Gnus makes them by itself for some backends (in particular, @code{nnml}).
28936 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
28937 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
28938 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
28939 normal @sc{head} format.
28941 The @acronym{NOV} data consist of one or more text lines (@pxref{Text
28942 Lines, ,Motion by Text Lines, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual})
28943 where each line has the header information of one article. The header
28944 information is a tab-separated series of the header's contents including
28945 an article number, a subject, an author, a date, a message-id,
28948 Those data enable Gnus to generate summary lines quickly. However, if
28949 the server does not support @acronym{NOV} or you disable it purposely or
28950 for some reason, Gnus will try to generate the header information by
28951 parsing each article's headers one by one. It will take time.
28952 Therefore, it is not usually a good idea to set nn*-nov-is-evil
28953 (@pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}) to a non-@code{nil} value unless you
28954 know that the server makes wrong @acronym{NOV} data.
28958 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
28959 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
28960 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
28961 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
28962 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
28963 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
28965 @item killed groups
28966 @cindex killed groups
28967 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
28968 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
28970 @item zombie groups
28971 @cindex zombie groups
28972 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
28975 @cindex active file
28976 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
28977 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
28978 is rather large, as you might surmise.
28981 @cindex bogus groups
28982 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
28983 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
28984 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
28987 @cindex activating groups
28988 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
28989 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
28990 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
28994 News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
28995 One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
28996 article. That's called a ``traditional spool''.
29000 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
29002 @item select method
29003 @cindex select method
29004 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
29007 @item virtual server
29008 @cindex virtual server
29009 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
29010 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
29011 whole is a virtual server.
29015 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
29016 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
29019 @item ephemeral groups
29020 @cindex ephemeral groups
29021 @cindex temporary groups
29022 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
29023 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
29024 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
29027 @cindex solid groups
29028 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
29029 group buffer are solid groups.
29031 @item sparse articles
29032 @cindex sparse articles
29033 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
29034 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
29038 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
29039 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
29043 @cindex thread root
29044 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
29045 articles in the thread.
29049 An article that has responses.
29053 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
29057 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
29058 specified by RFC 1153.
29061 @cindex splitting, terminology
29062 @cindex mail sorting
29063 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
29064 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
29065 incorrectly called mail filtering.
29071 @node Customization
29072 @section Customization
29073 @cindex general customization
29075 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
29076 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
29077 for some quite common situations.
29080 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
29081 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
29082 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
29083 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
29087 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
29088 @subsection Slow/Expensive Connection
29090 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
29091 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
29092 Gnus has to get from the server.
29096 @item gnus-read-active-file
29097 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
29098 entire active file from the server. This file is often very large. You
29099 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
29100 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
29101 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
29103 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
29104 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
29105 Usually this one must @emph{always} be @code{nil} (which is the
29106 default). If, for example, you wish to not use @acronym{NOV}
29107 (@pxref{Terminology}) with the @code{nntp} back end (@pxref{Crosspost
29108 Handling}), set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to a non-@code{nil} value
29109 instead of setting this. But you normally do not need to set
29110 @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} since Gnus by itself will detect whether the
29111 @acronym{NNTP} server supports @acronym{NOV}. Anyway, grabbing article
29112 headers from the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast if you tell
29113 Gnus not to use @acronym{NOV}.
29115 As the variables for the other back ends, there are
29116 @code{nndiary-nov-is-evil}, @code{nndir-nov-is-evil},
29117 @code{nnfolder-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnimap-nov-is-evil},
29118 @code{nnml-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnspool-nov-is-evil}, and
29119 @code{nnwarchive-nov-is-evil}. Note that a non-@code{nil} value for
29120 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} overrides all those variables.@footnote{Although
29121 the back ends @code{nnkiboze}, @code{nnslashdot}, @code{nnultimate}, and
29122 @code{nnwfm} don't have their own nn*-nov-is-evil.}
29126 @node Slow Terminal Connection
29127 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
29129 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
29130 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
29131 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
29135 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
29136 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
29137 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
29138 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
29139 horizontal and vertical recentering.
29141 @item gnus-visible-headers
29142 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
29143 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
29144 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
29145 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
29147 Use the following to enable all the available hiding features:
29149 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
29150 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
29151 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
29154 @item gnus-use-full-window
29155 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
29156 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
29157 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
29158 want to read them anyway.
29160 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
29161 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
29165 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
29166 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
29167 lines, which might save some time.
29171 @node Little Disk Space
29172 @subsection Little Disk Space
29175 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
29176 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
29180 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
29181 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
29182 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
29183 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
29186 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
29187 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
29188 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
29189 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
29192 @item gnus-save-killed-list
29193 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
29194 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
29195 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
29196 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
29202 @subsection Slow Machine
29203 @cindex slow machine
29205 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
29206 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
29208 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
29209 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
29211 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
29212 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
29213 summary buffer faster. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
29217 @node Troubleshooting
29218 @section Troubleshooting
29219 @cindex troubleshooting
29221 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
29229 Make sure your computer is switched on.
29232 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
29233 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
29237 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
29239 @samp{No Gnus v0.10} @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change this line!
29241 you have the right files loaded. Otherwise you have some old @file{.el}
29242 files lying around. Delete these.
29245 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
29246 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
29249 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
29250 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
29251 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
29252 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
29253 something like that.
29256 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
29259 @cindex reporting bugs
29261 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
29263 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
29264 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
29265 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
29266 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
29268 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
29269 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
29270 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
29271 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
29274 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
29275 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
29276 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
29277 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
29278 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
29279 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
29281 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
29282 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
29283 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
29287 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
29288 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
29291 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
29292 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
29293 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
29294 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
29295 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
29296 you discover some weird behavior when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
29297 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
29298 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
29299 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
29300 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
29301 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
29302 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
29303 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
29304 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
29309 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
29310 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
29311 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
29312 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
29313 helps isolating the real problem areas).
29315 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
29316 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
29317 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
29318 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
29319 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
29320 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
29321 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
29322 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
29323 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
29324 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
29325 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
29326 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
29327 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
29330 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
29331 @cindex ding mailing list
29332 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
29333 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
29334 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
29335 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
29339 @node Gnus Reference Guide
29340 @section Gnus Reference Guide
29342 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
29343 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
29344 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
29345 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
29348 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
29349 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
29350 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
29351 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
29352 and general methods of operation.
29355 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
29356 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
29357 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
29358 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
29359 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
29360 * Group Info:: The group info format.
29361 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
29362 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
29363 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
29367 @node Gnus Utility Functions
29368 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
29369 @cindex Gnus utility functions
29370 @cindex utility functions
29372 @cindex internal variables
29374 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
29375 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
29376 Below is a list of the most common ones.
29380 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
29381 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
29382 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
29384 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
29385 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
29386 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
29388 @item gnus-group-real-name
29389 @findex gnus-group-real-name
29390 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
29393 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
29394 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
29395 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
29396 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
29398 @item gnus-get-info
29399 @findex gnus-get-info
29400 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
29402 @item gnus-group-unread
29403 @findex gnus-group-unread
29404 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
29408 @findex gnus-active
29409 The active entry for @var{group}.
29411 @item gnus-set-active
29412 @findex gnus-set-active
29413 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
29415 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
29416 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
29417 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
29420 @item gnus-continuum-version
29421 @findex gnus-continuum-version
29422 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
29423 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
29426 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
29427 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
29428 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
29430 @item gnus-news-group-p
29431 @findex gnus-news-group-p
29432 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
29434 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
29435 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
29436 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
29438 @item gnus-server-to-method
29439 @findex gnus-server-to-method
29440 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
29442 @item gnus-server-equal
29443 @findex gnus-server-equal
29444 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
29446 @item gnus-group-native-p
29447 @findex gnus-group-native-p
29448 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
29450 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
29451 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
29452 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
29454 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
29455 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
29456 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
29458 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
29459 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
29460 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
29461 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
29463 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
29464 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
29465 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
29467 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
29468 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
29469 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
29471 @item gnus-check-backend-function
29472 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
29473 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
29474 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
29477 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
29481 @item gnus-read-method
29482 @findex gnus-read-method
29483 Prompts the user for a select method.
29488 @node Back End Interface
29489 @subsection Back End Interface
29491 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
29492 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
29493 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
29494 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
29495 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
29496 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
29498 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
29499 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
29500 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
29501 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
29502 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
29503 been opened, the function should fail.
29505 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
29506 name. Take this example:
29510 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
29511 (nntp-port-number 4324))
29514 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
29515 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
29517 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
29518 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
29519 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
29521 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
29522 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
29523 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
29525 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
29526 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
29527 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
29528 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
29529 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
29530 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
29533 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
29534 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
29535 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
29536 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
29539 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
29540 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
29541 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
29542 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
29543 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
29544 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
29545 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
29546 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
29547 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
29548 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
29550 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
29551 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
29552 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
29553 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
29554 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
29555 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
29556 of numbers as long as possible.
29558 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
29559 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
29560 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
29562 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
29565 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
29568 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
29569 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
29570 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
29571 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
29572 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
29573 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
29577 @node Required Back End Functions
29578 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
29582 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
29584 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
29585 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
29586 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
29587 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
29589 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
29590 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
29591 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
29592 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
29594 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
29595 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
29596 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
29597 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
29598 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
29599 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
29600 number, do maximum fetches.
29602 Here's an example HEAD:
29605 221 1056 Article retrieved.
29606 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
29607 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
29608 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
29609 Subject: Re: Something very droll
29610 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
29611 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
29613 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
29614 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
29615 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
29619 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
29620 these in the data buffer.
29622 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
29626 head = error / valid-head
29627 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
29628 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
29629 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
29630 header = <text> eol
29634 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
29636 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
29637 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
29641 nov-buffer = *nov-line
29642 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
29643 field = <text except TAB>
29646 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
29650 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
29652 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
29653 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
29655 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
29656 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
29657 server. In fact, it should do so.
29659 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
29660 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
29663 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
29665 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
29666 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
29669 There should be no data returned.
29672 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
29674 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
29675 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
29676 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
29677 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
29679 There should be no data returned.
29682 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
29684 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
29685 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
29686 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
29687 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
29689 There should be no data returned.
29692 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
29694 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
29696 There should be no data returned.
29699 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
29701 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
29702 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
29703 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
29704 it would be nice if that were possible.
29706 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
29707 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
29708 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
29709 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
29710 into its article buffer.
29712 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
29713 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
29714 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
29715 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
29716 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
29717 on successful article retrieval.
29720 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
29722 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
29723 making @var{group} the current group.
29725 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
29728 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
29731 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
29734 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
29735 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
29736 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
29737 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
29738 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
29739 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
29740 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
29741 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
29742 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
29746 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
29747 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
29748 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
29752 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29754 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
29755 a no-op on most back ends.
29757 There should be no data returned.
29760 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
29762 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
29765 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
29768 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
29769 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
29772 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
29773 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
29774 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
29775 and the highest as 0.
29778 active-file = *active-line
29779 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
29781 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
29784 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
29785 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
29786 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
29789 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
29791 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
29792 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
29793 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
29794 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
29795 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
29796 clear if the posting could not be completed.
29798 There should be no result data from this function.
29803 @node Optional Back End Functions
29804 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
29808 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
29810 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
29811 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
29812 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
29814 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
29815 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
29816 former is in the same format as the data from
29817 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
29818 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
29821 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
29825 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
29827 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
29828 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
29829 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
29830 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
29831 should return a non-@code{nil} value (exceptionally,
29832 @code{nntp-request-update-info} always returns @code{nil} not to waste
29833 the network resources).
29835 There should be no result data from this function.
29838 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
29840 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
29841 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
29842 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
29843 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
29844 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
29845 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
29846 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
29847 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
29849 There should be no result data from this function.
29852 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
29854 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
29855 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
29856 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
29857 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
29858 propagate the mark information to the server.
29860 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
29863 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
29866 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
29867 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
29868 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
29869 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
29870 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
29871 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
29872 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
29873 possible, not limit itself to these.
29875 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
29876 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
29877 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
29878 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
29880 An example action list:
29883 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
29884 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
29885 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
29888 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
29889 mark on (currently not used for anything).
29891 There should be no result data from this function.
29893 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
29895 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
29896 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
29897 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
29898 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
29899 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
29901 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
29902 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
29903 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
29906 There should be no result data from this function.
29909 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
29911 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
29912 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
29913 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
29914 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
29915 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
29916 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
29917 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
29918 local if that's practical.
29920 There should be no result data from this function.
29923 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
29925 The result data from this function should be a description of
29929 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
29931 description = <text>
29934 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
29936 The result data from this function should be the description of all
29937 groups available on the server.
29940 description-buffer = *description-line
29944 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
29946 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
29947 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
29948 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
29949 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
29950 in the active buffer format.
29952 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
29953 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
29954 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
29955 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
29956 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
29957 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
29958 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
29961 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29963 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
29965 There should be no return data.
29968 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
29970 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
29971 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
29972 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
29973 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
29974 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
29977 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
29980 There should be no result data returned.
29983 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
29985 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
29986 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
29988 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
29989 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
29990 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
29991 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
29992 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
29993 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
29995 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
29996 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
29999 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
30000 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
30002 There should be no data returned.
30005 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
30007 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
30008 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
30009 this function in short order.
30011 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
30012 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
30014 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
30015 article for that group.
30017 There should be no data returned.
30020 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
30022 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
30023 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
30025 There should be no data returned.
30028 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
30030 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
30031 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
30032 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
30034 There should be no data returned.
30037 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
30039 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
30040 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
30042 There should be no data returned.
30047 @node Error Messaging
30048 @subsubsection Error Messaging
30050 @findex nnheader-report
30051 @findex nnheader-get-report
30052 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
30053 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
30054 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
30055 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
30056 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
30057 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
30060 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
30062 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
30065 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
30066 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
30067 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
30068 takes one argument---the server symbol.
30070 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
30071 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
30072 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
30075 @node Writing New Back Ends
30076 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
30078 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
30079 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
30080 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
30081 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
30082 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
30085 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
30086 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
30087 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
30089 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
30090 package called @code{nnoo}.
30092 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
30093 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
30099 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
30100 parameters. For instance:
30103 (nnoo-declare nndir
30107 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
30108 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
30111 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
30112 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
30113 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
30115 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
30116 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
30117 a function in those back ends.
30120 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
30121 "Where nndir will look for groups."
30122 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
30125 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
30126 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
30127 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
30129 @item nnoo-define-basics
30130 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
30134 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
30138 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
30139 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
30140 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
30142 @item nnoo-map-functions
30143 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
30144 functions from the parent back ends.
30147 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
30148 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
30149 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
30152 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
30153 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
30154 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
30155 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
30158 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
30159 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
30160 haven't already been defined.
30166 nnmh-request-newgroups)
30170 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
30171 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
30172 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
30177 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
30180 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
30181 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
30185 (require 'nnheader)
30189 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
30191 (nnoo-declare nndir
30194 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
30195 "Where nndir will look for groups."
30196 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
30198 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
30199 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
30202 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
30204 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
30205 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
30206 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
30208 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
30209 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
30211 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
30213 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
30215 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
30216 (setq nndir-directory
30217 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
30219 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
30220 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
30221 (push `(nndir-current-group
30222 ,(file-name-nondirectory
30223 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
30225 (push `(nndir-top-directory
30226 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
30228 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
30230 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
30231 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
30232 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
30233 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
30234 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
30238 nnmh-status-message
30240 nnmh-request-newgroups))
30246 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
30247 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
30249 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
30250 @findex gnus-declare-backend
30251 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
30252 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
30253 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
30255 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
30256 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
30261 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
30264 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
30266 The abilities can be:
30270 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
30272 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
30274 This back end supports both mail and news.
30276 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
30279 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
30280 articles and groups.
30282 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
30283 true for almost all back ends.
30284 @item prompt-address
30285 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
30286 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
30287 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
30291 @node Mail-like Back Ends
30292 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
30294 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
30295 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
30296 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
30297 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
30300 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
30301 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
30302 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
30305 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
30306 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
30309 This function takes four parameters.
30313 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
30316 @item exit-function
30317 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
30319 @item temp-directory
30320 Where the temporary files should be stored.
30323 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
30324 performed for one group only.
30327 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
30328 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
30329 find the article number assigned to this article.
30331 The function also uses the following variables:
30332 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
30333 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
30334 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
30335 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
30339 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
30340 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
30344 @node Score File Syntax
30345 @subsection Score File Syntax
30347 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
30348 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
30349 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
30351 Here's a typical score file:
30355 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
30362 BNF definition of a score file:
30365 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
30366 element = rule / atom
30367 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
30368 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
30369 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
30370 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
30372 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
30373 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
30374 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
30375 date-header = "date"
30376 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
30377 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
30378 score = "nil" / <integer>
30379 date = "nil" / <natural number>
30380 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
30381 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
30382 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
30383 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
30384 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
30385 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
30386 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
30387 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
30388 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
30389 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
30390 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
30391 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
30392 exclude-files / read-only / touched
30393 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
30394 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
30395 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
30396 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
30397 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
30398 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
30399 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
30400 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
30401 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
30402 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
30403 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
30404 eval = "eval" space <form>
30405 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
30408 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
30411 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
30412 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
30413 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
30414 one looong line, then that's ok.
30416 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
30417 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
30421 @subsection Headers
30423 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
30424 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
30425 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
30426 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
30428 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
30429 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
30430 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
30431 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
30432 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
30433 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
30434 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
30436 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
30437 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
30438 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
30439 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
30440 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
30442 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
30443 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
30449 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
30450 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
30452 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
30453 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
30454 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
30455 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
30457 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
30461 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
30464 is transformed into
30467 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
30470 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
30471 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
30474 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
30477 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
30478 is slightly tricky:
30481 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
30487 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
30490 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
30496 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
30503 and is equal to the previous range.
30505 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
30506 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
30507 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
30511 range = simple-range / normal-range
30512 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
30513 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
30514 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
30515 number *[ " " contents ]
30518 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
30519 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
30520 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
30521 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
30522 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
30527 @subsection Group Info
30529 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
30530 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
30531 describes the group.
30533 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
30534 second is a more complex one:
30537 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
30539 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
30540 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
30542 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
30545 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
30546 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
30547 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
30548 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
30549 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
30550 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
30551 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
30552 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
30553 this section is about.
30555 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
30556 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
30557 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
30559 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
30562 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
30563 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
30564 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
30565 group = quote <string> quote
30566 ralevel = rank / level
30567 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
30568 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
30569 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
30571 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
30572 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
30573 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
30574 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
30577 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
30578 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
30581 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
30582 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
30585 @item gnus-info-group
30586 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
30587 @findex gnus-info-group
30588 @findex gnus-info-set-group
30589 Get/set the group name.
30591 @item gnus-info-rank
30592 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
30593 @findex gnus-info-rank
30594 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
30595 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
30597 @item gnus-info-level
30598 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
30599 @findex gnus-info-level
30600 @findex gnus-info-set-level
30601 Get/set the group level.
30603 @item gnus-info-score
30604 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
30605 @findex gnus-info-score
30606 @findex gnus-info-set-score
30607 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
30609 @item gnus-info-read
30610 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
30611 @findex gnus-info-read
30612 @findex gnus-info-set-read
30613 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
30615 @item gnus-info-marks
30616 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
30617 @findex gnus-info-marks
30618 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
30619 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
30621 @item gnus-info-method
30622 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
30623 @findex gnus-info-method
30624 @findex gnus-info-set-method
30625 Get/set the group select method.
30627 @item gnus-info-params
30628 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
30629 @findex gnus-info-params
30630 @findex gnus-info-set-params
30631 Get/set the group parameters.
30634 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
30635 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
30637 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
30638 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
30639 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
30640 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
30643 @node Extended Interactive
30644 @subsection Extended Interactive
30645 @cindex interactive
30646 @findex gnus-interactive
30648 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
30649 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
30650 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
30653 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
30654 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
30659 The best thing to do would have been to implement
30660 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
30661 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
30662 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
30663 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
30664 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
30665 @code{interactive}.
30667 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
30672 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
30673 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
30677 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
30678 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
30679 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
30682 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
30686 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
30690 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
30696 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
30697 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
30701 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
30702 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
30703 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
30705 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
30706 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
30707 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
30708 Gnus, that's very useful.
30710 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
30711 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
30712 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
30713 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
30714 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
30715 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
30716 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
30717 following function:
30720 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
30724 (,function ,@@args))
30728 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
30729 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
30730 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
30733 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
30734 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
30735 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
30737 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
30738 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
30739 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
30742 @node Various File Formats
30743 @subsection Various File Formats
30746 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
30747 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
30751 @node Active File Format
30752 @subsubsection Active File Format
30754 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
30755 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
30758 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
30761 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
30762 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
30763 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
30764 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
30765 no.general 1000 900 y
30768 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
30771 active = *group-line
30772 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
30773 group = <non-white-space string>
30775 high-number = <non-negative integer>
30776 low-number = <positive integer>
30777 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
30780 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
30781 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
30784 @node Newsgroups File Format
30785 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
30787 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
30788 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
30789 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
30792 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
30793 Here's the definition:
30797 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
30798 group = <non-white-space string>
30800 description = <string>
30805 @node Emacs for Heathens
30806 @section Emacs for Heathens
30808 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
30809 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
30810 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
30811 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
30812 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
30813 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
30814 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
30818 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
30819 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
30824 @subsection Keystrokes
30828 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
30831 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
30834 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
30835 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
30836 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
30837 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
30838 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
30839 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
30841 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
30842 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
30843 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
30844 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
30845 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
30846 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
30847 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
30849 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
30850 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
30851 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
30852 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
30853 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
30854 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
30855 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
30857 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
30858 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
30859 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
30860 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
30861 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
30867 @subsection Emacs Lisp
30869 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
30870 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
30871 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
30872 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
30874 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
30875 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
30876 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
30877 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
30878 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
30879 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
30880 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{~/.gnus.el}
30881 file to customize Gnus. (You can also use the @file{~/.emacs} file, but
30882 in order to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the
30883 @file{~/.gnus.el} file, @xref{Startup Files}.)
30885 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
30886 write the following:
30889 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
30892 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
30893 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
30894 you can go and fill your @file{~/.gnus.el} file with lots of these to
30895 change how Gnus works.
30897 If you have put that thing in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, it will be
30898 read and @code{eval}ed (which is Lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
30899 start Gnus. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
30900 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
30901 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
30903 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
30904 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
30905 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
30909 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
30913 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
30916 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
30917 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
30920 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
30923 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
30924 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
30927 @include gnus-faq.texi
30929 @node GNU Free Documentation License
30930 @chapter GNU Free Documentation License
30931 @include doclicense.texi
30951 @c Local Variables:
30953 @c coding: iso-8859-1
30957 arch-tag: c9fa47e7-78ca-4681-bda9-9fef45d1c819