10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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282 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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291 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
293 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
296 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
297 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
298 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
299 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
300 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
301 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
302 License'' in the Emacs manual.
304 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
305 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
306 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
308 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
309 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
310 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
311 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
319 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
321 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
322 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
324 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
325 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
326 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
327 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
328 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
329 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
330 License'' in the Emacs manual.
332 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
333 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
334 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
336 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
337 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
338 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
339 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
347 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
350 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
351 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
353 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
355 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
356 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
357 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
358 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
359 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
360 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
361 License'' in the Emacs manual.
363 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
364 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
365 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
367 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
368 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
369 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
370 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
379 @top The Gnus Newsreader
383 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
384 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
385 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
388 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v0.12.
399 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
400 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
402 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
403 being accused of plagiarism:
405 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
406 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
407 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
408 can even read news with it!
410 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
411 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
412 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
413 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
414 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
420 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
421 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
422 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
423 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
424 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
425 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
426 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
427 * Various:: General purpose settings.
428 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
429 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
430 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
431 * Key Index:: Key Index.
433 Other related manuals
435 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
436 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
437 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
438 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
441 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
445 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
446 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
447 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
448 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
449 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
450 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
451 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
452 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
453 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
454 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
455 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
459 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
460 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
461 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
465 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
466 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
467 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
468 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
469 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
470 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
471 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
472 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
473 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
474 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
475 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
476 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
477 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
478 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
479 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
480 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
481 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
485 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
486 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
487 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
491 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
492 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
493 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
494 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
495 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
499 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
500 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
501 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
502 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
503 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
507 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
508 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
509 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
510 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
511 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
512 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
513 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
514 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
515 * Threading:: How threads are made.
516 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
517 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
518 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
519 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
520 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
521 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
522 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
523 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
524 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
525 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
526 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
527 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
528 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
529 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
530 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
531 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
532 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
533 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
534 or reselecting the current group.
535 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
536 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
537 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
538 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
540 Summary Buffer Format
542 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
543 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
544 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
545 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
549 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
550 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
552 Reply, Followup and Post
554 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
555 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
556 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
557 * Canceling and Superseding::
561 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
562 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
563 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
565 * Generic Marking Commands::
566 * Setting Process Marks::
570 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
571 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
572 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
576 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
577 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
579 Customizing Threading
581 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
582 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
583 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
584 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
588 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
589 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
590 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
591 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
592 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
593 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
597 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
598 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
599 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
603 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
604 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
605 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
606 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
607 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
608 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
609 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
610 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
611 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
612 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
614 Alternative Approaches
616 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
617 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
619 Various Summary Stuff
621 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
622 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
623 * Summary Generation Commands::
624 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
628 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
629 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
630 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
631 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
632 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
636 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
637 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
638 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
639 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
640 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
641 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
642 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
643 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
647 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
648 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
649 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
650 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
651 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
652 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
653 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
654 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
658 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
659 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
660 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
661 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
662 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
663 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
664 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
668 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
669 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
673 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
674 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
675 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
679 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
680 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
681 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
682 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
683 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
684 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
685 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
686 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
687 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
688 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
689 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
690 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
691 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
695 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
696 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
697 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
699 Choosing a Mail Back End
701 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
702 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
703 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
704 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
705 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
706 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
711 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
712 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
713 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
714 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
715 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
716 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
720 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
721 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
722 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
723 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
724 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
728 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
729 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
730 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
731 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
732 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
736 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
740 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
741 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
742 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
746 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
747 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
751 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
752 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
753 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
754 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
755 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
756 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
757 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
758 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
759 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
760 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
761 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
765 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
766 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
767 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
771 * Group Agent Commands::
772 * Summary Agent Commands::
773 * Server Agent Commands::
777 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
778 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
779 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
780 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
781 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
782 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
783 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
784 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
785 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
786 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
787 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
788 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
789 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
790 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
791 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
792 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
793 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
797 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
798 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
799 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
800 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
804 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
805 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
806 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
810 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
811 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
812 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
813 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
814 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
815 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
816 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
817 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
818 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
819 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
820 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
821 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
822 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
823 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
824 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
825 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
826 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
827 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
828 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
832 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
833 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
834 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
835 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
836 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
837 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
838 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
839 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
843 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
844 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
845 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
846 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
847 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
851 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
852 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
853 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
854 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
855 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
859 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
860 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
861 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
862 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
863 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
864 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
868 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
869 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
870 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
871 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
872 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
873 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
874 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
875 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
876 * Frequently Asked Questions::
880 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
881 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
882 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
883 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
884 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
885 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
886 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
887 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
888 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
892 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
893 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
894 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
895 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
896 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
900 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
901 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
902 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
903 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
907 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
908 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
909 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
910 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
911 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
912 * Group Info:: The group info format.
913 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
914 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
915 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
919 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
920 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
921 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
922 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
923 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
924 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
928 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
929 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
933 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
934 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
940 @chapter Starting Gnus
945 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
946 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
949 @findex gnus-other-frame
950 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
951 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
952 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
954 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
955 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
956 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
958 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
959 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
962 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
963 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
964 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
965 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
966 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
967 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
968 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
969 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
970 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
971 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
972 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
976 @node Finding the News
977 @section Finding the News
980 @vindex gnus-select-method
982 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
983 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
984 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
985 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
988 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
989 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
992 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
995 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
998 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1001 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1002 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1003 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1005 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1007 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1008 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1009 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1010 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1011 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1012 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1014 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1015 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1016 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1017 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1019 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1020 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1021 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1022 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1023 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1024 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1025 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1026 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1027 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1030 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1032 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1033 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1034 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1035 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1036 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1037 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1039 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1041 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1042 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1043 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1044 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1045 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1046 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1049 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1050 you would typically set this variable to
1053 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1057 @node The First Time
1058 @section The First Time
1059 @cindex first time usage
1061 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1062 be subscribed by default.
1064 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1065 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1066 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1067 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1070 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1071 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1072 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1074 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1075 help you with most common problems.
1077 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1078 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1082 @node The Server is Down
1083 @section The Server is Down
1084 @cindex server errors
1086 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1087 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1088 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1090 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1091 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1092 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1093 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1094 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1095 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1096 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1098 @findex gnus-no-server
1099 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1101 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1102 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1103 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1104 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1105 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1106 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1107 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1111 @section Slave Gnusae
1114 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1115 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1116 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1117 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1119 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1120 @code{.newsrc} file.
1122 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1123 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1124 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1125 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1126 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1127 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1128 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1130 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1131 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1132 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1133 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1134 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1135 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1136 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1137 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1139 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1140 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1142 If the @code{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1143 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1144 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1145 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1146 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1148 @node Fetching a Group
1149 @section Fetching a Group
1150 @cindex fetching a group
1152 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1153 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1154 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1155 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1156 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1157 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1163 @cindex subscription
1165 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1166 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1167 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1168 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1169 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1170 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1171 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1172 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1173 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1176 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1177 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1178 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1182 @node Checking New Groups
1183 @subsection Checking New Groups
1185 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1186 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1187 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1188 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1189 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1190 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1191 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1192 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1193 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1194 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1196 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1197 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1198 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1199 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1200 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1201 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1202 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1203 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1204 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1205 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1206 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1208 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1209 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1210 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1211 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1212 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1213 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1216 @node Subscription Methods
1217 @subsection Subscription Methods
1219 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1220 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1221 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1223 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1224 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1226 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1230 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1231 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1232 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1233 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1234 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1236 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1237 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1238 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1239 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1241 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1242 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1243 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1245 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1246 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1247 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1248 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1249 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1250 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1251 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1252 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1253 up. Or something like that.
1255 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1256 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1257 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1258 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1259 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1261 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1262 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1263 Kill all new groups.
1265 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1266 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1267 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1268 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1269 topic parameter that looks like
1275 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1278 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1283 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1284 A closely related variable is
1285 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1286 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1287 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1288 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1291 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1292 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1293 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1294 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1297 @node Filtering New Groups
1298 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1300 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1301 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1302 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1305 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1308 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1309 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1310 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1311 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1312 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1313 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1314 subscribing these groups.
1315 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1316 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1318 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1319 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1320 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1321 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1322 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1323 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1324 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1325 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1327 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1328 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1329 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1330 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1331 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1332 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1333 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1334 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1335 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1336 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1339 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1340 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1343 @node Changing Servers
1344 @section Changing Servers
1345 @cindex changing servers
1347 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1348 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1349 very flaky and you want to use another.
1351 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1352 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1356 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1357 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1358 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1359 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1362 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1363 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1364 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1365 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1367 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1368 @findex gnus-change-server
1369 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1370 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1371 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1372 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1373 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1375 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1376 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1377 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1378 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1379 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1381 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1382 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1383 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1384 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1385 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1386 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1388 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1389 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1390 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1391 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1393 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1394 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1395 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1396 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1397 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1398 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1399 cache for all groups).
1403 @section Startup Files
1404 @cindex startup files
1409 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1410 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1412 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1413 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1414 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1415 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1416 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1417 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1418 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1420 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1421 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1422 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1423 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1424 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1425 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1427 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1428 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1429 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1430 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1431 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1432 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1433 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1434 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1435 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1436 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1438 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1439 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1440 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1441 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1442 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1443 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1444 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1445 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1446 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1447 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1448 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1449 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1451 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1452 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1453 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1454 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1456 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1457 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1458 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1459 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1460 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1461 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1462 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1463 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1464 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1465 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1468 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1469 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1471 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1472 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1475 @vindex gnus-init-file
1476 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1477 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1478 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1479 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1480 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1481 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1482 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1483 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1484 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1485 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1491 @cindex dribble file
1494 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1495 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1496 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1497 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1498 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1501 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1502 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1505 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1506 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1507 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1509 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1510 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1511 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1512 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1513 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1514 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1516 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1517 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1518 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1521 @node The Active File
1522 @section The Active File
1524 @cindex ignored groups
1526 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1527 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1528 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1530 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1531 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1532 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1533 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1534 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1535 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1536 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1539 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1540 @c if you set it to anything else.
1542 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1544 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1545 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1546 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1548 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1549 you actually subscribe to.
1551 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1552 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1553 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1554 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1556 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1557 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1558 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1559 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1560 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1561 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1563 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1564 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1565 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1568 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1569 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1570 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1571 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1572 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1573 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1575 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1576 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1578 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1579 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1581 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1582 secondary select methods.
1585 @node Startup Variables
1586 @section Startup Variables
1590 @item gnus-load-hook
1591 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1592 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1593 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1594 times you start Gnus.
1596 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1597 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1598 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1600 @item gnus-startup-hook
1601 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1602 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1604 @item gnus-started-hook
1605 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1606 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1609 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1610 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1611 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1612 generating the group buffer.
1614 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1615 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1616 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1617 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1618 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1619 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1620 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1621 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1623 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1624 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1625 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1626 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1627 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1628 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1630 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1631 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1632 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1634 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1635 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1636 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1638 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1639 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1640 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1641 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1647 @chapter Group Buffer
1648 @cindex group buffer
1650 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1652 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1653 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1654 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1655 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1656 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1657 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1658 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1659 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1660 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1661 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1662 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1663 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1664 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1665 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1666 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1667 @c human rights at 9...
1670 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1671 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1672 long as Gnus is active.
1676 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1677 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1678 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1679 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1680 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1681 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1682 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1683 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1689 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1690 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1691 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1692 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1693 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1694 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1695 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1696 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1697 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1698 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1699 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1700 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1701 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1702 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1703 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1704 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1705 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1709 @node Group Buffer Format
1710 @section Group Buffer Format
1713 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1714 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1715 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1719 @node Group Line Specification
1720 @subsection Group Line Specification
1721 @cindex group buffer format
1723 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1724 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1726 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1729 25: news.announce.newusers
1730 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1735 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1736 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1737 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1738 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1740 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1741 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1742 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1743 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1744 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1745 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1747 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1749 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1750 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1751 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1752 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1753 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1755 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1756 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1757 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1759 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1764 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1767 Whether the group is subscribed.
1770 Level of subscribedness.
1773 Number of unread articles.
1776 Number of dormant articles.
1779 Number of ticked articles.
1782 Number of read articles.
1785 Number of unseen articles.
1788 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1789 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1791 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1792 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1793 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1794 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1795 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1796 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1797 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1798 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1801 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1804 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1813 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1814 comment element in the group parameters.
1817 Newsgroup description.
1820 @samp{m} if moderated.
1823 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1829 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1835 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1839 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1842 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1843 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1844 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1845 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1846 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1849 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1851 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1855 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1858 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1862 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1863 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1864 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1865 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1866 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1867 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1872 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1873 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1874 group, or a bogus native group.
1877 @node Group Modeline Specification
1878 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1879 @cindex group modeline
1881 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1882 The mode line can be changed by setting
1883 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1884 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1888 The native news server.
1890 The native select method.
1894 @node Group Highlighting
1895 @subsection Group Highlighting
1896 @cindex highlighting
1897 @cindex group highlighting
1899 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1900 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1901 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1902 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1903 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1905 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1909 (cond (window-system
1910 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1911 (defface my-group-face-1
1912 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1913 (defface my-group-face-2
1914 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1915 (defface my-group-face-3
1916 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1917 (defface my-group-face-4
1918 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1919 (defface my-group-face-5
1920 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1922 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1923 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1924 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1925 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1926 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1927 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1930 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1932 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1939 The number of unread articles in the group.
1943 Whether the group is a mail group.
1945 The level of the group.
1947 The score of the group.
1949 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1951 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1952 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1954 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1955 topic being inserted.
1958 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1959 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1960 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1962 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1963 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1964 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1965 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1966 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1969 @node Group Maneuvering
1970 @section Group Maneuvering
1971 @cindex group movement
1973 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1974 expected, hopefully.
1980 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1981 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1982 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1988 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1989 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1990 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1994 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1995 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1999 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2000 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2004 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2005 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2006 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2010 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2011 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2012 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2015 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2021 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2022 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2023 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2028 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2029 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2030 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2034 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2035 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2036 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2039 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2040 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2041 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2042 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2046 @node Selecting a Group
2047 @section Selecting a Group
2048 @cindex group selection
2053 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2054 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2055 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2056 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2057 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2058 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2059 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2060 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2061 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2062 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2064 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2065 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2066 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2068 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2069 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2074 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2075 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2076 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2077 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2078 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2082 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2083 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2084 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2085 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2086 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2087 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2088 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2089 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2090 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2091 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2094 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2095 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2096 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2097 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2098 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2101 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2102 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2103 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2104 doing any processing of its contents
2105 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2106 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2107 manner will have no permanent effects.
2111 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2112 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2113 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2114 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2115 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2116 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2117 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2118 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2121 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2122 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2123 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2124 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2125 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2126 Which article this is is controlled by the
2127 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2133 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2136 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2139 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2141 @item unseen-or-unread
2142 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2143 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2147 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2151 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2152 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2154 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2155 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2156 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2157 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2161 @node Subscription Commands
2162 @section Subscription Commands
2163 @cindex subscription
2171 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2172 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2173 Toggle subscription to the current group
2174 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2180 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2181 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2182 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2183 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2189 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2190 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2191 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2197 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2198 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2201 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2202 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2203 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2204 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2205 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2211 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2212 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2216 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2217 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2220 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2221 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2222 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2223 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2224 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2225 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2226 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2227 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2228 @file{.newsrc} file.
2232 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2242 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2243 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2244 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2245 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2246 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2247 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2252 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2253 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2254 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2258 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2259 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2260 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2262 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2263 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2264 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2265 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2266 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2267 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2274 @section Group Levels
2278 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2279 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2280 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2281 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2282 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2284 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2290 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2291 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2292 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2293 prompted for a level.
2296 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2297 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2298 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2299 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2300 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2301 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2302 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2303 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2304 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2305 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2306 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2307 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2308 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2309 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2310 reasons of efficiency.
2312 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2313 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2315 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2316 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2317 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2318 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2319 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2320 groups are hidden, in a way.
2322 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2323 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2324 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2325 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2326 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2327 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2329 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2330 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2331 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2332 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2333 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2334 list of killed groups.)
2336 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2337 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2338 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2340 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2341 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2342 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2343 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2344 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2345 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2346 relevant valid ranges.
2348 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2349 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2350 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2351 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2352 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2353 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2356 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2357 one with the best level.
2359 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2360 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2361 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2364 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2365 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2366 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2367 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2370 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2371 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2372 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2373 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2375 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2376 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2377 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2378 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2379 to 5. The default is 6.
2383 @section Group Score
2388 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2389 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2390 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2393 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2394 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2395 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2396 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2397 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2398 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2399 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2400 least significant part.))
2402 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2403 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2404 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2405 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2406 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2407 action after each summary exit, you can add
2408 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2409 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2410 slow things down somewhat.
2413 @node Marking Groups
2414 @section Marking Groups
2415 @cindex marking groups
2417 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2418 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2419 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2420 bidding on those groups.
2422 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2423 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2424 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2432 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2433 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2439 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2440 Remove the mark from the current group
2441 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2445 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2446 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2450 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2451 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2455 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2456 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2460 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2461 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2462 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2465 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2467 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2468 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2469 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2470 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2471 the command to be executed.
2474 @node Foreign Groups
2475 @section Foreign Groups
2476 @cindex foreign groups
2478 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2479 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2480 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2481 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2488 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2489 @cindex making groups
2490 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2491 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2492 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2496 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2497 @cindex renaming groups
2498 Rename the current group to something else
2499 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2500 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2506 @findex gnus-group-customize
2507 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2511 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2512 @cindex renaming groups
2513 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2514 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2518 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2519 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2520 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2524 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2525 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2526 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2530 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2532 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2533 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2538 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2539 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2543 @cindex (ding) archive
2544 @cindex archive group
2545 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2546 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2547 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2548 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2549 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2550 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2551 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2555 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2557 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2558 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2559 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2560 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2564 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2566 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2567 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2568 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2572 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2573 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2575 Make a group based on some file or other
2576 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2577 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2578 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2579 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2580 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2581 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2582 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2583 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2584 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2588 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2589 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2590 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2591 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2595 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2599 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2600 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2601 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2602 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2603 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2604 @xref{Web Searches}.
2606 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2607 to a particular group by using a match string like
2608 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2611 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2612 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2613 This function will delete the current group
2614 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2615 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2616 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2617 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2618 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2622 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2623 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2624 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2628 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2629 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2630 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2633 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2636 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2637 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2638 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2639 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2640 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2641 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2645 @node Group Parameters
2646 @section Group Parameters
2647 @cindex group parameters
2649 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2650 Here's an example group parameter list:
2653 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2657 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2658 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2659 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2660 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2662 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2663 is an alist of regexps and values.
2665 The following group parameters can be used:
2670 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2673 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2676 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2677 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2678 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2679 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2680 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2682 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2683 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2684 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2685 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2686 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2687 list address instead.
2689 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2693 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2696 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2699 It is totally ignored
2700 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2701 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2703 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2704 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2705 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2706 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2707 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2709 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2710 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2711 sending the message.
2713 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2714 @cindex Mail List Groups
2715 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2716 entering summary buffer.
2718 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2723 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2724 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2725 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2726 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2727 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2728 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2730 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2731 directly uses this group parameter.
2735 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2736 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2737 of whether it has any unread articles.
2739 @item broken-reply-to
2740 @cindex broken-reply-to
2741 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2742 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2743 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2744 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2745 broken behavior. So there!
2749 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2750 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2754 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2755 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2756 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2761 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2762 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2763 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2764 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2765 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2766 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2767 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2768 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2769 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2773 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2774 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2775 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2777 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2780 @cindex total-expire
2781 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2782 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2783 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2784 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2787 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2791 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2792 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2793 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2794 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2795 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2796 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2797 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2800 @cindex score file group parameter
2801 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2802 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2803 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2806 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2807 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2808 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2809 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2812 @cindex admin-address
2813 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2814 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2815 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2816 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2820 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2821 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2825 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2828 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2829 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2832 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2836 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2838 Here are some examples:
2842 Display only unread articles.
2845 Display everything except expirable articles.
2847 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2848 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2852 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2853 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2854 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2855 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2856 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2860 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2861 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2862 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2866 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2867 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2868 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2872 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2873 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2874 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2876 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2878 @item ignored-charsets
2879 @cindex ignored-charset
2880 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2881 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2882 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2884 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2887 @cindex posting-style
2888 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2889 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2890 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2891 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2892 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2894 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2895 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2896 like this in the group parameters:
2901 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2902 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2907 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2908 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2912 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2913 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2914 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2915 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2916 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2920 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2921 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2922 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2923 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2925 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2926 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2927 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2928 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2931 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2932 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2936 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2939 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2940 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2941 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2942 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2943 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2944 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2945 @code{eval}ed there.
2947 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2948 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2949 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2950 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2951 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2952 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2953 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2954 parameters for the group.
2957 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2958 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2959 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2960 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2961 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2965 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2966 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2967 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2968 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2969 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2971 @vindex gnus-parameters
2972 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2973 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2977 (setq gnus-parameters
2979 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2980 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2981 (gnus-summary-line-format
2982 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2986 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2990 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2994 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2997 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2998 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3001 @node Listing Groups
3002 @section Listing Groups
3003 @cindex group listing
3005 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3013 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3014 List all groups that have unread articles
3015 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3016 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3017 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3018 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3025 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3026 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3027 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3028 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3029 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3030 unsubscribed groups).
3034 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3035 List all unread groups on a specific level
3036 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3037 with no unread articles.
3041 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3042 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3043 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3044 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3049 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3050 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3054 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3055 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3056 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3060 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3061 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3065 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3066 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3067 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3068 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3069 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3070 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3071 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3072 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3076 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3077 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3078 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3082 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3083 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3084 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3088 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3089 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3093 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3094 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3098 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3099 List groups limited within the current selection
3100 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3104 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3105 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3109 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3110 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3114 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3115 @cindex visible group parameter
3116 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3117 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3118 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3119 get the same effect.
3121 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3122 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3123 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3124 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3125 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3128 @node Sorting Groups
3129 @section Sorting Groups
3130 @cindex sorting groups
3132 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3133 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3134 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3135 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3136 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3137 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3142 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3143 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3144 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3146 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3147 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3148 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3150 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3151 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3152 Sort by group level.
3154 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3155 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3156 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3158 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3159 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3160 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3161 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3163 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3164 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3165 Sort by number of unread articles.
3167 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3168 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3169 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3171 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3172 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3173 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3178 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3179 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3183 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3184 some sorting criteria:
3188 @kindex G S a (Group)
3189 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3190 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3191 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3194 @kindex G S u (Group)
3195 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3196 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3197 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3200 @kindex G S l (Group)
3201 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3202 Sort the group buffer by group level
3203 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3206 @kindex G S v (Group)
3207 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3208 Sort the group buffer by group score
3209 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3212 @kindex G S r (Group)
3213 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3214 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3215 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3218 @kindex G S m (Group)
3219 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3220 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3221 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3224 @kindex G S n (Group)
3225 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3226 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3227 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3231 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3232 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3234 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3235 commands will sort in reverse order.
3237 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3241 @kindex G P a (Group)
3242 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3243 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3244 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3247 @kindex G P u (Group)
3248 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3249 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3250 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3253 @kindex G P l (Group)
3254 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3255 Sort the groups by group level
3256 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3259 @kindex G P v (Group)
3260 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3261 Sort the groups by group score
3262 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3265 @kindex G P r (Group)
3266 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3267 Sort the groups by group rank
3268 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3271 @kindex G P m (Group)
3272 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3273 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3274 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3277 @kindex G P n (Group)
3278 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3279 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3280 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3283 @kindex G P s (Group)
3284 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3285 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3289 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3293 @node Group Maintenance
3294 @section Group Maintenance
3295 @cindex bogus groups
3300 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3301 Find bogus groups and delete them
3302 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3306 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3307 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3308 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3309 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3310 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3314 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3315 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3316 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3317 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3318 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3319 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3322 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3323 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3324 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3325 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3330 @node Browse Foreign Server
3331 @section Browse Foreign Server
3332 @cindex foreign servers
3333 @cindex browsing servers
3338 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3339 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3340 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3341 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3344 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3345 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3346 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3347 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3349 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3354 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3355 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3359 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3360 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3363 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3364 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3365 Enter the current group and display the first article
3366 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3369 @kindex RET (Browse)
3370 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3371 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3375 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3376 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3377 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3383 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3384 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3388 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3389 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3393 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3394 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3395 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3400 @section Exiting Gnus
3401 @cindex exiting Gnus
3403 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3408 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3409 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3410 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3411 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3415 @findex gnus-group-exit
3416 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3417 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3421 @findex gnus-group-quit
3422 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3423 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3426 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3427 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3428 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3429 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3430 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3435 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3436 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3437 trying to customize meta-variables.
3442 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3443 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3444 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3450 @section Group Topics
3453 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3454 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3455 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3456 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3457 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3458 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3462 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3463 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3474 2: alt.religion.emacs
3477 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3479 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3480 13: comp.sources.unix
3483 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3485 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3486 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3487 is a toggling command.)
3489 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3490 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3491 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3492 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3495 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3496 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3497 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3500 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3504 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3505 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3506 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3507 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3508 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3512 @node Topic Commands
3513 @subsection Topic Commands
3514 @cindex topic commands
3516 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3517 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3518 definitions slightly.
3520 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3521 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3522 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3523 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3524 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3525 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3527 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3534 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3535 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3536 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3540 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3542 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3543 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3544 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3545 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3548 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3549 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3550 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3551 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3555 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3556 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3557 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3558 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3564 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3565 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3566 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3570 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3571 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3572 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3575 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3576 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3577 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3578 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3579 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3581 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3582 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3586 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3587 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3594 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3596 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3597 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3598 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3599 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3600 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3601 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3605 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3611 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3612 Move the current group to some other topic
3613 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3614 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3618 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3619 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3623 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3624 Copy the current group to some other topic
3625 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3626 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3630 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3631 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3632 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3636 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3637 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3638 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3642 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3643 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3644 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3645 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3646 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3647 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3648 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3651 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3652 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3656 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3657 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3658 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3662 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3663 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3664 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3668 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3669 Toggle hiding empty topics
3670 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3674 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3675 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3676 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3679 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3680 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3681 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3682 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3685 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3686 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3687 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3688 expiry process (if any)
3689 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3693 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3694 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3697 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3698 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3699 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3703 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3704 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3705 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3708 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3709 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3710 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3713 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3714 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3715 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3719 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3720 @cindex group parameters
3721 @cindex topic parameters
3723 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3724 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3729 @node Topic Variables
3730 @subsection Topic Variables
3731 @cindex topic variables
3733 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3734 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3736 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3737 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3738 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3751 Number of groups in the topic.
3753 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3755 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3758 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3759 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3760 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3763 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3764 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3766 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3767 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3768 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3772 @subsection Topic Sorting
3773 @cindex topic sorting
3775 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3781 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3782 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3783 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3784 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3787 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3788 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3789 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3790 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3793 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3794 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3795 Sort the current topic by group level
3796 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3799 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3800 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3801 Sort the current topic by group score
3802 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3805 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3806 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3807 Sort the current topic by group rank
3808 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3811 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3812 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3813 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3814 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3817 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3818 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3819 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3820 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3824 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3825 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3826 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3827 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3831 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3832 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3836 @node Topic Topology
3837 @subsection Topic Topology
3838 @cindex topic topology
3841 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3847 2: alt.religion.emacs
3850 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3852 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3853 13: comp.sources.unix
3856 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3857 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3858 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3863 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3864 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3868 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3869 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3870 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3871 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3872 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3873 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3875 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3876 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3877 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3880 @node Topic Parameters
3881 @subsection Topic Parameters
3882 @cindex topic parameters
3884 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3885 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3886 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3888 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3893 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3894 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3895 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3898 @item subscribe-level
3899 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3900 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3901 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3905 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3906 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3907 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3908 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3914 2: alt.religion.emacs
3918 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3920 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3921 13: comp.sources.unix
3925 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3926 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3927 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3928 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3929 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3930 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3932 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3933 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3934 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3935 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3936 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3938 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3939 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3940 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3941 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3942 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3943 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3944 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3945 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3948 @node Misc Group Stuff
3949 @section Misc Group Stuff
3952 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3953 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3954 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3955 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3956 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3963 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3964 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3965 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3969 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3970 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3971 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3972 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3973 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3974 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3975 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3979 @findex gnus-group-mail
3980 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3981 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3982 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3983 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3987 @findex gnus-group-news
3988 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3989 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3990 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3992 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3993 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3994 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3995 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
3996 for this to work though.
4000 Variables for the group buffer:
4004 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4005 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4006 is called after the group buffer has been
4009 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4010 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4011 is called after the group buffer is
4012 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4015 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4016 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4017 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4018 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4020 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4021 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4022 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4023 whether they are empty or not.
4025 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4026 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4027 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4028 non-ASCII group names.
4032 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4033 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4036 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4037 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4038 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4039 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4040 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4041 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is
4046 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4047 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4052 @node Scanning New Messages
4053 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4054 @cindex new messages
4055 @cindex scanning new news
4061 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4062 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4063 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4064 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4065 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4066 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4071 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4072 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4073 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4074 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4075 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4076 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4077 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4079 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4080 @cindex activating groups
4082 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4083 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4088 @findex gnus-group-restart
4089 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4090 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4091 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4095 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4096 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4098 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4099 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4103 @node Group Information
4104 @subsection Group Information
4105 @cindex group information
4106 @cindex information on groups
4113 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4114 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4117 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4118 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4119 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4120 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4121 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4122 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4123 for fetching the file.
4125 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4126 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4130 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4131 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4133 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4134 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4137 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4138 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4139 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4143 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4144 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4145 @cindex control message
4146 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4147 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4148 group if given a prefix argument.
4150 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4151 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4152 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4153 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4155 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4156 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4157 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4161 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4163 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4164 @cindex describing groups
4165 @cindex group description
4166 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4167 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4168 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4172 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4173 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4174 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4181 @findex gnus-version
4182 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4186 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4187 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4190 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4193 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4194 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4198 @node Group Timestamp
4199 @subsection Group Timestamp
4201 @cindex group timestamps
4203 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4204 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4205 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4208 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4211 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4213 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4214 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4217 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4218 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4221 This will result in lines looking like:
4224 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4225 0: custom 19961002T012713
4228 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4229 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4233 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4234 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4237 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4238 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4242 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4243 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4244 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4245 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4247 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4253 @subsection File Commands
4254 @cindex file commands
4260 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4261 @vindex gnus-init-file
4262 @cindex reading init file
4263 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4264 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4268 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4269 @cindex saving .newsrc
4270 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4271 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4272 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4275 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4276 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4277 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4282 @node Sieve Commands
4283 @subsection Sieve Commands
4284 @cindex group sieve commands
4286 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4287 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4288 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4289 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4290 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4292 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4293 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4294 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4295 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4296 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4297 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4298 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4299 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4300 regenerate the Sieve script.
4302 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4303 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4304 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4305 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4306 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4307 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4308 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4309 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4310 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4311 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4314 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4315 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4320 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4326 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4327 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4328 @cindex generating sieve script
4329 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4330 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4334 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4335 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4336 @cindex updating sieve script
4337 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4338 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4339 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4344 @node Summary Buffer
4345 @chapter Summary Buffer
4346 @cindex summary buffer
4348 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4349 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4351 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4352 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4354 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4357 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4358 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4359 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4360 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4361 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4362 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4363 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4364 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4365 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4366 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4367 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4368 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4369 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4370 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4371 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4372 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4373 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4374 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4375 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4376 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4377 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4378 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4379 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4380 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4381 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4382 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4383 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4384 or reselecting the current group.
4385 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4386 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4387 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4388 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4392 @node Summary Buffer Format
4393 @section Summary Buffer Format
4394 @cindex summary buffer format
4398 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4399 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4400 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4406 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4407 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4408 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4409 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4412 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4413 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4414 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4415 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4416 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4417 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4418 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4419 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4420 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4421 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4422 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4425 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4426 'mail-extract-address-components)
4429 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4430 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4431 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4432 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4435 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4436 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4438 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4439 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4440 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4441 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4442 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4444 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4445 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4446 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4447 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4448 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4449 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4451 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4453 The following format specification characters and extended format
4454 specification(s) are understood:
4460 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4461 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4463 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4464 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4465 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4467 Full @code{From} header.
4469 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4471 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4474 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4475 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4476 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4477 may be more thorough.
4479 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4482 Number of lines in the article.
4484 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4485 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4487 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4488 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4490 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4492 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4493 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4506 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4507 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4508 replacing the default ASCII characters with graphic line-drawing
4511 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4512 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4513 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4514 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4516 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4517 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4518 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4519 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4521 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4522 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4523 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4525 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4526 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4527 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4529 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4530 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4531 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4533 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4534 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4535 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4540 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4541 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4543 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4544 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4546 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4547 for adopted articles.
4549 One space for each thread level.
4551 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4553 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4556 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4557 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4558 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4561 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4563 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4564 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4565 default level. If the difference between
4566 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4567 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4575 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4577 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4583 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4584 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4586 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4587 article has any children.
4593 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4594 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4596 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4597 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4598 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4599 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4600 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4601 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4604 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4605 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4606 There can only be one such area.
4608 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4609 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4610 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4611 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4612 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4613 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4615 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4616 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4618 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4621 @node To From Newsgroups
4622 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4626 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4627 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4628 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4629 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4630 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4634 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4635 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4636 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4640 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4641 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4644 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4645 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4648 @findex gnus-extra-header
4649 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4650 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4651 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4654 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4658 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4659 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4660 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4661 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4662 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4663 headers are used instead.
4667 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4668 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4669 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4670 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4671 this variable, by entering the server buffer using `^', and then `g' on
4672 the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause regeneration.
4674 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4675 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4676 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4677 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4679 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4683 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4685 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4686 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4687 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4688 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4692 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4695 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4696 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4699 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4700 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4701 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4707 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4708 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4711 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4712 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4714 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4715 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4716 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4717 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4719 Here are the elements you can play with:
4725 Unprefixed group name.
4727 Current article number.
4729 Current article score.
4733 Number of unread articles in this group.
4735 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4738 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4739 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4740 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4741 and no unselected ones.
4743 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4744 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4746 Subject of the current article.
4748 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4750 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4752 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4754 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4756 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4758 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4762 @node Summary Highlighting
4763 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4767 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4768 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4769 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4770 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4771 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4773 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4774 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4775 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4776 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4778 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4779 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4780 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4781 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4783 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4784 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4785 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4786 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4787 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4788 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4791 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4792 ((> score default) . bold))
4794 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4795 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4799 @node Summary Maneuvering
4800 @section Summary Maneuvering
4801 @cindex summary movement
4803 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4804 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4806 None of these commands select articles.
4811 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4812 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4813 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4814 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4815 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4819 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4820 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4821 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4822 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4823 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4826 @kindex G g (Summary)
4827 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4828 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4829 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4832 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4833 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4834 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4835 to the group buffer.
4837 Variables related to summary movement:
4841 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4842 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4843 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4844 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4845 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4846 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4847 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4848 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4849 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4850 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4851 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4852 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4853 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4854 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4856 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4857 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4858 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4859 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4860 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4861 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4862 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4864 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4866 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4867 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4868 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4869 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4870 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4872 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4873 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4874 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4875 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4876 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4877 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4878 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4879 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4882 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4883 the given number of lines from the top.
4888 @node Choosing Articles
4889 @section Choosing Articles
4890 @cindex selecting articles
4893 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4894 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4898 @node Choosing Commands
4899 @subsection Choosing Commands
4901 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4902 and they all select and display an article.
4904 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4905 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4909 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4910 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4911 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4912 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4917 @kindex G n (Summary)
4918 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4919 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4920 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4925 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4926 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4927 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4932 @kindex G N (Summary)
4933 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4934 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4939 @kindex G P (Summary)
4940 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4941 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4944 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4945 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4946 Go to the next article with the same subject
4947 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4950 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4951 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4952 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4953 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4957 @kindex G f (Summary)
4959 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4960 Go to the first unread article
4961 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4965 @kindex G b (Summary)
4967 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4968 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4969 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4970 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4975 @kindex G l (Summary)
4976 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4977 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4980 @kindex G o (Summary)
4981 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4983 @cindex article history
4984 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4985 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4986 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4987 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4988 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4989 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4994 @kindex G j (Summary)
4995 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4996 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4997 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5002 @node Choosing Variables
5003 @subsection Choosing Variables
5005 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5008 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5009 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5010 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5011 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5012 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5013 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5015 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5016 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5017 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5018 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you wish
5019 that the Agent saves all articles you read, putting
5020 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook should do it.
5022 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5023 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5024 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5025 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5026 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5027 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5028 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5029 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5030 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5031 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5032 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5033 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5034 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5035 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5040 @node Paging the Article
5041 @section Scrolling the Article
5042 @cindex article scrolling
5047 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5048 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5049 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5050 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5051 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5054 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5055 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5056 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5059 @kindex RET (Summary)
5060 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5061 Scroll the current article one line forward
5062 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5065 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5066 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5067 Scroll the current article one line backward
5068 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5072 @kindex A g (Summary)
5074 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5075 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5076 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5077 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5078 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5079 the way it came from the server.
5081 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5082 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5083 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5086 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5091 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5096 @kindex A < (Summary)
5097 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5098 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5099 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5104 @kindex A > (Summary)
5105 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5106 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5110 @kindex A s (Summary)
5112 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5113 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5114 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5118 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5119 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5124 @node Reply Followup and Post
5125 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5128 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5129 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5130 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5131 * Canceling and Superseding::
5135 @node Summary Mail Commands
5136 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5138 @cindex composing mail
5140 Commands for composing a mail message:
5146 @kindex S r (Summary)
5148 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5149 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5150 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5151 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5152 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5157 @kindex S R (Summary)
5158 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5159 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5160 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5161 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5162 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5165 @kindex S w (Summary)
5166 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5167 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5168 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5169 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5170 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5173 @kindex S W (Summary)
5174 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5175 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5176 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5177 the process/prefix convention.
5180 @kindex S v (Summary)
5181 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5182 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5183 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5184 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5185 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5186 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5189 @kindex S V (Summary)
5190 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5191 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5192 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5193 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5196 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5197 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5198 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5199 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5202 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5203 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5204 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5205 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5206 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5210 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5211 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5212 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5213 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5214 Forward the current article to some other person
5215 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5216 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5217 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5218 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5219 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5220 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5221 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5222 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5223 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime}
5229 @kindex S m (Summary)
5230 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5231 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5232 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5233 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5234 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5239 @kindex S i (Summary)
5240 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5241 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5242 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5243 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5245 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5246 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5247 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5248 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5249 for this to work though.
5252 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5253 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5254 @cindex bouncing mail
5255 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5256 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5257 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5258 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5259 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5260 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5261 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5262 very well fail, though.
5265 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5266 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5267 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5268 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5269 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5270 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5271 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5272 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5273 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5274 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5276 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5277 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5278 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5279 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5280 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5282 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5283 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5286 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5287 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5288 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5289 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5290 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5293 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5294 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5295 @cindex crossposting
5296 @cindex excessive crossposting
5297 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5298 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5300 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5301 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5302 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5303 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5304 command understands the process/prefix convention
5305 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5309 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5310 Manual}, for more information.
5313 @node Summary Post Commands
5314 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5316 @cindex composing news
5318 Commands for posting a news article:
5324 @kindex S p (Summary)
5325 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5326 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5327 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5328 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5329 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5334 @kindex S f (Summary)
5335 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5336 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5337 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5341 @kindex S F (Summary)
5343 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5344 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5345 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5346 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5347 process/prefix convention.
5350 @kindex S n (Summary)
5351 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5352 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5353 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5356 @kindex S N (Summary)
5357 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5358 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5359 message through mail and include the original message
5360 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5361 the process/prefix convention.
5364 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5365 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5366 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5367 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5368 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5369 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5370 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5371 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5372 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5373 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5374 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5375 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5376 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section.
5379 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5380 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5382 @cindex making digests
5383 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5384 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
5385 process/prefix convention.
5388 @kindex S u (Summary)
5389 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5390 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5391 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5392 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5395 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5396 Manual}, for more information.
5399 @node Summary Message Commands
5400 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5404 @kindex S y (Summary)
5405 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5406 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5407 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5408 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5409 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5414 @node Canceling and Superseding
5415 @subsection Canceling Articles
5416 @cindex canceling articles
5417 @cindex superseding articles
5419 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5420 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5422 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5424 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5426 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5427 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5428 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5429 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5430 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5431 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5433 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5434 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5437 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5438 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5439 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5441 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5442 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5443 your original article.
5445 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5447 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5448 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5449 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5452 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5453 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5454 have posted almost the same article twice.
5456 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5457 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5458 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5459 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5460 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5461 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5462 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5463 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5464 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5465 canceled/superseded.
5467 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5469 @node Delayed Articles
5470 @section Delayed Articles
5471 @cindex delayed sending
5472 @cindex send delayed
5474 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5475 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5476 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5477 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5480 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5483 @findex gnus-delay-article
5484 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5485 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5486 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5487 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5491 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5492 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5493 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5494 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5497 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5498 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5499 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5502 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5503 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5504 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5505 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5506 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5507 that means a time tomorrow.
5510 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5511 couple of variables:
5514 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5515 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5516 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5517 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5519 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5520 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5521 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5522 formats described above.
5524 @item gnus-delay-group
5525 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5526 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5527 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5528 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5530 @item gnus-delay-header
5531 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5532 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5533 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5534 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5537 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5538 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5539 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5540 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5541 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5543 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5544 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5545 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5546 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5547 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5548 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5551 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5552 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5553 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5554 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5555 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5556 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5557 argument is ignored.
5559 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5560 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5561 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5565 @node Marking Articles
5566 @section Marking Articles
5567 @cindex article marking
5568 @cindex article ticking
5571 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5573 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5574 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5575 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5577 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5580 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5581 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5582 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5586 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5590 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5591 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5592 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5596 @node Unread Articles
5597 @subsection Unread Articles
5599 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5604 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5605 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5607 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5608 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5609 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5610 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5611 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5612 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5613 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5616 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5617 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5619 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5620 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5621 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5622 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5626 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5627 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5629 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5634 @subsection Read Articles
5635 @cindex expirable mark
5637 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5642 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5643 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5644 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5647 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5648 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5651 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5652 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5653 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5656 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5657 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5660 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5661 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5664 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5665 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5668 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5669 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5672 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5673 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5676 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5677 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5680 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5681 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5685 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5686 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5687 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5691 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5692 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5694 One more special mark, though:
5698 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5699 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5701 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5702 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5703 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5704 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5710 @subsection Other Marks
5711 @cindex process mark
5714 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5720 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5721 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5722 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5723 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5724 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5727 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5728 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5729 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5730 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5733 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5734 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5735 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5738 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5739 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5740 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5743 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5744 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5745 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5746 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5749 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5750 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5751 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5752 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5753 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5754 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5757 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5758 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5759 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5760 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5763 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5764 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might not
5765 have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you are
5766 offline (unplugged). These articles get the @samp{@@} mark in the
5767 first column. (The variable @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls
5768 which character to use.)
5771 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5772 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5773 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5774 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5775 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5776 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5780 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5781 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5782 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5783 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5784 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5787 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5788 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5789 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5790 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5791 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5792 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5796 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5797 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5798 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5800 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5801 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5802 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5806 @subsection Setting Marks
5807 @cindex setting marks
5809 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5814 @kindex M c (Summary)
5815 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5816 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5817 @cindex mark as unread
5818 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5819 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5825 @kindex M t (Summary)
5826 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5827 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5828 @xref{Article Caching}.
5833 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5834 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5835 Mark the current article as dormant
5836 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5840 @kindex M d (Summary)
5842 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5843 Mark the current article as read
5844 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5848 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5849 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5850 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5855 @kindex M k (Summary)
5856 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5857 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5858 and then select the next unread article
5859 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5863 @kindex M K (Summary)
5864 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5865 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5866 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5867 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5870 @kindex M C (Summary)
5871 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5872 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5873 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5876 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5877 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5878 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5879 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5882 @kindex M H (Summary)
5883 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5884 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5885 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5888 @kindex M h (Summary)
5889 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5890 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5891 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5894 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5895 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5896 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5897 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5900 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5901 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5902 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5903 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5907 @kindex M e (Summary)
5909 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5910 Mark the current article as expirable
5911 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5914 @kindex M b (Summary)
5915 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5916 Set a bookmark in the current article
5917 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5920 @kindex M B (Summary)
5921 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5922 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5923 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5926 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5927 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5928 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5929 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5932 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5933 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5934 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5935 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5938 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5939 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5940 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5941 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5942 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5945 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5946 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5947 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5948 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5949 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5950 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5951 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5952 The default is @code{t}.
5955 @node Generic Marking Commands
5956 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5958 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5959 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5960 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5961 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5962 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5965 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5966 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5969 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5970 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5971 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5972 to list in this manual.
5974 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5975 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5976 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5977 article, you could say something like:
5980 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5981 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5982 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5988 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5989 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5993 @node Setting Process Marks
5994 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5995 @cindex setting process marks
5997 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
5998 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
5999 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6000 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6001 commands into the cache. For more information,
6002 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6009 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6010 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6011 Mark the current article with the process mark
6012 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6013 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6017 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6018 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6019 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6020 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6023 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6024 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6025 Remove the process mark from all articles
6026 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6029 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6030 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6031 Invert the list of process marked articles
6032 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6035 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6036 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6037 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6038 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6041 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6042 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6043 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6044 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6047 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6048 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6049 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6053 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6054 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6057 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6058 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6059 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6060 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6063 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6064 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6065 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6066 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6069 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6070 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6071 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6072 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6075 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6076 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6077 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6080 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6081 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6082 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6083 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6086 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6087 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6088 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6091 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6092 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6093 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6094 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6097 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6098 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6099 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6100 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6103 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6104 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6105 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6106 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6109 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6110 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6111 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6112 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6116 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6117 set process marks based on article body contents.
6124 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6125 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6126 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6129 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6130 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6131 additional articles.
6137 @kindex / / (Summary)
6138 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6139 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6140 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6144 @kindex / a (Summary)
6145 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6146 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6147 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6151 @kindex / x (Summary)
6152 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6153 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6154 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6155 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6160 @kindex / u (Summary)
6162 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6163 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6164 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6165 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6166 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6169 @kindex / m (Summary)
6170 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6171 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6172 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6175 @kindex / t (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6177 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6178 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6179 articles younger than that number of days.
6182 @kindex / n (Summary)
6183 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6184 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6185 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6186 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6189 @kindex / w (Summary)
6190 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6191 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6192 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6196 @kindex / . (Summary)
6197 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6198 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6199 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6202 @kindex / v (Summary)
6203 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6204 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6205 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6208 @kindex / p (Summary)
6209 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6210 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6211 group parameter predicate
6212 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6213 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6217 @kindex M S (Summary)
6218 @kindex / E (Summary)
6219 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6220 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6221 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6224 @kindex / D (Summary)
6225 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6226 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6227 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6230 @kindex / * (Summary)
6231 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6232 Include all cached articles in the limit
6233 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6236 @kindex / d (Summary)
6237 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6238 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6239 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6242 @kindex / M (Summary)
6243 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6244 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6247 @kindex / T (Summary)
6248 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6249 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6252 @kindex / c (Summary)
6253 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6254 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6255 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6258 @kindex / C (Summary)
6259 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6260 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6261 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6262 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6265 @kindex / N (Summary)
6266 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6267 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6268 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6271 @kindex / o (Summary)
6272 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6273 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6274 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6282 @cindex article threading
6284 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6285 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6286 hierarchical fashion.
6288 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6289 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6290 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6291 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6292 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6293 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6294 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6296 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6300 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6303 A tree-like article structure.
6306 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6309 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6310 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6311 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6312 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6313 called loose threads.
6315 @item thread gathering
6316 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6318 @item sparse threads
6319 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6320 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6326 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6327 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6331 @node Customizing Threading
6332 @subsection Customizing Threading
6333 @cindex customizing threading
6336 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6337 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6338 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6339 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6344 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6347 @cindex loose threads
6350 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6351 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6352 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6353 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6354 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6355 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6357 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6358 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6359 There are four possible values:
6363 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6364 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6365 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6366 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6367 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6372 @cindex adopting articles
6377 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6378 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6379 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6380 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6383 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6384 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6385 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6386 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6387 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6388 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6389 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6390 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6391 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6392 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6395 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6396 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6397 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6401 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6402 display them after one another.
6405 Don't gather loose threads.
6408 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6409 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6410 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6411 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6412 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6413 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6414 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6415 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6416 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6417 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6418 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6420 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6421 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6422 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6425 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6426 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6427 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6428 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6429 simplification is used.
6431 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6432 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6433 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6434 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6436 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6438 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6444 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6445 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6446 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6447 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6452 (mapconcat 'identity
6453 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6455 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6458 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6461 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6462 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6463 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6464 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6465 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6466 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6468 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6471 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6472 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6473 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6475 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6476 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6479 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6480 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6481 Remove excessive whitespace.
6483 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6484 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6485 Remove all whitespace.
6488 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6491 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6492 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6493 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6494 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6495 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6496 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6497 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6498 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6500 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6501 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6502 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6503 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6504 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6505 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6506 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6507 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6508 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6512 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6513 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6514 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6515 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6517 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6518 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6519 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6522 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6526 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6527 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6533 @node Filling In Threads
6534 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6537 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6538 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6539 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6540 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6541 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6542 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6543 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6544 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6545 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6546 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6547 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6548 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6551 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6552 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6553 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6555 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6556 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6557 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6558 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6559 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6560 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6561 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6562 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6563 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6564 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6565 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6566 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6567 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6568 @code{nil} by default.
6570 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6571 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6572 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6573 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6574 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6575 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6576 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6578 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6579 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6580 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6585 @node More Threading
6586 @subsubsection More Threading
6589 @item gnus-show-threads
6590 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6591 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6592 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6593 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6594 slower and more awkward.
6596 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6597 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6598 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6601 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6602 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6603 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6608 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6609 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6610 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6613 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6614 unread, but you get my drift.)
6617 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6618 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6619 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6620 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6621 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6622 threads are expunged.
6624 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6625 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6626 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6629 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6630 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6631 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6632 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6633 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6634 result in a new thread.
6636 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6637 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6638 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6641 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6642 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6643 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6644 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6645 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6646 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6647 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6648 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6649 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6650 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6651 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6656 @node Low-Level Threading
6657 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6661 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6662 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6663 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6665 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6666 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6667 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6668 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6669 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6670 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6671 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6672 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6673 meaningful. Here's one example:
6676 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6678 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6679 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6681 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6683 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6690 @node Thread Commands
6691 @subsection Thread Commands
6692 @cindex thread commands
6698 @kindex T k (Summary)
6699 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6700 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6701 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6702 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6703 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6708 @kindex T l (Summary)
6709 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6710 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6711 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6712 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6715 @kindex T i (Summary)
6716 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6717 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6718 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6721 @kindex T # (Summary)
6722 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6723 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6724 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6727 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6728 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6729 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6730 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6733 @kindex T T (Summary)
6734 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6735 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6738 @kindex T s (Summary)
6739 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6740 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6741 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6744 @kindex T h (Summary)
6745 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6746 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6749 @kindex T S (Summary)
6750 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6751 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6754 @kindex T H (Summary)
6755 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6756 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6759 @kindex T t (Summary)
6760 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6761 Re-thread the current article's thread
6762 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6763 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6766 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6767 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6768 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6769 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6773 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6774 understand the numeric prefix.
6779 @kindex T n (Summary)
6781 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6783 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6784 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6785 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6788 @kindex T p (Summary)
6790 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6792 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6793 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6794 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6797 @kindex T d (Summary)
6798 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6799 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6802 @kindex T u (Summary)
6803 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6804 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6807 @kindex T o (Summary)
6808 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6809 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6812 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6813 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6814 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6815 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6816 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6817 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6818 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6819 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6820 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6821 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6822 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6823 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6827 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6828 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6830 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6831 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6832 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6833 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6834 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6835 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6836 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6837 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6838 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6839 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6840 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6841 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6842 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6844 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6845 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6846 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6847 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6848 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6849 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6850 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6851 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6853 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6854 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6855 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6857 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6858 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6859 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6860 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6861 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6862 ascending article order.
6864 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6865 by number, you could do something like:
6868 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6869 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6870 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6871 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6874 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6875 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6876 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6877 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6878 which the articles arrived.
6880 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6884 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6886 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6887 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6890 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6891 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6892 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6893 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6896 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6897 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6898 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6899 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6900 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6901 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6902 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6903 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6904 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6905 variable. It is very similar to the
6906 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6907 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6908 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6909 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6910 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6911 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6912 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6914 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6918 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6919 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6920 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6925 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6926 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6927 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6928 @cindex article pre-fetch
6931 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6932 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6933 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6934 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6935 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6937 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6938 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6940 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6941 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6942 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6943 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6944 connection is blocked.
6946 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6947 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6948 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6949 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6951 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6952 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6953 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6954 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6957 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6960 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6961 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6962 happen automatically.
6964 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6965 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6966 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6967 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6968 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6969 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6970 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6972 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6973 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6974 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6975 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6976 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6977 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6978 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6979 data structure as the only parameter.
6981 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6984 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6985 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6986 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6987 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6990 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6993 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6994 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6995 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6997 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6998 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6999 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7000 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7004 Remove articles when they are read.
7007 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7010 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7012 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7013 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7014 @c from the next group.
7017 @node Article Caching
7018 @section Article Caching
7019 @cindex article caching
7022 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
7023 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7024 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7025 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7026 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7028 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7030 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7031 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7032 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7033 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7034 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7035 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7036 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7037 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7039 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7040 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7041 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7042 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7043 as dormant, and don't worry.
7045 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7047 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7048 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7049 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7050 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7051 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7052 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7053 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7054 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7055 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7056 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7058 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7059 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7060 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7061 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7062 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7063 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7064 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7065 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7066 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7067 not then be downloaded by this command.
7069 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7070 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7071 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7072 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7073 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7074 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7076 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7077 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7078 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7079 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7080 variables, the group is not cached.
7082 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7083 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7084 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7085 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7086 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7087 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7088 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7089 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7090 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7093 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7094 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7095 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7096 where, isn't that cool?
7098 @node Persistent Articles
7099 @section Persistent Articles
7100 @cindex persistent articles
7102 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7103 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7104 useful in my opinion.
7106 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7107 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7108 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7109 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7110 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7111 the expiry going on at the news server.
7113 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7114 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7115 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7121 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7122 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7125 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7126 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7127 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7128 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7132 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7134 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7135 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7136 interested in persistent articles:
7139 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7143 @node Article Backlog
7144 @section Article Backlog
7146 @cindex article backlog
7148 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7149 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7150 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7151 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7152 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7153 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7154 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7155 increase memory usage some.
7157 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7158 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7159 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7160 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7161 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7162 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7163 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7165 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
7168 @node Saving Articles
7169 @section Saving Articles
7170 @cindex saving articles
7172 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7173 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7174 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7175 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7176 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7178 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7179 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7180 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7182 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7183 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7184 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7186 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7187 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7188 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7189 deleted before saving.
7195 @kindex O o (Summary)
7197 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7198 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7199 Save the current article using the default article saver
7200 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7203 @kindex O m (Summary)
7204 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7205 Save the current article in mail format
7206 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7209 @kindex O r (Summary)
7210 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7211 Save the current article in rmail format
7212 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7215 @kindex O f (Summary)
7216 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7217 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7218 Save the current article in plain file format
7219 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7222 @kindex O F (Summary)
7223 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7224 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7225 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7228 @kindex O b (Summary)
7229 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7230 Save the current article body in plain file format
7231 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7234 @kindex O h (Summary)
7235 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7236 Save the current article in mh folder format
7237 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7240 @kindex O v (Summary)
7241 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7242 Save the current article in a VM folder
7243 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7247 @kindex O p (Summary)
7249 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7250 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7251 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7252 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7253 complete headers in the piped output.
7256 @kindex O P (Summary)
7257 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7258 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7259 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7260 external program Muttprint (see
7261 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7262 options to use is controlled by the variable
7263 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7267 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7268 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7269 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7270 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7271 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7272 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7273 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7274 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7275 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7276 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7277 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7278 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7282 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7283 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7284 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7285 functions below, or you can create your own.
7289 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7290 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7291 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7292 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7293 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7294 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7295 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7297 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7298 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7299 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7300 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7301 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7302 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7304 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7305 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7306 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7307 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7308 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7309 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7310 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7312 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7313 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7314 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7315 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7316 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7317 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7319 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7320 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7321 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7322 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7323 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7325 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7326 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7327 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7328 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7329 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7332 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7333 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7334 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7335 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7336 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7338 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7339 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7340 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7341 reader to use this setting.
7344 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7345 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7346 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7347 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7350 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7351 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7352 available functions that generate names:
7356 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7357 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7358 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7360 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7361 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7362 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7364 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7365 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7366 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7368 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7369 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7370 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7372 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7373 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7374 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7377 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7378 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7379 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7380 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7381 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7385 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7386 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7387 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7388 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7391 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7392 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7393 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7394 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7395 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7396 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7397 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7398 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7399 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7401 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7402 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7403 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7404 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7406 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7407 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7408 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7411 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7412 lots of mail groups called things like
7413 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7414 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7415 following will do just that:
7418 (defun my-save-name (group)
7419 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7420 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7422 (setq gnus-split-methods
7423 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7428 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7429 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7430 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7431 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7432 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7433 all the files in the top level directory
7434 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7435 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7436 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7437 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7439 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7440 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7441 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7442 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7443 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7446 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7450 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7451 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7452 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7455 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7456 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7457 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7458 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7461 @node Decoding Articles
7462 @section Decoding Articles
7463 @cindex decoding articles
7465 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7466 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7469 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7470 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7471 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7472 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7473 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7474 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7478 @cindex article series
7479 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7480 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7481 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7482 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7483 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7485 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7486 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7487 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7489 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7490 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7491 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7493 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7494 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7495 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7498 @node Uuencoded Articles
7499 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7501 @cindex uuencoded articles
7506 @kindex X u (Summary)
7507 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7508 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7509 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7512 @kindex X U (Summary)
7513 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7514 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7515 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7518 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7519 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7520 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7523 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7524 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7525 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7526 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7530 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7531 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7532 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7533 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7534 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7536 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7537 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7538 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7539 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7542 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7543 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7544 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7545 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7546 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7547 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7551 @node Shell Archives
7552 @subsection Shell Archives
7554 @cindex shell archives
7555 @cindex shared articles
7557 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7558 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7559 some commands to deal with these:
7564 @kindex X s (Summary)
7565 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7566 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7569 @kindex X S (Summary)
7570 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7571 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7574 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7575 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7576 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7579 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7580 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7581 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7582 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7586 @node PostScript Files
7587 @subsection PostScript Files
7593 @kindex X p (Summary)
7594 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7595 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7598 @kindex X P (Summary)
7599 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7600 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7601 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7604 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7605 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7606 View the current PostScript series
7607 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7610 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7611 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7612 View and save the current PostScript series
7613 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7618 @subsection Other Files
7622 @kindex X o (Summary)
7623 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7624 Save the current series
7625 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7628 @kindex X b (Summary)
7629 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7630 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7631 doesn't really work yet.
7635 @node Decoding Variables
7636 @subsection Decoding Variables
7638 Adjective, not verb.
7641 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7642 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7643 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7647 @node Rule Variables
7648 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7649 @cindex rule variables
7651 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7652 variables are of the form
7655 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7662 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7663 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7665 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7666 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7669 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7670 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7673 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7674 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7675 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7676 user and default view rules.
7678 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7679 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7680 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7685 @node Other Decode Variables
7686 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7689 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7691 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7692 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7693 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7694 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7695 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7699 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7700 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7703 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7704 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7705 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7708 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7709 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7710 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7711 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7712 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7715 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7716 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7717 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7719 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7720 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7721 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7722 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7723 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7726 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7727 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7728 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7730 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7731 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7732 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7733 looking for files to display.
7735 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7736 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7737 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7740 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7741 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7742 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7745 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7746 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7747 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7750 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7751 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7752 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7755 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7756 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7757 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7758 decoded articles as unread.
7760 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7761 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7762 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7763 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7765 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7766 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7767 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7769 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7770 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7772 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7773 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7774 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7775 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7777 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7778 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7779 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7780 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7781 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7782 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7783 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7784 simply dropped them.
7789 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7790 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7794 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7795 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7796 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7797 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7798 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7799 for you when you post the article.
7801 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7802 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7803 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7804 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7806 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7807 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7808 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7809 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7810 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7811 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7812 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7814 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7815 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7816 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7817 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7818 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7819 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7820 Default is @code{t}.
7826 @subsection Viewing Files
7827 @cindex viewing files
7828 @cindex pseudo-articles
7830 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7831 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7832 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7833 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7834 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7835 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7836 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7838 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7839 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7840 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7841 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7843 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7844 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7845 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7847 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7848 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7849 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7850 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7851 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7853 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7854 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7855 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7856 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7857 a list of parameters to that command.
7859 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7860 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7861 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7863 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7864 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7865 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7868 @node Article Treatment
7869 @section Article Treatment
7871 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7872 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7873 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7874 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7875 these articles easier.
7878 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7879 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7880 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7881 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7882 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7883 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7884 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7885 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7886 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7887 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7891 @node Article Highlighting
7892 @subsection Article Highlighting
7893 @cindex highlighting
7895 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7896 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7901 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7902 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7903 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7904 Do much highlighting of the current article
7905 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7906 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7909 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7910 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7911 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7912 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7913 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7914 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7915 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7916 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7917 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7918 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7919 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7920 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7923 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7924 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7925 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7927 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7930 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7932 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7933 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7934 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7936 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7937 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7938 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7940 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7941 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7942 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7943 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7944 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7945 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7947 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7948 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7949 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7951 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7952 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7953 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7955 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7956 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7957 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7958 that it's a citation.
7960 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7961 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7962 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7964 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7965 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7966 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7968 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7969 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7970 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7971 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7977 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7978 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7979 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7980 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7981 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7982 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7983 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7984 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7989 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7992 @node Article Fontisizing
7993 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7995 @cindex article emphasis
7997 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7998 @kindex W e (Summary)
7999 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8000 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8001 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8002 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8004 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8005 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8006 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8007 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8008 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8009 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8010 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8011 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8015 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8016 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8017 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8026 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8027 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8028 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8029 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8030 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8031 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8032 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8033 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8034 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8035 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8036 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8037 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8038 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8040 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8041 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8042 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8046 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8049 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8051 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8052 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8053 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8054 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8056 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8059 @node Article Hiding
8060 @subsection Article Hiding
8061 @cindex article hiding
8063 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8064 too much cruft in most articles.
8069 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8070 @findex gnus-article-hide
8071 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8072 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8073 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8076 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8077 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8078 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8082 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8083 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8084 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8085 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8088 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8089 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8090 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8094 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8095 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8096 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8097 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8098 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8099 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8100 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8101 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8105 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8106 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8107 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8108 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8113 @kindex W W p (Summary)
8114 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
8115 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8116 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
8117 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
8118 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
8119 articles that have signatures in them do:
8121 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
8123 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
8125 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
8126 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
8128 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8131 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
8136 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8137 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8138 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8139 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8142 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8143 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8144 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8145 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8148 @cindex stripping advertisements
8149 @cindex advertisements
8150 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8151 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8152 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8153 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8154 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8155 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8156 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8157 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8158 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8159 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8162 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8163 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8164 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8168 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8169 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8170 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8171 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8172 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8173 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8174 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8175 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8176 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8177 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8178 following element to remove them:
8181 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8187 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8188 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8189 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8190 customizing the hiding:
8194 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8195 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8196 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8197 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8198 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8199 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8200 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8205 Starting point of the hidden text.
8207 Ending point of the hidden text.
8209 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8211 Number of lines of hidden text.
8214 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8215 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8216 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8217 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8218 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8223 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8224 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8226 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8227 following two variables:
8230 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8231 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8232 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8233 50), hide the cited text.
8235 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8236 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8237 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8242 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8243 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8244 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8245 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8246 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8247 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8251 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8252 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8253 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8255 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8256 citation customization.
8258 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8262 @node Article Washing
8263 @subsection Article Washing
8265 @cindex article washing
8267 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8268 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8270 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8271 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8274 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8275 articles by default.
8280 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8281 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8285 @kindex W l (Summary)
8286 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8287 Remove page breaks from the current article
8288 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8292 @kindex W r (Summary)
8293 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8294 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8295 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8296 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8297 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8298 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8300 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8301 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8302 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8303 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8306 @kindex W m (Summary)
8307 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8308 @c @icon{gnus-summary-morse-message}
8309 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8313 @kindex W t (Summary)
8315 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8316 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8317 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8320 @kindex W v (Summary)
8321 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8322 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8323 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8326 @kindex W o (Summary)
8327 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8328 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8331 @kindex W d (Summary)
8332 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8333 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8335 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8337 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8338 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8339 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8340 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8343 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8344 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8345 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8346 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8349 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8350 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8351 @cindex Outlook Express
8352 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8353 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8354 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8357 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8358 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8359 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8360 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8361 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8362 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8363 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8364 (@code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8367 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8368 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8369 Repair a broken attribution line.
8370 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8373 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8374 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8375 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8376 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8379 @kindex W w (Summary)
8380 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8381 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8383 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8387 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8388 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8389 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8392 @kindex W C (Summary)
8393 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8394 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8395 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8398 @kindex W c (Summary)
8399 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8400 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8401 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8402 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8403 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8406 @kindex W q (Summary)
8407 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8408 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8409 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
8410 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
8411 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
8412 readable to me. Note that this is usually done automatically by
8413 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
8414 header that says that this encoding has been done.
8415 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8418 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8419 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8420 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8421 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8422 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8423 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8424 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8426 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8429 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8430 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8431 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8432 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8433 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8436 @kindex W u (Summary)
8437 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8438 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8439 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8440 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8441 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8444 @kindex W h (Summary)
8445 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8446 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8447 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8448 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8450 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8452 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8453 The default is to use the function specified by
8454 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{(emacs-mime)Display
8455 Customization}) to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by
8456 the @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions
8457 you can use include:
8464 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8468 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8471 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8474 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8479 @kindex W b (Summary)
8480 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8481 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8482 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8485 @kindex W B (Summary)
8486 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8487 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8488 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8491 @kindex W p (Summary)
8492 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8493 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8494 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8495 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8496 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8497 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8498 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8501 @kindex W s (Summary)
8502 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8503 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8504 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8507 @kindex W a (Summary)
8508 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8509 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8510 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8513 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8514 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8515 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8516 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8519 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8520 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8521 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8522 lines with a single empty line.
8523 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8526 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8527 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8528 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8529 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8532 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8533 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8534 Do all the three commands above
8535 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8538 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8539 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8540 Remove all blank lines
8541 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8544 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8545 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8546 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8547 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8550 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8551 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8552 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8553 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8557 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8560 @node Article Header
8561 @subsection Article Header
8563 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8568 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8569 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8570 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8573 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8574 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8575 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8576 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8579 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8580 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8581 Fold all the message headers
8582 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8586 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8587 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8588 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8593 @node Article Buttons
8594 @subsection Article Buttons
8597 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8598 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8599 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8600 button on these references.
8602 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8603 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8604 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8605 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8606 one that handles article heads:
8610 @item gnus-button-alist
8611 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8612 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8615 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8621 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8622 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8623 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8624 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8625 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8628 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8629 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8630 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8633 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8634 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8635 avoid false matches.
8638 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8641 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8642 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8646 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8649 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8652 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8653 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8654 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8655 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8656 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8659 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8662 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8664 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8665 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8666 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8667 default values of the variables above.
8669 @item gnus-article-button-face
8670 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8671 Face used on buttons.
8673 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8674 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8675 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8679 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8683 @subsection Article Date
8685 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8686 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8687 when the article was sent.
8692 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8693 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8694 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8695 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8698 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8699 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8701 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8702 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8705 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8706 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8707 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8710 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8711 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8712 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8713 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8716 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8717 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8718 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8719 @findex format-time-string
8720 Display the date using a user-defined format
8721 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8722 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8723 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8724 for a list of possible format specs.
8727 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8728 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8729 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8730 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8731 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8732 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8735 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8738 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8739 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8742 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8743 into wonderful absurdities.
8745 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8748 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8751 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8752 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8756 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8757 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8758 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8759 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8760 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8761 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8762 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8766 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8767 preferred format automatically.
8770 @node Article Display
8771 @subsection Article Display
8776 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8777 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8779 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8780 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8782 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8783 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8785 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8786 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8788 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8793 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8794 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8795 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8796 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8799 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8800 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8801 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8802 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8805 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8806 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8807 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8810 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8811 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8812 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8815 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8816 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8817 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8818 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8821 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8822 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8823 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8824 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8827 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8828 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8829 Remove all images from the article buffer
8830 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8836 @node Article Signature
8837 @subsection Article Signature
8839 @cindex article signature
8841 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8842 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8843 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8844 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8845 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8846 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8847 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8848 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8849 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8852 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8853 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8854 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8855 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8856 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8857 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8858 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8859 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8862 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8865 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8866 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8867 signature when displaying articles.
8871 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8874 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8877 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8878 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8880 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8881 in question is not a signature.
8884 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8885 listed above. Here's an example:
8888 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8889 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8892 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8893 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8894 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8895 signature after all.
8898 @node Article Miscellania
8899 @subsection Article Miscellania
8903 @kindex A t (Summary)
8904 @findex gnus-article-babel
8905 Translate the article from one language to another
8906 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8912 @section MIME Commands
8913 @cindex MIME decoding
8915 @cindex viewing attachments
8917 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8918 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8924 @kindex K v (Summary)
8925 View the @sc{mime} part.
8928 @kindex K o (Summary)
8929 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8932 @kindex K c (Summary)
8933 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8936 @kindex K e (Summary)
8937 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8940 @kindex K i (Summary)
8941 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8944 @kindex K | (Summary)
8945 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8948 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8953 @kindex K b (Summary)
8954 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8955 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8959 @kindex K m (Summary)
8960 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8961 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8962 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8963 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8964 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8967 @kindex X m (Summary)
8968 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8969 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8970 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8971 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8974 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8975 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8976 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8977 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8980 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8981 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8982 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8983 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8986 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8987 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8988 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8989 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8991 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8992 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8993 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8994 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8995 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8996 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8999 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9000 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9001 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
9002 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9009 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9010 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9011 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9012 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9015 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9018 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9022 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9023 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9024 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9025 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
9026 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9027 default is @code{nil}.
9029 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9030 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9031 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
9032 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9033 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9034 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9035 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9037 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9038 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9039 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9040 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9041 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9042 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9043 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9044 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is nil.
9046 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9047 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9048 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9049 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9050 displayed. This variable overrides
9051 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9052 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9055 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9056 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9057 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9059 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9060 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9061 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
9062 value is @code{nil}.
9064 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9065 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9066 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9067 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9068 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9069 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9070 save all jpegs into some directory).
9072 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9075 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9076 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9078 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9079 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9080 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9081 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9082 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9085 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9086 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9087 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9089 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9090 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9091 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9092 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9094 Ready-made functions include@*
9095 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9096 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9097 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9098 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9099 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9100 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9101 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9102 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9103 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9104 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9105 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9106 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9108 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9109 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9111 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9112 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9113 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9116 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9117 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9118 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9119 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9123 to your @file{.gnus.el} file.
9132 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9133 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9134 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9135 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9136 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9137 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9138 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9140 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9141 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9142 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9143 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9145 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9146 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9147 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9148 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9149 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9150 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9151 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9152 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9154 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9155 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9156 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9157 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9158 quoted-printable header encoding.
9160 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9161 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9162 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9166 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9169 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9170 means encode all charsets),
9172 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9173 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9174 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9181 @cindex coding system aliases
9182 @cindex preferred charset
9184 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9186 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9187 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9190 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9191 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9194 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9195 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9197 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9200 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9203 This will almost do the right thing.
9205 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9209 (codepage-setup 1251)
9210 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9214 @node Article Commands
9215 @section Article Commands
9222 @kindex A P (Summary)
9223 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9224 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9225 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9226 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9227 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9228 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9233 @node Summary Sorting
9234 @section Summary Sorting
9235 @cindex summary sorting
9237 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9238 can't really see why you'd want that.
9243 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9244 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9245 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9248 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9249 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9250 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9253 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9254 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9255 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9258 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9259 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9260 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9263 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9264 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9265 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9268 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9269 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9270 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9273 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9274 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9275 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9278 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9279 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9280 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9283 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9284 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9285 Sort using the default sorting method
9286 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9289 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9290 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9291 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9292 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9293 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9297 @node Finding the Parent
9298 @section Finding the Parent
9299 @cindex parent articles
9300 @cindex referring articles
9305 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9306 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9307 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9308 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9309 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9310 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9311 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9312 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9313 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9315 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9316 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9317 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
9318 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9319 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9323 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9324 @kindex A R (Summary)
9325 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9326 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9329 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9330 @kindex A T (Summary)
9331 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9332 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9333 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9334 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9335 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9336 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9337 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9339 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9340 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9341 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9342 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9343 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9344 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9347 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9348 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9350 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9351 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9352 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9353 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9354 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9355 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9356 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9359 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9360 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9361 by giving this command a prefix.
9363 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9364 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9365 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9366 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9367 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9368 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9371 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9372 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9373 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9376 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9377 then ask Google if that fails:
9380 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9382 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9385 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9386 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9387 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9388 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9389 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9390 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9391 support this at all.
9394 @node Alternative Approaches
9395 @section Alternative Approaches
9397 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9398 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9401 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9402 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9407 @subsection Pick and Read
9408 @cindex pick and read
9410 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9411 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9412 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9413 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9415 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9416 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9417 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9418 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9419 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9420 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9422 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9427 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9428 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9429 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9430 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9431 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9432 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9433 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9434 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9437 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9438 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9439 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9440 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9444 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9445 Unpick the thread or article
9446 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9447 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9448 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9449 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9450 the thread or article at that line.
9454 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9455 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9456 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9457 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9458 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9459 will still be visible when you are reading.
9463 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9464 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9465 which is mapped to the same function
9466 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9468 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9471 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9474 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9475 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9477 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9478 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9479 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9481 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9482 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9483 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9484 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9485 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9486 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9487 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9491 @subsection Binary Groups
9492 @cindex binary groups
9494 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9495 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9496 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9497 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9498 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9499 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9500 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9503 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9504 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9505 command, when you have turned on this mode
9506 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9508 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9509 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9513 @section Tree Display
9516 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9517 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
9518 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9519 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9522 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9525 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9526 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9527 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9529 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9530 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9531 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9532 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9533 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9535 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9536 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9537 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9538 default is @code{modeline}.
9540 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9541 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9542 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9543 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9544 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9545 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9546 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9552 The name of the poster.
9554 The @code{From} header.
9556 The number of the article.
9558 The opening bracket.
9560 The closing bracket.
9565 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9567 Variables related to the display are:
9570 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9571 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9572 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9573 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9574 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9575 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9577 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9578 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9579 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9580 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9584 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9585 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9586 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
9587 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
9588 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9589 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9590 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9591 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9592 other windows displayed next to it.
9594 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9598 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9599 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9602 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9603 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9604 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9605 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9606 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9607 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9608 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9612 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9615 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9625 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9629 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9630 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9632 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9634 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9639 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9640 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9641 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9644 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9645 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9646 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9647 (gnus-add-configuration
9651 (summary 0.75 point)
9656 @xref{Window Layout}.
9659 @node Mail Group Commands
9660 @section Mail Group Commands
9661 @cindex mail group commands
9663 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9664 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9666 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9667 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9672 @kindex B e (Summary)
9673 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9674 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9675 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9676 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9677 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9680 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9681 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9682 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9683 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9684 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9685 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9688 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9689 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9690 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9691 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9692 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9693 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9696 @kindex B m (Summary)
9698 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9699 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9700 Move the article from one mail group to another
9701 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9702 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9705 @kindex B c (Summary)
9707 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9708 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9709 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9710 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9711 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9714 @kindex B B (Summary)
9715 @cindex crosspost mail
9716 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9717 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9718 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9719 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9720 be properly updated.
9723 @kindex B i (Summary)
9724 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9725 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9726 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9727 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9730 @kindex B I (Summary)
9731 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9732 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9733 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9734 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9737 @kindex B r (Summary)
9738 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9739 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9740 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9741 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9742 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9743 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9744 (which is the default).
9748 @kindex B w (Summary)
9750 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9751 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9752 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9753 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9754 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9755 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9756 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9759 @kindex B q (Summary)
9760 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9761 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9762 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9763 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9766 @kindex B t (Summary)
9767 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9768 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9769 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9772 @kindex B p (Summary)
9773 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9774 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9775 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9776 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9777 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9778 article from your news server (or rather, from
9779 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9780 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9781 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9782 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9783 just not have arrived yet.
9786 @kindex K E (Summary)
9787 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9788 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9789 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9790 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9791 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9795 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9796 @cindex moving articles
9797 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
9798 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9799 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9800 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9801 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9802 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9803 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9806 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9807 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9808 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9809 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9813 @node Various Summary Stuff
9814 @section Various Summary Stuff
9817 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9818 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9819 * Summary Generation Commands::
9820 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9824 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
9825 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
9826 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
9827 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
9828 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
9829 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
9831 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9832 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9833 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9835 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9836 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9837 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9838 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9839 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9840 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9843 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9844 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9845 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9846 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9847 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9849 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9850 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9851 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9854 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9855 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9856 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9857 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9858 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9859 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9860 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
9861 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9862 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9863 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9865 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9866 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9867 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9868 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9869 list of articles to be selected.
9871 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9872 the list in one particular group:
9875 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9876 (if (string= group "some.group")
9877 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9881 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9882 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9883 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9884 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9885 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9886 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9887 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9888 buffers. For example:
9891 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9892 '(message-use-followup-to
9893 (gnus-visible-headers .
9894 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9900 @node Summary Group Information
9901 @subsection Summary Group Information
9906 @kindex H f (Summary)
9907 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9908 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9909 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9910 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9911 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9912 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9913 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9914 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9915 be used for fetching the file.
9918 @kindex H d (Summary)
9919 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9920 Give a brief description of the current group
9921 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9922 rereading the description from the server.
9925 @kindex H h (Summary)
9926 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9927 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9928 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9931 @kindex H i (Summary)
9932 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9933 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9937 @node Searching for Articles
9938 @subsection Searching for Articles
9943 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9944 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9945 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9946 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9949 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9950 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9951 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9952 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9956 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9957 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9958 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9959 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9960 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9961 search backward instead.
9963 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9964 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9967 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9968 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9969 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9970 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9973 @node Summary Generation Commands
9974 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9979 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9980 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9981 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9984 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9985 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9986 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9987 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9990 @kindex Y d (Summary)
9991 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
9992 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9993 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
9998 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9999 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10005 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10006 @kindex A D (Summary)
10007 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10008 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10009 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10010 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10011 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10012 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10013 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10014 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10018 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10019 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10020 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10021 several documents into one biiig group
10022 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10023 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10024 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10025 command understands the process/prefix convention
10026 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10029 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10030 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10031 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10032 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10033 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10034 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10037 @kindex = (Summary)
10038 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10039 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10040 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10043 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10044 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10045 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10046 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10049 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10050 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10051 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10052 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10057 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10058 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10059 @cindex summary exit
10060 @cindex exiting groups
10062 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10063 group and return you to the group buffer.
10069 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10070 @kindex q (Summary)
10071 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10072 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10073 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10074 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10075 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10076 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10077 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10078 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10079 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10080 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10081 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10085 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10086 @kindex Q (Summary)
10087 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10088 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10089 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10093 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10094 @kindex c (Summary)
10095 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10096 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10097 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10098 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10101 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10102 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10103 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10104 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10107 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10108 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10109 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10110 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10113 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10114 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10115 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10116 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10117 all articles, both read and unread.
10121 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10122 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10123 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10124 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10125 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10126 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10127 articles, both read and unread.
10130 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10131 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10132 Exit the group and go to the next group
10133 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10136 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10137 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10138 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10139 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10142 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10143 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10144 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10145 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10146 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10147 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10150 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10151 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10152 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10153 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10155 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10156 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10157 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10158 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10159 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10160 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10161 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10162 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10163 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10164 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10165 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10166 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10168 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10170 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10171 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10172 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10173 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10174 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10175 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10176 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10177 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10178 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10181 @node Crosspost Handling
10182 @section Crosspost Handling
10186 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10187 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10188 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10189 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10190 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10191 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10194 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10195 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10196 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10197 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10198 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10200 @cindex cross-posting
10203 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10204 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10205 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10206 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10207 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10208 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10209 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10210 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10211 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10212 the cross reference mechanism.
10214 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10215 @cindex overview.fmt
10216 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10217 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10218 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10219 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10220 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10221 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10224 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10225 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10226 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10231 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10234 @node Duplicate Suppression
10235 @section Duplicate Suppression
10237 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10238 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10239 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10240 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10245 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10246 is evil and not very common.
10249 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10250 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10253 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10254 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10257 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10260 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10261 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10263 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10264 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10265 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10266 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10267 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10268 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10269 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10272 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10273 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10274 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10275 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10276 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10277 saw the article in.
10280 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10281 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10282 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10284 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10285 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10286 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10287 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10288 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
10289 session are suppressed.
10291 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10292 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10293 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10294 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10296 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10297 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10298 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10299 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10302 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
10303 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10304 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10305 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10306 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
10307 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10308 to you to figure out, I think.
10313 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10314 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10315 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10319 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10320 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10321 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10322 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10325 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10326 or newer is recommended.
10330 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10331 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10334 @item mm-verify-option
10335 @vindex mm-verify-option
10336 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10337 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10338 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10340 @item mm-decrypt-option
10341 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10342 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10343 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10344 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10347 @vindex mml1991-use
10348 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10349 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10350 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10353 @vindex mml2015-use
10354 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10355 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10356 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10361 @section Mailing List
10363 @kindex A M (summary)
10364 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10365 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10366 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10367 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10368 summary buffer, or say:
10371 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10374 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10379 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10380 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10381 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10384 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10385 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10386 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10389 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10390 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10391 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10395 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10396 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10397 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10400 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10401 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10402 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10405 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10406 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10407 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10411 @node Article Buffer
10412 @chapter Article Buffer
10413 @cindex article buffer
10415 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10416 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10417 tell Gnus otherwise.
10420 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10421 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10422 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10423 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10424 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10428 @node Hiding Headers
10429 @section Hiding Headers
10430 @cindex hiding headers
10431 @cindex deleting headers
10433 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10434 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10436 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10437 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10438 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10439 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10440 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10441 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10442 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10443 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10444 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10446 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10450 @item gnus-visible-headers
10451 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10452 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10453 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10454 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10456 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10457 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10460 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10463 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10466 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10467 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10468 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10469 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10470 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10471 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10473 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
10474 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
10477 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10480 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10483 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10484 variable will have no effect.
10488 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10489 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10490 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10491 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10492 the headers are to be displayed.
10494 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10495 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10498 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10501 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10502 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10504 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10505 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10506 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10507 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10508 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10509 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10510 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10513 These conditions are:
10516 Remove all empty headers.
10518 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10519 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10521 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10522 @code{From} header.
10524 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10527 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10528 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10530 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10533 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10535 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10538 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10541 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10542 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10545 This is also the default value for this variable.
10549 @section Using MIME
10552 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10553 while people stand around yawning.
10555 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10556 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10558 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10559 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10560 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10562 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
10563 @findex gnus-display-mime
10564 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
10565 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
10566 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
10567 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
10569 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
10573 @findex gnus-article-press-button
10574 @item RET (Article)
10575 @kindex RET (Article)
10576 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
10577 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
10578 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If builtin viewers can not display
10579 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
10580 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
10581 object is displayed inline.
10583 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
10584 @item M-RET (Article)
10585 @kindex M-RET (Article)
10587 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10588 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
10590 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
10592 @kindex t (Article)
10593 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
10594 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
10596 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
10598 @kindex C (Article)
10599 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10600 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
10602 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
10604 @kindex o (Article)
10605 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
10606 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
10608 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
10609 @item C-o (Article)
10610 @kindex C-o (Article)
10611 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
10612 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
10613 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
10614 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
10615 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
10616 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
10618 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
10620 @kindex c (Article)
10621 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
10622 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
10623 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
10624 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
10625 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
10627 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
10629 @kindex p (Article)
10630 Print the @sc{mime} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
10631 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
10632 @file{.mailcap} file.
10634 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
10636 @kindex i (Article)
10637 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
10638 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
10639 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
10640 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
10641 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
10644 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
10646 @kindex E (Article)
10647 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
10648 viewer is available, use an external viewer
10649 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
10651 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
10653 @kindex e (Article)
10654 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
10655 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
10657 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
10659 @kindex | (Article)
10660 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
10662 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
10664 @kindex . (Article)
10665 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
10666 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
10670 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
10671 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
10674 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
10675 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
10676 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
10677 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
10678 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
10679 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
10680 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
10681 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
10682 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
10684 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10686 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10689 @node Customizing Articles
10690 @section Customizing Articles
10691 @cindex article customization
10693 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10694 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10695 called automatically when you select the articles.
10697 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10698 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10699 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10700 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10702 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10703 for sensible values.
10707 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10710 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10713 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10716 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10719 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10723 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10724 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10725 regexps in the list.
10728 A list where the first element is not a string:
10730 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10731 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10732 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10736 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10741 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10742 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10743 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10744 considered to contain just a single part.
10746 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10747 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10748 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10749 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10750 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10751 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10752 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10754 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10755 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10756 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10757 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10760 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10761 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10763 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10765 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10766 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10767 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10768 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10769 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10770 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10771 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10772 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
10773 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10774 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10775 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10777 @xref{Article Washing}.
10779 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10780 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10781 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10782 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10783 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10784 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10785 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10787 @xref{Article Date}.
10789 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10790 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10791 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10795 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10797 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10799 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10800 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10801 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10805 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10809 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10810 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10811 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10812 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10813 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10814 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10815 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10816 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10818 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10820 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10821 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10822 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10824 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10826 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10827 @item gnus-treat-translate
10828 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10830 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10831 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10832 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10833 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10835 @xref{Article Header}.
10840 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10841 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10842 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10843 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10844 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10848 @node Article Keymap
10849 @section Article Keymap
10851 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10852 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10853 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10854 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10857 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10862 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10863 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10864 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10867 @kindex DEL (Article)
10868 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10869 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10872 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10873 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10874 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10875 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10876 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10879 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10880 @findex gnus-article-mail
10881 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10882 given a prefix, include the mail.
10885 @kindex s (Article)
10886 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10887 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10888 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10891 @kindex ? (Article)
10892 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10893 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10894 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10897 @kindex TAB (Article)
10898 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10899 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10900 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10903 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10904 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10905 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10908 @kindex R (Article)
10909 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10910 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10911 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10912 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10916 @kindex F (Article)
10917 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10918 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10919 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10920 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10928 @section Misc Article
10932 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10933 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10934 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10935 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10938 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10939 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10941 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10942 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10944 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10945 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10946 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10947 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10948 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10949 the contents of the article buffer.
10951 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10952 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10953 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10955 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10956 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10957 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10958 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10960 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10961 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10962 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10963 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10964 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10970 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10971 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10972 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10977 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10980 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10983 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10984 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10985 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10988 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10991 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10994 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10999 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
11003 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11005 @item gnus-break-pages
11006 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11007 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11008 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11009 paging will not be done.
11011 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11012 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11013 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11018 @node Composing Messages
11019 @chapter Composing Messages
11020 @cindex composing messages
11023 @cindex sending mail
11028 @cindex using s/mime
11029 @cindex using smime
11031 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11032 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11033 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11034 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11035 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11036 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11039 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11040 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11041 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11042 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11043 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11044 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11045 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11046 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11049 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11050 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11056 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11059 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11060 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11061 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11062 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11063 @code{nil} include all headers.
11065 @item gnus-add-to-list
11066 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11067 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11068 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11070 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11071 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11072 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11073 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11074 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11075 confirmation is should be asked for.
11077 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11078 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11080 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11081 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11082 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11083 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11084 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11089 @node Posting Server
11090 @section Posting Server
11092 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11093 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11095 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11097 It can be quite complicated.
11099 @vindex gnus-post-method
11100 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11101 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11102 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11103 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11104 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11105 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11106 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11107 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11108 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11111 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11114 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11115 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11116 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11117 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11119 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11120 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11122 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11123 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11126 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11127 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11129 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11130 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11131 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11132 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11133 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11134 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11135 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11136 package correctly. An example:
11139 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11140 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11143 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11144 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11145 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11147 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11148 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11149 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11151 @node Mail and Post
11152 @section Mail and Post
11154 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11158 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11159 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11160 @cindex mailing lists
11162 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11163 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11164 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11165 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11166 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11167 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11168 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11169 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11170 still a pain, though.
11174 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11175 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11176 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11179 @findex ispell-message
11181 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11184 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11185 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11188 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11192 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11193 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11195 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11198 Modify to suit your needs.
11201 @node Archived Messages
11202 @section Archived Messages
11203 @cindex archived messages
11204 @cindex sent messages
11206 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11207 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11208 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11209 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11212 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11213 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11216 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11217 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
11218 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11221 (nnfolder "archive"
11222 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11223 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11224 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11225 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11228 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11229 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11230 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11231 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11234 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11235 '(nnfolder "archive"
11236 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11237 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11238 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11241 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11243 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11244 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11245 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11247 This variable can be used to do the following:
11252 Messages will be saved in that group.
11254 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11255 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11256 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11257 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11258 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11259 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11260 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11261 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11265 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11267 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11268 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11271 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11276 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11278 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11281 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11283 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11286 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11288 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11289 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11290 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11291 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11294 More complex stuff:
11296 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11297 '((if (message-news-p)
11302 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11303 messages in one file per month:
11306 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11307 '((if (message-news-p)
11309 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11312 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11313 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11315 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11316 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11317 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11318 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11319 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11320 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11321 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11322 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11323 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11324 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11326 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11327 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11328 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11329 this will disable archiving.
11332 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11333 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11334 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11335 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11336 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11339 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11340 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11341 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11344 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11345 but the latter is the preferred method.
11347 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11348 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11349 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11351 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11352 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11353 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11354 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11355 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11356 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11357 changed in the future.
11362 @node Posting Styles
11363 @section Posting Styles
11364 @cindex posting styles
11367 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11369 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11370 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11371 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11374 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11375 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11376 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11377 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11378 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11383 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11384 (organization "What me?"))
11386 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11387 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11388 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11391 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11392 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11393 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11394 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11395 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11396 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11397 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11398 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11400 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11401 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11402 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11403 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11404 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. (There original article is the
11405 one you are replying or following up to. If you are not composing a
11406 reply or a followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11407 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with no
11408 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11409 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11410 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
11413 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11414 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11415 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11416 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11417 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11418 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11419 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11420 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11421 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11422 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11425 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11426 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11427 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11428 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11429 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11430 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11431 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11432 references chars lines xref extra.
11434 @vindex message-reply-headers
11436 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11437 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11438 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11440 @findex message-mail-p
11441 @findex message-news-p
11443 So here's a new example:
11446 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11448 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11450 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11451 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11453 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11454 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11455 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11456 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11457 (signature my-news-signature))
11458 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11459 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11460 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11461 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11462 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11463 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11464 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11465 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11466 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11467 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11469 (From (save-excursion
11470 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11471 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11473 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11476 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11477 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11478 if you fill many roles.
11485 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11486 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11487 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11488 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11489 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11491 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11492 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11493 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11494 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11495 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11499 @vindex nndraft-directory
11500 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11501 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11502 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11503 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11504 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11505 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11507 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11508 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11511 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11512 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11513 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11514 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11515 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11516 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11517 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11518 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11519 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11520 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11521 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11522 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11523 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11524 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11526 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11527 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11528 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11530 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11531 @kindex D e (Draft)
11532 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11533 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11534 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11536 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11539 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11540 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11541 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11542 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11543 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11544 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11545 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11548 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11549 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11550 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11553 @node Rejected Articles
11554 @section Rejected Articles
11555 @cindex rejected articles
11557 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11558 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11559 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11560 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11562 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
11563 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11564 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11565 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
11566 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11568 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11569 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11570 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11572 @node Signing and encrypting
11573 @section Signing and encrypting
11575 @cindex using s/mime
11576 @cindex using smime
11578 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11579 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11580 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11581 (@pxref{Security}).
11583 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11584 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11585 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11586 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11587 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11588 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11589 automatically encrypted messages.
11591 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11592 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11593 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11598 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11599 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11601 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11604 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11605 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11607 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11610 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11611 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11613 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11616 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11617 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11619 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11622 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11623 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11625 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11628 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11629 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11631 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11634 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11635 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11636 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11640 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11642 @node Select Methods
11643 @chapter Select Methods
11644 @cindex foreign groups
11645 @cindex select methods
11647 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11648 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11649 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11650 personal mail group.
11652 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11653 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11654 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11655 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11656 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11657 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11659 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11660 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11662 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11665 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11666 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11667 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11668 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11669 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11671 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11674 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11675 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11676 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11677 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11678 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11679 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11680 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11681 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11685 @node Server Buffer
11686 @section Server Buffer
11688 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11689 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11690 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11691 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11692 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11693 back end represents a virtual server.
11695 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11696 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11697 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11698 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11700 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11701 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11702 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11703 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11704 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11705 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11706 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11708 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11709 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11712 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11713 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11714 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11715 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11716 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11717 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11718 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11721 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11722 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11725 @node Server Buffer Format
11726 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11727 @cindex server buffer format
11729 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11730 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11731 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11732 variable, with some simple extensions:
11737 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11740 The name of this server.
11743 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11746 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11749 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11750 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11751 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11752 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11762 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11765 @node Server Commands
11766 @subsection Server Commands
11767 @cindex server commands
11773 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11774 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11778 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11779 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11782 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11783 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11784 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11788 @findex gnus-server-exit
11789 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11793 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11794 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11798 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11799 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11803 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11804 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11808 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11809 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11813 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11814 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11815 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11820 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11821 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11822 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11823 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11828 @node Example Methods
11829 @subsection Example Methods
11831 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11834 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11837 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11843 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11844 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11847 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11848 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11850 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11851 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11855 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11858 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11859 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11861 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11862 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11863 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11867 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11870 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11873 Here's the method for a public spool:
11877 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11878 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11884 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11885 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11886 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11887 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11888 should probably look something like this:
11892 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11893 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11894 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11895 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11898 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11899 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11900 configuration to the example above:
11903 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11906 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11908 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11909 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11910 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11914 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11915 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11916 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11917 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11920 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11921 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11922 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11923 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11926 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11927 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11929 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11930 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11932 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11933 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11934 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11936 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11938 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11939 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11940 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11941 will contain the following:
11951 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11952 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11953 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11956 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11957 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11958 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11961 @node Server Variables
11962 @subsection Server Variables
11964 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11965 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11966 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11967 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11968 won't change the "derived" variables.
11970 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11971 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11972 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11973 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11974 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11975 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11976 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11977 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11978 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11982 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11983 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11984 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11988 @node Servers and Methods
11989 @subsection Servers and Methods
11991 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11992 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11993 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11994 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11998 @node Unavailable Servers
11999 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12001 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12002 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12003 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12004 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12005 actually the case or not.
12007 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12008 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12009 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12010 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12011 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12012 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12013 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12014 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12016 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12017 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12019 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12020 with the following commands:
12026 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12027 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12028 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12032 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12033 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12034 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12038 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12039 Mark the current server as unreachable
12040 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12043 @kindex M-o (Server)
12044 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12045 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12046 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12049 @kindex M-c (Server)
12050 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12051 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12052 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12056 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12057 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12058 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12062 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12063 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12069 @section Getting News
12070 @cindex reading news
12071 @cindex news back ends
12073 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12074 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12075 or it can read from a local spool.
12078 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12079 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12087 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12088 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12089 server as the, uhm, address.
12091 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12092 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12093 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12094 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12096 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12097 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12098 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12100 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12105 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12106 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12107 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12109 @cindex authentification
12110 @cindex nntp authentification
12111 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12112 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12113 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12114 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12115 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12116 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12117 present in this hook.
12119 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12120 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12121 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12122 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12123 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12124 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12125 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12126 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12127 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12128 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12129 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12130 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12134 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12137 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12139 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12140 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12141 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12142 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12143 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12144 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12145 @samp{force} is explained below.
12149 Here's an example file:
12152 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12153 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12156 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12157 have to be first, for instance.
12159 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12160 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12161 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12162 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12163 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12164 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12165 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12167 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12168 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12174 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12175 previously mentioned.
12177 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12179 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12180 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12181 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12182 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12183 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12186 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12187 '(("innd" (ding))))
12190 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12192 The default value is
12195 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12196 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12197 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12200 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12201 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12203 @item nntp-maximum-request
12204 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12205 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12206 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12207 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12208 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12209 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12210 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12212 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12213 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12214 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12215 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12216 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12217 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12218 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12219 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12220 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12221 no timeouts are done.
12223 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12224 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12225 @c @cindex PPP connections
12226 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12227 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12228 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12229 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12230 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12231 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12232 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12233 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12234 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12235 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12237 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12238 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12239 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12240 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12241 @c described above.
12243 @item nntp-server-hook
12244 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12245 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12248 @item nntp-buggy-select
12249 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12250 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12252 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12253 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12254 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12255 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12258 @item nntp-xover-commands
12259 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12262 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12263 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12267 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12268 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12269 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12270 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12271 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12272 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12273 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12274 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12275 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12276 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12277 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12279 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12280 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12281 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12283 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12284 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12285 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12286 server closes connection.
12288 @item nntp-record-commands
12289 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12290 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12291 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12292 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12293 that doesn't seem to work.
12295 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12296 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12297 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12298 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12299 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12300 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12301 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12302 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12304 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12305 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12306 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12307 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12308 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12309 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12310 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12313 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12316 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12317 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12321 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12322 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12323 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12327 @node Direct Functions
12328 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12329 @cindex direct connection functions
12331 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12332 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12333 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12334 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12337 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12338 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12339 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12342 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12343 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12344 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12345 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12346 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12347 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12348 define a server as follows:
12351 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12353 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12354 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12356 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12357 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12358 (nntp-port-number 563)
12359 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12362 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12363 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12364 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12365 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12366 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12367 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12368 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12369 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12373 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12374 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12375 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12378 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12379 session, which is not a good idea.
12383 @node Indirect Functions
12384 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12385 @cindex indirect connection functions
12387 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12388 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12389 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12390 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12391 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12392 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12395 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12396 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12397 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12398 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12399 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12401 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12404 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12405 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12406 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12407 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12409 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12410 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12411 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12412 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12413 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12414 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12415 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12416 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12419 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12420 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12421 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12422 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12424 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12427 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12428 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12429 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12432 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12433 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12434 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12435 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12437 @item nntp-via-user-password
12438 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12439 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12441 @item nntp-via-envuser
12442 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12443 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12444 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12445 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12447 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12448 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12449 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12450 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12457 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12462 @item nntp-via-user-name
12463 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12464 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12466 @item nntp-via-address
12467 @vindex nntp-via-address
12468 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12473 @node Common Variables
12474 @subsubsection Common Variables
12476 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12477 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12482 @item nntp-pre-command
12483 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12484 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12485 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12486 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12487 wrapper for instance.
12490 @vindex nntp-address
12491 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12493 @item nntp-port-number
12494 @vindex nntp-port-number
12495 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12496 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12497 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12498 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12500 @item nntp-end-of-line
12501 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12502 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12503 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12504 using a non native connection function.
12506 @item nntp-telnet-command
12507 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12508 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12509 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12510 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12512 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12513 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12514 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12521 @subsection News Spool
12525 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12526 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12527 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12530 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12531 anything else) as the address.
12533 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12534 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12535 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12536 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12540 @item nnspool-inews-program
12541 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12542 Program used to post an article.
12544 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12545 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12546 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12548 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12549 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12550 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12551 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12553 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12554 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12555 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12556 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12558 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12559 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12560 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12562 @item nnspool-active-file
12563 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12564 The name of the active file.
12566 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12567 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12568 The name of the group descriptions file.
12570 @item nnspool-history-file
12571 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12572 The name of the news history file.
12574 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12575 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12576 The name of the active date file.
12578 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12579 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12580 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12583 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12584 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12586 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12587 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12588 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12594 @section Getting Mail
12595 @cindex reading mail
12598 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12602 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12603 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12604 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12605 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12606 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12607 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12608 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12609 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12610 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12611 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12612 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12613 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12614 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12618 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12619 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12621 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12622 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12623 of a culture shock.
12625 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12626 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12628 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12629 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12630 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12631 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12633 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12635 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12636 deleted? How awful!
12638 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12639 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12640 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12641 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12644 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12645 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12646 they want to treat a message.
12648 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12649 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12650 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12651 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12652 archived somewhere else.
12654 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12655 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12656 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12657 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12658 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12660 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12661 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12662 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12664 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12665 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12668 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12669 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12670 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12671 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12672 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12674 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12675 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12676 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12677 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12678 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12679 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12683 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12684 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12686 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12687 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12688 and things will happen automatically.
12690 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12691 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12694 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12697 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12698 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12699 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12700 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12701 like any other group.
12703 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12706 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12707 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12708 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12712 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12713 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12714 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12717 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12718 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12719 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12722 @node Splitting Mail
12723 @subsection Splitting Mail
12724 @cindex splitting mail
12725 @cindex mail splitting
12727 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12728 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12729 to be split into groups.
12732 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12733 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12734 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12735 ("mail.other" "")))
12738 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12739 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12740 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12741 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12742 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12743 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12744 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12747 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12750 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12751 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12752 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12753 mail belongs in that group.
12755 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12756 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12757 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12758 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12759 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12760 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12762 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12763 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12764 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12765 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12766 thinks should carry this mail message.
12768 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12769 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12770 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12771 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12773 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12774 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12775 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12776 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12777 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12779 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12782 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12783 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12784 links. If that's the case for you, set
12785 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12786 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12788 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12789 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12790 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12791 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12792 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12793 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12796 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12797 Header lines longer than the value of
12798 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12801 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12802 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12803 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12804 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12805 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12806 can be turned off completely by binding
12807 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12808 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12810 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12811 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12812 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12813 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12814 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12815 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12816 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12819 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12820 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12821 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12822 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12823 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12824 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12825 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12826 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12827 month's rent money.
12831 @subsection Mail Sources
12833 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12834 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12838 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12839 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12840 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12844 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12845 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12847 @cindex mail server
12850 @cindex mail source
12852 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12853 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12858 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12861 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12862 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12863 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12866 The following mail source types are available:
12870 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12876 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12877 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12878 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12881 An example file mail source:
12884 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12887 Or using the default file name:
12893 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12894 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12895 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12898 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12902 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12905 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12909 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12912 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12914 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12917 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12921 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12922 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12923 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12924 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12925 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12926 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12927 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12928 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12929 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12930 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12932 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12933 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12934 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12935 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12941 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12945 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12949 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12950 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12951 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12952 predicate are considered.
12956 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12960 An example directory mail source:
12963 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12968 Get mail from a POP server.
12974 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12975 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12978 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12979 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12980 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12981 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12982 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12985 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12989 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12993 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12994 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12997 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13000 The valid format specifier characters are:
13004 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13005 included in this string.
13008 The name of the server.
13011 The port number of the server.
13014 The user name to use.
13017 The password to use.
13020 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13021 corresponding keywords.
13024 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13025 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13028 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13029 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13032 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
13033 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
13036 @item :authentication
13037 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13038 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13043 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13044 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13046 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
13047 default user name, and default fetcher:
13053 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13056 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13057 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13060 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13063 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13067 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13068 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13069 contains exactly one mail.
13075 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13076 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13079 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13080 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13082 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13083 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13084 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13087 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13088 from locking problems).
13092 Two example maildir mail sources:
13095 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13096 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13100 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13105 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13106 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13107 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13108 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13111 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
13112 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13118 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13119 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13122 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13123 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
13126 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13130 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13134 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13135 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13136 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
13137 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13139 @item :authentication
13140 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13141 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13142 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13143 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13146 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13147 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
13148 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13154 The valid format specifier characters are:
13158 The name of the server.
13161 User name from `imap-default-user'.
13164 The port number of the server.
13167 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13168 corresponding keywords.
13171 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13172 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13175 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13176 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13177 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13178 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13179 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13180 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13183 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13184 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13185 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13186 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13189 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13190 after finishing the fetch.
13194 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13197 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13199 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13203 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13204 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13205 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13207 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13208 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13210 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13216 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13217 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13220 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13224 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13228 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13229 folder after finishing the fetch.
13233 An example webmail source:
13236 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13238 :password "secret")
13243 @item Common Keywords
13244 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13250 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13251 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13255 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13260 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13261 useful when you use local mail and news.
13266 @subsubsection Function Interface
13268 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13269 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13270 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13271 consider the following mail-source setting:
13274 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13275 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13278 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13279 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13280 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13281 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13282 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13284 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13287 @node Mail Source Customization
13288 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13290 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13291 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13295 @item mail-source-crash-box
13296 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13297 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13298 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13300 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13301 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13302 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13304 @item mail-source-directory
13305 @vindex mail-source-directory
13306 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13307 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13308 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13311 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13312 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13313 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13314 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13315 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13316 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13318 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13319 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13320 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13322 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13323 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13324 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13325 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13330 @node Fetching Mail
13331 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13333 @vindex mail-sources
13334 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13335 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13336 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13337 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13339 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13340 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13343 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13344 mail server, you'd say something like:
13349 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13350 :password "secret")))
13353 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13357 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13358 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13361 :password "secret")))
13365 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13366 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13367 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13368 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13369 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13370 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13374 @node Mail Back End Variables
13375 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13377 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13381 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13382 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13383 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13384 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13386 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13387 @item nnmail-split-hook
13388 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
13389 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13390 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13391 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13392 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13393 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13394 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13395 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13396 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13399 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13400 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13401 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13402 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13403 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13404 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13405 starting to handle the new mail) and
13406 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13407 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13408 default file modes the new mail files get:
13411 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13412 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13414 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13415 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13418 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13419 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13420 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13421 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13422 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13423 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13424 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13426 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13427 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13428 @findex delete-file
13429 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13431 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13432 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13433 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13434 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13435 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13437 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13438 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13439 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13440 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13441 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13443 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13444 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13445 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13450 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13451 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13452 @cindex mail splitting
13453 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13455 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13456 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13457 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13458 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13459 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13460 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13462 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13465 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13466 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13467 ;; from real errors.
13468 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13470 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13471 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13472 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13473 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13474 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13475 ;; Other mailing lists...
13476 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13477 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13478 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13479 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13480 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13481 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13482 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13483 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13485 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13486 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13490 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13491 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13492 the five possible split syntaxes:
13497 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13498 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13502 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13503 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13504 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13505 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13506 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13507 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13508 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13509 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13512 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13513 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13514 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13515 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13518 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13519 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13522 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13523 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13526 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13527 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13528 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13529 function should return a @var{split}.
13532 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13533 body of the messages:
13536 (defun split-on-body ()
13538 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13539 (goto-char (point-min))
13540 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13544 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13545 when the @code{:} function is run.
13548 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13549 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13550 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13554 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13558 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13559 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13560 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13561 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13562 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13564 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13565 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13566 are expanded as specified by the variable
13567 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13568 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13571 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13572 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13573 when all this splitting is performed.
13575 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13576 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13577 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13580 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13583 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13584 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13586 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13587 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13588 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13589 groupings 1 through 9.
13591 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13592 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13593 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13594 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13595 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13596 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13597 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13598 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13599 it once per thread.
13601 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13602 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13603 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13606 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13607 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13609 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13610 ;; other splits go here
13614 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13615 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13616 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13617 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13618 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13619 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13620 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13621 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13622 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13623 unless the group name matches the regexp
13624 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13625 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13626 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13627 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13628 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13629 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13630 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13631 messages goes into the new group.
13633 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13634 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13635 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13636 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13637 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13641 @node Group Mail Splitting
13642 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13643 @cindex mail splitting
13644 @cindex group mail splitting
13646 @findex gnus-group-split
13647 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13648 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13649 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13650 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13651 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13652 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13653 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13654 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13656 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13657 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13658 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13659 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13661 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13662 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13663 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13664 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13665 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13666 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13667 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13669 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13670 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13671 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13672 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13673 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13674 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13675 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13677 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13678 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13679 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13680 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13681 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13682 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13683 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13684 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13685 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13686 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13687 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13688 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13689 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13691 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13696 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13697 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13699 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13700 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13701 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13702 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13704 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13707 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13708 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13709 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13712 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13713 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13714 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13718 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13719 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13720 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13724 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13727 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13728 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13729 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13730 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13731 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13732 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13733 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13734 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13735 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13737 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13738 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13739 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13740 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13741 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13742 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13743 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13744 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13745 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13747 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13748 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13749 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13750 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13751 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13752 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus.el}:
13755 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13758 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13759 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13760 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13761 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13762 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13765 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13766 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13767 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13768 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13770 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13771 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13772 @cindex incorporating old mail
13773 @cindex import old mail
13775 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13776 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13777 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13780 Doing so can be quite easy.
13782 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13783 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13784 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13785 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13786 your @code{nnml} groups.
13792 Go to the group buffer.
13795 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13796 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13799 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
13802 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13803 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13806 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13807 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13810 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13811 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13812 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13813 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13814 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13816 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13817 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13818 using the new mail back end.
13821 @node Expiring Mail
13822 @subsection Expiring Mail
13823 @cindex article expiry
13825 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13826 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13827 different approach to mail reading.
13829 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13830 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13831 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13832 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13833 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13834 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13837 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13838 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
13839 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
13840 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13841 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13842 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13843 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13844 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13845 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13847 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
13848 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
13849 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
13850 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
13851 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
13852 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
13853 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
13856 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
13857 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
13858 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
13859 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
13860 into its own group.)
13862 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
13863 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
13864 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
13865 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
13866 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
13867 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
13868 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
13869 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
13872 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13873 Groups that match the regular expression
13874 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
13875 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
13876 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
13878 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13879 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13880 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13881 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13882 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13884 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13886 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13887 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13888 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13891 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13892 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13893 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13894 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13895 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13897 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13898 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13901 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13902 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13905 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13906 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13908 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13909 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13910 don't really mix very well.
13912 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13913 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13914 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13915 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13918 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13919 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13920 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13921 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13924 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13926 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13928 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13930 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13932 ((string= group "important")
13938 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13939 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13941 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13942 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13943 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13946 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13947 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13949 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13950 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13951 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13952 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13953 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13954 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13955 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13956 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13957 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13958 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13959 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13960 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13961 name or @code{delete}.
13963 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13965 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13968 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13969 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13970 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13971 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13972 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13975 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13976 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13977 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13978 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13979 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13982 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13983 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13984 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13985 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13986 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13987 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13989 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13990 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13991 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13992 easier for procmail users.
13994 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13995 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13996 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13997 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13998 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13999 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14000 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14001 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14002 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14003 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14004 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14005 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14006 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14009 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14011 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14012 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14013 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14014 auto-expire turned on.
14018 @subsection Washing Mail
14019 @cindex mail washing
14020 @cindex list server brain damage
14021 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14023 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14024 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14025 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14026 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14027 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14028 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14030 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14031 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14032 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14035 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14036 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14037 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14038 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14041 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14042 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14043 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14044 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14045 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14048 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14049 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14050 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14051 Emacs running on MS machines.
14055 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14056 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14057 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14058 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14061 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14062 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14063 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14064 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14066 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14067 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14068 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14069 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14070 into a feature by documenting it.)
14072 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14073 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14074 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14075 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14076 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14077 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14078 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14081 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14082 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14085 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14086 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14089 This can also be done non-destructively with
14090 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14092 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14093 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14094 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14096 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14097 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14099 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14100 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14101 @code{References} headers.
14105 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14106 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14107 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14111 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14112 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14113 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14120 @subsection Duplicates
14122 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14123 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14124 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14125 @cindex duplicate mails
14126 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14127 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14128 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14129 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14130 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14131 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14132 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14133 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14134 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14135 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14136 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14137 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14138 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14140 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14141 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14142 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14143 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14145 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14148 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14149 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14153 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14154 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14155 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14156 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14157 (any mail "mail.misc")
14164 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14165 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14170 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14171 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14172 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14173 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14174 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14177 @node Not Reading Mail
14178 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14180 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14181 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14182 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14184 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14185 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14186 mail, which should help.
14188 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14189 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14190 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14191 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14192 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14193 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14194 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14195 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14196 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14197 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14198 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14200 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14201 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14205 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14206 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14208 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14209 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14210 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14212 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14213 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14214 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14215 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
14216 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
14217 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
14218 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
14221 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14222 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14223 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14224 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14225 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14226 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14230 @node Unix Mail Box
14231 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14233 @cindex unix mail box
14235 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14236 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14237 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14238 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14239 which group it belongs in.
14241 Virtual server settings:
14244 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14245 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14246 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14249 @item nnmbox-active-file
14250 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14251 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14252 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14254 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14255 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14256 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14257 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14262 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14266 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14267 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14268 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14269 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14270 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14272 Virtual server settings:
14275 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14276 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14277 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14279 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14280 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14281 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14282 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14284 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14285 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14286 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14292 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14294 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14296 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14297 format. It should be used with some caution.
14299 @vindex nnml-directory
14300 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14301 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14302 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14303 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14305 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14308 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14309 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14310 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14311 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14312 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14313 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14314 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14315 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14317 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14318 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14319 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14320 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14322 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14324 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14325 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14326 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14327 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14328 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14329 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14330 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14331 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14334 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14335 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14336 them next time it starts.
14338 Virtual server settings:
14341 @item nnml-directory
14342 @vindex nnml-directory
14343 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
14344 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
14347 @item nnml-active-file
14348 @vindex nnml-active-file
14349 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14350 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14352 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14353 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14354 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14355 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14357 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14358 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14359 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14362 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14363 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14364 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14365 default is @code{nil}.
14367 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14368 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14369 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14371 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14372 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14373 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14375 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14376 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14377 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14378 default is @code{nil}.
14380 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14381 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14382 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14384 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14385 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14386 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14391 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14392 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14393 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14394 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14395 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14396 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14397 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14402 @subsubsection MH Spool
14404 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14406 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14407 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14408 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14409 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14411 Virtual server settings:
14414 @item nnmh-directory
14415 @vindex nnmh-directory
14416 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14417 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14420 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14421 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14422 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14426 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14427 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14428 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14429 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14430 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14431 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14432 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14437 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14439 @cindex mbox folders
14440 @cindex mail folders
14442 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14443 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14444 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14447 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14449 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14450 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14451 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14452 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14453 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14454 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14455 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14456 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14457 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14458 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14460 Virtual server settings:
14463 @item nnfolder-directory
14464 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14465 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14466 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14469 @item nnfolder-active-file
14470 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14471 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14473 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14474 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14475 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14476 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14478 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14479 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14480 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14483 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14484 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14485 @cindex backup files
14486 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14487 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14488 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14489 your @file{.emacs} file:
14492 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14493 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14495 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14498 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14499 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14500 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14501 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14502 extract some information from it before removing it.
14504 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14505 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14506 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14507 default is @code{nil}.
14509 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14510 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14511 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14513 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14514 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14515 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14516 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14518 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14519 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14520 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14521 default is @code{nil}.
14523 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14524 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14525 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14527 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14528 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14529 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14530 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14535 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14536 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14537 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14538 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14539 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14540 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14543 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14544 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14546 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14547 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14548 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14549 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14550 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14552 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14553 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14554 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14555 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14556 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14557 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14558 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14559 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14562 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14563 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14564 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14565 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14570 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14571 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14572 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14573 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14574 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14575 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14576 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14577 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14578 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14579 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14580 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14581 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14582 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14587 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14588 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14589 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14590 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14591 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14592 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14593 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14594 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14595 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14596 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14597 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14598 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14599 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14600 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14602 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14603 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14608 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14609 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14610 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14611 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14612 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14613 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14614 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14615 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14616 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14617 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14618 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14619 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14620 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14621 provided by the active file and overviews.
14623 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14624 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
14625 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14626 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14627 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14630 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14631 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14636 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14637 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14638 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14639 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14640 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14641 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14642 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14646 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14647 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14648 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14649 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14650 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14651 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14652 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14653 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14654 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14656 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14657 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14658 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14659 friendly mail back end all over.
14663 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14664 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14665 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14666 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14667 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14668 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14669 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14670 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14673 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14674 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14675 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14676 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14677 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14678 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14679 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14680 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14681 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14682 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14683 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14685 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14686 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14687 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14688 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14689 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14690 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14691 This will probably be changed in the future.
14693 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14694 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14695 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14696 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14697 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14700 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14701 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14703 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14704 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14705 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14706 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14707 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14708 would) to make it use less memory.
14710 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14711 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14712 depending in part on your file system.
14714 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14715 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14720 @node Browsing the Web
14721 @section Browsing the Web
14723 @cindex browsing the web
14727 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14728 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14729 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14730 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14731 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14732 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14733 even know what a news group is.
14735 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14736 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14737 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14738 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14739 you mad in the end.
14741 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14744 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14745 interfaces to these sources.
14749 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14750 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14751 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14752 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14753 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14754 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14757 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14759 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14760 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14761 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14762 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14763 though, you should be ok.
14765 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14766 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14767 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14768 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14769 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14771 @node Archiving Mail
14772 @subsection Archiving Mail
14773 @cindex archiving mail
14774 @cindex backup of mail
14776 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14777 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14778 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14779 marks is fairly simple.
14781 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14782 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14785 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14786 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14787 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14788 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14789 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14790 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14791 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14792 before you restore the data.
14794 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14795 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14796 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14797 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14798 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14799 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14800 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14801 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14802 is unnecessary in that case.
14805 @subsection Web Searches
14810 @cindex Usenet searches
14811 @cindex searching the Usenet
14813 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14814 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14815 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14816 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14817 searches without having to use a browser.
14819 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14820 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14821 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14822 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14823 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14825 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14826 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14827 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14828 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14829 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14830 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14831 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14832 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14833 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14834 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14837 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14838 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14839 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14840 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14841 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14842 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14844 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14845 to use @code{nnweb}.
14847 Virtual server variables:
14852 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14853 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14854 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14857 @vindex nnweb-search
14858 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14860 @item nnweb-max-hits
14861 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14862 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14865 @item nnweb-type-definition
14866 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14867 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14868 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14873 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14877 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14880 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14883 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14887 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14894 @subsection Slashdot
14898 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14899 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14900 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14902 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14903 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14906 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14907 '((nnslashdot "")))
14910 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14911 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14912 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14913 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14914 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14917 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14918 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14920 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14921 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14922 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14923 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14924 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14925 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14928 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14931 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14932 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14933 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14934 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14935 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14936 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14937 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
14939 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14940 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14941 The login name to use when posting.
14943 @item nnslashdot-password
14944 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14945 The password to use when posting.
14947 @item nnslashdot-directory
14948 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14949 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14950 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14952 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14953 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14954 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14955 news articles and comments. The default is
14956 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14958 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14959 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14960 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14962 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14964 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14965 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14966 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14968 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14970 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14971 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14972 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14974 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14975 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14976 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14977 updated. The default is 0.
14984 @subsection Ultimate
14986 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14988 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14989 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14990 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14991 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14993 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14994 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14995 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14996 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14997 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14998 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14999 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
15001 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
15004 @item nnultimate-directory
15005 @vindex nnultimate-directory
15006 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
15007 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
15012 @subsection Web Archive
15014 @cindex Web Archive
15016 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
15017 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
15018 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
15019 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15022 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15023 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15024 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
15025 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
15026 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15027 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15028 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15030 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15033 @item nnwarchive-directory
15034 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15035 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
15036 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
15038 @item nnwarchive-login
15039 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15040 The account name on the web server.
15042 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15043 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15044 The password for your account on the web server.
15052 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15053 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15054 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15057 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15058 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15061 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15064 @item nnrss-directory
15065 @vindex nnrss-directory
15066 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15067 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
15071 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15072 the summary buffer.
15075 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15076 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15078 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15080 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15081 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15084 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15087 (require 'browse-url)
15089 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15091 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15094 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15095 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15098 (browse-url (cdr url))
15099 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15100 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15102 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15103 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15104 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15105 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15108 @node Customizing w3
15109 @subsection Customizing w3
15115 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15116 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15117 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15119 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15120 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15121 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15124 (eval-after-load "w3"
15126 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15127 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15128 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15129 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15131 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15134 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15135 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15144 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
15145 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15146 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15147 specify the network address of the server.
15149 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15150 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15151 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15152 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15153 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15155 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15156 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15157 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15158 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15160 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15161 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15162 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15163 usage explained in this section.
15165 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15166 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
15167 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15170 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15171 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15172 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15174 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15175 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15176 ; a UW server running on localhost
15178 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15179 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15180 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15181 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15182 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15183 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15184 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15185 (nnimap-stream network))
15186 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15188 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15189 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15190 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15193 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15198 @item nnimap-address
15199 @vindex nnimap-address
15201 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15202 server name if not specified.
15204 @item nnimap-server-port
15205 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15206 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
15208 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15211 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15212 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15215 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15216 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15217 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15218 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15219 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15220 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15221 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15223 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15224 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15225 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15228 Example server specification:
15231 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15232 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15233 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15236 @item nnimap-stream
15237 @vindex nnimap-stream
15238 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15239 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15240 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15241 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15243 Example server specification:
15246 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15247 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15250 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15254 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15255 @samp{imtest} program.
15257 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15259 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15260 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15263 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15264 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15265 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15267 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15269 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15272 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15273 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15274 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15275 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15276 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15277 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15278 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15279 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15280 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15283 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15284 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15285 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15286 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15287 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15288 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15289 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15290 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15291 distribution, for instance).
15293 @vindex imap-shell-program
15294 @vindex imap-shell-host
15295 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15296 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15298 @item nnimap-authenticator
15299 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15301 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15302 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15304 Example server specification:
15307 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15308 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15311 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15315 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15316 external program @code{imtest}.
15318 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15321 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15322 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15324 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15326 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15328 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15331 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15333 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15334 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15335 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15336 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15337 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15338 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15341 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15342 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15343 running in circles yet?
15345 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15346 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15349 The possible options are:
15354 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15357 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15358 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15359 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15360 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15362 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15367 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15368 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15370 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15371 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15372 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15373 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15374 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15377 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15378 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15381 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15382 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15383 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15384 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15387 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15388 as ticked for other users.
15390 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15392 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15394 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15395 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15396 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15397 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15399 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15400 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15401 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15402 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15404 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15405 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15407 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15408 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15409 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15415 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15416 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15417 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15418 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15419 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15424 @node Splitting in IMAP
15425 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15426 @cindex splitting imap mail
15428 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15429 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15430 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15431 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15432 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15436 Here are the variables of interest:
15440 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15441 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15443 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15445 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15446 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15448 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15450 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15451 @cindex splitting, inbox
15453 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15455 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15456 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15460 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15461 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15464 No nnmail equivalent.
15466 @item nnimap-split-rule
15467 @cindex Splitting, rules
15468 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15470 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15473 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15474 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15475 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15476 Neither did I, we need examples.
15479 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15481 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15482 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15483 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15486 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15487 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15488 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15490 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15491 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15495 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15498 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15499 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15501 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15502 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15503 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15504 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15506 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15507 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15508 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15509 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15510 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15511 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15513 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15514 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15515 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15517 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15518 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15519 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15521 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15523 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15524 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15525 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15528 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15529 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15530 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15531 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15532 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15533 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15536 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15537 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15538 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15539 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15540 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15541 group/function elements.
15543 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15545 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15547 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15549 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15550 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15552 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15553 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15554 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15557 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15558 @cindex splitting, fancy
15559 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15560 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15562 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15563 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15564 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15566 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15567 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15568 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15569 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15574 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15575 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15578 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15580 @item nnimap-split-download-body
15581 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
15582 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
15584 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
15585 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
15586 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
15587 analyses the body to split the article.
15591 @node Expiring in IMAP
15592 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
15593 @cindex expiring imap mail
15595 Even though @sc{nnimap} is not a proper @sc{nnmail} derived back end,
15596 it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15597 Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do not clone
15598 the @sc{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating @var{nnimap-expiry-wait})
15599 but reuse the @sc{nnmail} variables. What follows below are the
15600 variables used by the @sc{nnimap} expiry process.
15602 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
15603 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
15604 @sc{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
15605 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
15606 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
15607 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
15608 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
15609 messages. Most do, fortunately.
15613 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
15614 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15616 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
15617 number, the symbol @var{immediate} or @var{never}.
15619 @item nnmail-expiry-target
15621 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
15622 @sc{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
15623 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
15624 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
15628 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15629 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15630 @cindex editing imap acls
15631 @cindex Access Control Lists
15632 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15634 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15636 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15637 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15638 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15641 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15642 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15643 editing window with detailed instructions.
15645 Some possible uses:
15649 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15650 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15651 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15653 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15654 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15655 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15659 @node Expunging mailboxes
15660 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15664 @cindex Manual expunging
15666 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15668 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15669 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15670 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15672 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15675 @node A note on namespaces
15676 @subsection A note on namespaces
15677 @cindex IMAP namespace
15680 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15681 following text in the RFC:
15684 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15686 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15687 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15688 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15689 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15691 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15692 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15693 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15694 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15695 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15696 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15699 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15700 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15701 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15703 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15704 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15705 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15706 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15707 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15708 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15709 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15710 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15712 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15713 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15714 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15716 @node Other Sources
15717 @section Other Sources
15719 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15720 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15724 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15725 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15726 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15727 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15728 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15732 @node Directory Groups
15733 @subsection Directory Groups
15735 @cindex directory groups
15737 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15738 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15741 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15742 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15743 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15744 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15746 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15747 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15748 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15749 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15750 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15752 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15754 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15755 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15756 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15757 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15760 @node Anything Groups
15761 @subsection Anything Groups
15764 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15765 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15766 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15769 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15770 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15771 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15772 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15773 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15774 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15775 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15776 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15777 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15778 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15781 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15782 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15783 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15784 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15786 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15787 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15788 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15789 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15791 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15792 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15793 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15794 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15795 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15796 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15797 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15798 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15803 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15804 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15805 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15806 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15808 @item nneething-exclude-files
15809 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15810 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15811 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15813 @item nneething-include-files
15814 @vindex nneething-include-files
15815 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15816 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15818 @item nneething-map-file
15819 @vindex nneething-map-file
15820 Name of the map files.
15824 @node Document Groups
15825 @subsection Document Groups
15827 @cindex documentation group
15830 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15831 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15838 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15843 The standard Unix mbox file.
15845 @cindex MMDF mail box
15847 The MMDF mail box format.
15850 Several news articles appended into a file.
15853 @cindex rnews batch files
15854 The rnews batch transport format.
15855 @cindex forwarded messages
15858 Forwarded articles.
15861 Netscape mail boxes.
15864 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15866 @item standard-digest
15867 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15870 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15872 @item lanl-gov-announce
15873 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15875 @item rfc822-forward
15876 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15879 The Outlook mail box.
15882 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15885 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15888 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15891 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15897 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15900 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15906 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15907 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15908 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15911 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15912 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15913 group. And that's it.
15915 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15916 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15917 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15918 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15919 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15920 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15921 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15922 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15923 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15924 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15926 Virtual server variables:
15929 @item nndoc-article-type
15930 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15931 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15932 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15933 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15934 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15935 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15937 @item nndoc-post-type
15938 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15939 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15940 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15945 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15949 @node Document Server Internals
15950 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15952 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15953 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15954 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15955 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15957 First, here's an example document type definition:
15961 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15962 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15965 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15966 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15967 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15968 types can be defined with very few settings:
15971 @item first-article
15972 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15973 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15976 @item article-begin
15977 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15978 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15980 @item head-begin-function
15981 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15984 @item nndoc-head-begin
15985 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15988 @item nndoc-head-end
15989 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15990 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15992 @item body-begin-function
15993 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15997 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
16000 @item body-end-function
16001 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
16005 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
16008 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
16009 regexp will be totally ignored.
16013 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
16014 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
16015 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
16016 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16017 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16020 @item prepare-body-function
16021 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16022 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16023 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16025 @item article-transform-function
16026 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16027 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16028 body of the article.
16030 @item generate-head-function
16031 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16032 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16033 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16034 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16038 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16043 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16044 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16045 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16046 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16047 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16048 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16049 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16050 (subtype digest guess))
16053 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16054 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16055 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16056 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16057 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16059 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16060 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
16061 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
16062 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
16063 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
16064 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16065 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
16066 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16067 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
16068 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16076 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16077 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16078 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16080 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16081 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16082 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16085 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16086 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16087 that interested in doing things properly.
16089 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16090 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16093 First some terminology:
16098 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16099 get news and/or mail from.
16102 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16103 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16106 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16110 @item message packets
16111 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16112 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16113 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16115 @item response packets
16116 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16117 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16118 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16128 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16129 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16130 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16131 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16134 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16137 You put the packet in your home directory.
16140 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16141 the native or secondary server.
16144 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16145 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16148 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16152 You transfer this packet to the server.
16155 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16158 You then repeat until you die.
16162 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16163 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16166 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16167 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16168 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16172 @node SOUP Commands
16173 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16175 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16179 @kindex G s b (Group)
16180 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16181 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16182 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16183 process/prefix convention.
16186 @kindex G s w (Group)
16187 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16188 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16191 @kindex G s s (Group)
16192 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16193 Send all replies from the replies packet
16194 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16197 @kindex G s p (Group)
16198 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16199 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16202 @kindex G s r (Group)
16203 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16204 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16207 @kindex O s (Summary)
16208 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16209 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16210 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16211 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16216 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16221 @item gnus-soup-directory
16222 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16223 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16224 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16226 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16227 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16228 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16229 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16231 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16232 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16233 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16234 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16236 @item gnus-soup-packer
16237 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16238 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16239 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16241 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16242 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16243 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16244 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16246 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16247 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16248 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16250 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16251 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16252 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16253 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16259 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16262 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16263 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16264 you can read them at leisure.
16266 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16270 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16271 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16272 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16273 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16275 @item nnsoup-directory
16276 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16277 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16278 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16280 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16281 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16282 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16283 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
16285 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16286 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16287 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16288 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16289 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16291 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16292 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16293 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16294 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16296 @item nnsoup-active-file
16297 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16298 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16299 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16300 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16301 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16303 @item nnsoup-packer
16304 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16305 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16306 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16308 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16309 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16310 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16311 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16313 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16314 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16315 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16318 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16319 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16320 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16323 @item nnsoup-always-save
16324 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16325 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16331 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16333 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16334 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16335 more for that to happen.
16337 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16338 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16339 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16342 In specific, this is what it does:
16345 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16346 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16349 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16350 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16351 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16354 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16355 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16356 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16359 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16360 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16361 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16363 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16369 @item nngateway-address
16370 @vindex nngateway-address
16371 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16373 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16374 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16375 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16376 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16377 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16378 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16379 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16382 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16383 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16384 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16387 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16390 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16393 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16396 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16398 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16401 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16402 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16403 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16405 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16407 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16408 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16409 @code{nngateway-address}.
16414 (setq gnus-post-method
16416 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16417 (nngateway-header-transformation
16418 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16426 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16429 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16434 @node Combined Groups
16435 @section Combined Groups
16437 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16441 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16442 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16446 @node Virtual Groups
16447 @subsection Virtual Groups
16449 @cindex virtual groups
16450 @cindex merging groups
16452 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16455 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16456 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16457 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16459 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16460 regexp to match component groups.
16462 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16463 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16464 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16465 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16466 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16467 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16468 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16469 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16471 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16472 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16475 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16478 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16479 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16481 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16482 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16483 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16484 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16487 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16490 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16491 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16492 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16494 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16495 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16496 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16497 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16498 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16500 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16501 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16502 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16504 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16505 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16506 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16507 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16508 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16509 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16510 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16511 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16512 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16513 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16514 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16516 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16517 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16518 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16519 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16520 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16521 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16522 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16524 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16525 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16527 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16528 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16532 @node Kibozed Groups
16533 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16537 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16538 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16539 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16540 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16542 @kindex G k (Group)
16543 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16546 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16547 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16548 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16549 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16551 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16552 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16553 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16555 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16556 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16557 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16558 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16559 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16560 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16561 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16562 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16564 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16565 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16566 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16567 Stranger things have happened.
16569 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16570 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16572 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16573 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16574 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16575 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16576 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16577 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16579 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16580 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16583 @node Gnus Unplugged
16584 @section Gnus Unplugged
16589 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16591 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16592 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16593 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16594 read news. Believe it or not.
16596 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16597 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16598 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16599 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16600 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16602 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16603 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16604 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16605 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16606 reading news on a machine.
16608 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16609 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16611 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16614 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16615 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16616 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16617 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16618 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16619 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16620 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16621 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16622 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16623 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16624 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16629 @subsection Agent Basics
16631 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16633 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16634 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16635 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16636 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16638 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16639 connected to the net continuously.
16641 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16642 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16644 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16649 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16650 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16651 already fetched while in this mode.
16654 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16655 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16656 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16657 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16658 Source Specifiers}).
16661 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16662 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16663 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16664 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16665 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16668 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16669 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16670 then you read the news offline.
16673 And then you go to step 2.
16676 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16682 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16683 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16684 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16685 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16686 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16687 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16688 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16689 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16692 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16699 @node Agent Categories
16700 @subsection Agent Categories
16702 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16703 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16704 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16705 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16706 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16707 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16708 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16710 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16711 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16712 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16713 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16714 managing categories.
16717 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16718 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16719 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16723 @node Category Syntax
16724 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16726 A category consists of two things.
16730 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16731 are eligible for downloading; and
16734 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16735 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16736 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16739 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16740 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16741 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16742 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16744 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16745 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16746 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16748 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16749 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16750 operators sprinkled in between.
16752 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16754 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16755 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16761 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16762 short (for some value of ``short'').
16764 Here's a more complex predicate:
16773 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16774 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16777 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16778 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16779 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16781 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16782 you want to do, you can write your own.
16786 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16787 lines; default 100.
16790 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16791 lines; default 200.
16794 True iff the article has a download score less than
16795 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16798 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16799 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16802 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16803 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16804 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16813 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16814 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16815 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16818 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16819 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16820 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16821 something along the lines of the following:
16824 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16825 "Say whether an article is old."
16826 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16827 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16830 with the predicate then defined as:
16833 (not my-article-old-p)
16836 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16837 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16841 (require 'gnus-agent)
16842 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16843 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16844 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16847 and simply specify your predicate as:
16853 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16854 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16855 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16856 just don't give a damn.
16858 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16859 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16860 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16861 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16862 parameters like so:
16865 (agent-predicate . short)
16868 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16869 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16870 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16872 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16875 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16878 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16879 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16880 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16883 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16884 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16885 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16886 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16887 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16888 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16890 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16891 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16892 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16893 if it's to be specific to that group.
16895 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16902 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16903 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16909 Category specification
16913 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16919 Group Parameter specification
16922 (agent-score ("from"
16923 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16928 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16934 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16941 Category specification
16944 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16950 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16954 Group Parameter specification
16957 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16960 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16965 Use @code{normal} score files
16967 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16968 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16969 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16970 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16972 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16973 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16974 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16975 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16979 Category Specification
16986 Group Parameter specification
16989 (agent-score . file)
16994 @node Category Buffer
16995 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16997 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16998 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16999 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
17001 The following commands are available in this buffer:
17005 @kindex q (Category)
17006 @findex gnus-category-exit
17007 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
17010 @kindex k (Category)
17011 @findex gnus-category-kill
17012 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
17015 @kindex c (Category)
17016 @findex gnus-category-copy
17017 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17020 @kindex a (Category)
17021 @findex gnus-category-add
17022 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17025 @kindex p (Category)
17026 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17027 Edit the predicate of the current category
17028 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17031 @kindex g (Category)
17032 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17033 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17034 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17037 @kindex s (Category)
17038 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17039 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17040 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17043 @kindex l (Category)
17044 @findex gnus-category-list
17045 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17049 @node Category Variables
17050 @subsubsection Category Variables
17053 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17054 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17055 Hook run in category buffers.
17057 @item gnus-category-line-format
17058 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17059 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17060 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17064 The name of the category.
17067 The number of groups in the category.
17070 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17071 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17072 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17074 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17075 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17076 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17078 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17079 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17080 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17082 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17083 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17084 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17087 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17088 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17089 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17095 @node Agent Commands
17096 @subsection Agent Commands
17098 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17099 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17100 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17104 * Group Agent Commands::
17105 * Summary Agent Commands::
17106 * Server Agent Commands::
17112 @node Group Agent Commands
17113 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17117 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17118 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17119 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17120 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17123 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17124 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17125 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17128 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17129 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17130 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17131 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17134 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17135 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17136 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17137 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17140 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17141 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17142 Add the current group to an Agent category
17143 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17144 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17147 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17148 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17149 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17150 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17151 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17154 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17155 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17156 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17162 @node Summary Agent Commands
17163 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17167 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17168 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17169 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17172 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17173 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17174 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17175 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17179 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17180 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17181 Toggle whether to download the article
17182 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17186 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17187 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17188 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
17191 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17192 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17193 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17194 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17199 @node Server Agent Commands
17200 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17204 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17205 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17206 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17207 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17210 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17211 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17212 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17213 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17218 @node Agent as Cache
17219 @subsection Agent as Cache
17221 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17222 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17223 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17224 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17225 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17226 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17227 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17228 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17229 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17231 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17232 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
17235 @subsection Agent Expiry
17237 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17238 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17239 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17240 @cindex Agent expiry
17241 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17244 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
17245 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
17246 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
17247 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
17248 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
17249 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
17251 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
17252 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
17253 expiry in different groups.
17256 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
17262 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
17263 method---it must always match all groups.
17265 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17266 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
17267 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
17268 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
17269 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
17271 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17272 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17273 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
17274 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
17276 @node Agent and IMAP
17277 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17279 The Agent work with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17280 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17281 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17282 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17284 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17285 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
17286 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17287 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17289 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17290 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17291 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17292 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17294 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17295 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17296 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17297 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17298 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17299 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17301 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17302 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17303 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17304 in the group buffer.
17306 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17307 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17312 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17315 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17319 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17320 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17321 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17322 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17323 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17324 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17325 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17326 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17329 @node Outgoing Messages
17330 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17332 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17333 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17334 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17336 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17337 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17338 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17339 messages in the draft group.
17343 @node Agent Variables
17344 @subsection Agent Variables
17347 @item gnus-agent-directory
17348 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17349 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17350 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17352 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17353 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17354 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17355 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17356 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17359 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17360 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17361 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17363 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17364 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17365 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17367 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17368 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17369 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17371 @item gnus-agent-cache
17372 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17373 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17374 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17375 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17377 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17378 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17379 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17380 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17381 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17382 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17383 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17386 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17387 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17388 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17389 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17390 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17391 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17392 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17393 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17394 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17399 @node Example Setup
17400 @subsection Example Setup
17402 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17403 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17404 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17407 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17408 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17409 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17411 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17412 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17413 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17415 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17416 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17418 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17419 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17420 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17423 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17424 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17427 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17428 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17429 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17430 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17431 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17434 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17435 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17436 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17437 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17438 back all the killed groups.)
17440 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17441 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17442 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17445 @node Batching Agents
17446 @subsection Batching Agents
17448 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17449 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17450 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17452 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
17453 following incantation:
17457 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
17461 @node Agent Caveats
17462 @subsection Agent Caveats
17464 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17465 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17469 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17471 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
17472 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
17473 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
17475 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17477 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
17481 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17482 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP and also uses the
17483 locally stored articles.
17490 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17491 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17492 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17495 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17496 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17497 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17498 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17499 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17501 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17502 before generating the summary buffer.
17504 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17505 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17506 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17508 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17509 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17510 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17511 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17514 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17515 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17516 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17517 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17518 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17519 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17520 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17521 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17522 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17523 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17524 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17525 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17526 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17527 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17528 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17529 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17530 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17534 @node Summary Score Commands
17535 @section Summary Score Commands
17536 @cindex score commands
17538 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17539 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17540 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17541 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17542 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17544 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17545 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17546 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17547 score file the current one.
17549 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17554 @kindex V s (Summary)
17555 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17556 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17559 @kindex V S (Summary)
17560 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17561 Display the score of the current article
17562 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17565 @kindex V t (Summary)
17566 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17567 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17568 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17571 @kindex V w (Summary)
17572 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17573 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17576 @kindex V R (Summary)
17577 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17578 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17579 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17580 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17581 effect you're having.
17584 @kindex V c (Summary)
17585 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17586 Make a different score file the current
17587 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17590 @kindex V e (Summary)
17591 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17592 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17593 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17597 @kindex V f (Summary)
17598 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17599 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17600 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17603 @kindex V F (Summary)
17604 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17605 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17606 after editing score files.
17609 @kindex V C (Summary)
17610 @findex gnus-score-customize
17611 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17612 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17616 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17621 @kindex V m (Summary)
17622 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17623 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17624 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17627 @kindex V x (Summary)
17628 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17629 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17630 expunge all articles below this score
17631 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17634 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17635 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17638 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17639 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17643 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17644 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17646 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17647 keys are available:
17651 Score on the author name.
17654 Score on the subject line.
17657 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17660 Score on the @code{References} line.
17666 Score on the number of lines.
17669 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17672 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17673 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17676 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17677 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17678 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17687 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17693 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17694 what headers you are scoring on.
17706 Substring matching.
17709 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17738 Greater than number.
17743 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17744 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17745 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17750 Temporary score entry.
17753 Permanent score entry.
17756 Immediately scoring.
17760 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17761 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17762 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17766 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17767 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17768 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17769 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17771 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17772 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17773 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17774 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17775 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17777 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17778 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17779 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17780 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17781 current score file.
17783 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17784 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17785 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17788 @node Group Score Commands
17789 @section Group Score Commands
17790 @cindex group score commands
17792 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17797 @kindex W f (Group)
17798 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17799 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17800 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17801 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17805 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17807 @findex gnus-batch-score
17808 @cindex batch scoring
17810 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17814 @node Score Variables
17815 @section Score Variables
17816 @cindex score variables
17820 @item gnus-use-scoring
17821 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17822 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17823 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17825 @item gnus-kill-killed
17826 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17827 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17828 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17829 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17830 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17831 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17832 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17834 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17835 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17836 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17837 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17838 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17840 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17841 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17842 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17843 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17845 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17846 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17847 @cindex score cache
17848 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17849 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17850 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
17851 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17852 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17853 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17856 @item gnus-save-score
17857 @vindex gnus-save-score
17858 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17859 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17860 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17862 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17863 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17864 across group visits.
17866 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17867 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17868 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17869 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17870 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17871 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17872 manually entered data.
17874 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17875 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17876 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17878 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17879 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17880 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
17881 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
17882 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
17883 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
17885 @item gnus-score-over-mark
17886 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
17887 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
17888 default. Default is @samp{+}.
17890 @item gnus-score-below-mark
17891 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
17892 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
17893 default. Default is @samp{-}.
17895 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17896 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17897 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
17898 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
17900 Predefined functions available are:
17903 @item gnus-score-find-single
17904 @findex gnus-score-find-single
17905 Only apply the group's own score file.
17907 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
17908 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
17909 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
17910 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
17911 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
17912 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
17913 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
17914 then a regexp match is done.
17916 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
17917 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
17919 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
17920 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
17921 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
17922 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
17924 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17925 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17926 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
17927 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
17928 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
17932 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
17933 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
17934 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
17935 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
17936 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
17937 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
17938 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
17941 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
17942 overall score file, you could use the value
17944 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
17945 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
17948 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
17949 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
17950 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
17951 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
17952 are expired. It's 7 by default.
17954 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17955 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17956 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
17957 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
17958 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
17959 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
17960 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
17961 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
17963 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17964 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17965 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
17967 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
17968 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
17969 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
17970 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
17971 threading---according to the current value of
17972 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
17973 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
17974 simplified in this manner.
17979 @node Score File Format
17980 @section Score File Format
17981 @cindex score file format
17983 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
17984 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
17985 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
17987 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
17991 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
17993 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
17995 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
17997 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18002 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18006 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18007 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18008 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18009 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18013 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18014 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18016 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
18017 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18018 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18020 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18025 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18026 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18027 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18028 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18029 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18030 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18031 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18032 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18033 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18034 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18035 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18036 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18037 to articles that matches these score entries.
18039 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18040 score entry has one to four elements.
18044 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18045 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18049 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18050 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18051 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18052 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18053 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18054 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18057 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18058 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18059 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18060 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18061 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18064 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18065 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18066 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18067 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18070 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18071 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18072 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18073 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18074 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18075 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18076 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18077 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18078 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18079 instead, if you feel like.
18082 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18083 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18084 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18085 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18086 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18087 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18090 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18094 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18095 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18097 These predicates are true if
18100 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18103 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18104 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18111 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18112 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18113 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18114 it's not. I think.)
18116 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18117 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18118 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18119 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18122 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18123 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18124 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18125 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18126 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18127 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18128 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18132 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18133 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18134 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18135 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18136 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18137 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18138 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18139 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18142 @item Head, Body, All
18143 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18147 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18148 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18149 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18150 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18151 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18152 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18153 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18157 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18158 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18159 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18160 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18161 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18162 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18163 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18164 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18165 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18166 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18167 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18171 @cindex Score File Atoms
18173 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18174 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18177 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18178 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18180 @item mark-and-expunge
18181 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18182 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18185 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18186 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18187 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18188 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18189 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18192 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18193 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18196 @item exclude-files
18197 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18198 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18202 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18203 ignored when handling global score files.
18206 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18207 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18208 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18209 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18212 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18213 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18214 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18215 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18217 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18221 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18224 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18225 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18226 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18227 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18228 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18230 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18231 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18232 scoring rules exist.
18235 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18236 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18237 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18238 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18239 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18240 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18241 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18242 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18243 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18244 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18245 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18249 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18250 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18251 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18252 file for a number of groups.
18255 @cindex local variables
18256 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
18257 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
18258 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
18259 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
18260 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
18264 @node Score File Editing
18265 @section Score File Editing
18267 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18268 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18269 with a mode for that.
18271 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18272 additional commands:
18277 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
18278 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
18279 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
18280 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
18283 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
18284 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
18285 Insert the current date in numerical format
18286 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18287 you were wondering.
18290 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18291 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18292 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18293 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18294 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18299 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18301 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18302 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18304 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18305 e} to begin editing score files.
18308 @node Adaptive Scoring
18309 @section Adaptive Scoring
18310 @cindex adaptive scoring
18312 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18313 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18314 stupidity, to be precise.
18316 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18317 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18318 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18319 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18320 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18321 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18322 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18323 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18324 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18326 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18327 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18328 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18329 might look something like this:
18332 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18333 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18334 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18335 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18336 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18337 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18338 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18339 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18340 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18341 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18342 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18343 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18346 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18347 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18348 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18349 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18350 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18351 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18354 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18355 will be applied to each article.
18357 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18358 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18359 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18360 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18362 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18363 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18364 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18365 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18367 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18368 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18369 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18370 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18372 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18373 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18374 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18375 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18376 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18377 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18379 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
18380 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
18381 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
18382 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
18383 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
18384 aspirins afterwards.)
18386 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18387 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18388 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18390 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18391 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18392 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18394 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18395 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18396 let you use different rules in different groups.
18398 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18399 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18400 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18403 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18404 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18405 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18406 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18407 the length of the match is less than
18408 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18409 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18412 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18413 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18414 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18415 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18416 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18419 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18420 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18421 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18422 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18423 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18426 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18427 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18428 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18429 score with 30 points.
18431 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18432 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18433 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18434 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18435 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18437 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18438 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18439 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18440 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18441 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
18443 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18444 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18445 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18446 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18448 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18449 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18450 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18451 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18453 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18454 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18455 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18456 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18457 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18459 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18460 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18461 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18463 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18464 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18465 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18466 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18469 @node Home Score File
18470 @section Home Score File
18472 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18473 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18474 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18475 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18477 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18478 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18479 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18481 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18482 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18487 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18491 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18492 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18496 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18500 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18501 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18504 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18505 the home score file.
18508 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18511 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18516 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18519 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18520 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18523 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18524 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18526 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18528 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18529 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18532 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18533 Other functions include
18536 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18537 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18538 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18539 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18543 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18544 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18545 their own home score files:
18548 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18549 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18550 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18551 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18552 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18555 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18556 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18557 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18558 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18559 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18561 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18562 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18563 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18564 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18565 precedence over this variable.
18568 @node Followups To Yourself
18569 @section Followups To Yourself
18571 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18572 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18573 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18574 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18575 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18576 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18580 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18581 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18582 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18585 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18586 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18587 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18591 @vindex message-sent-hook
18592 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18593 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18595 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18599 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18600 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18604 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18605 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18608 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18609 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18614 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18618 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18619 is system-dependent.
18622 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18623 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18624 @cindex scoring on other headers
18626 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18627 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18628 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18629 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18630 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18632 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18633 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18634 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18635 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18636 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18638 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18641 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18642 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18645 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18646 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18647 time if you have much mail.
18649 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18650 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18656 @section Scoring Tips
18657 @cindex scoring tips
18663 @cindex scoring crossposts
18664 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18665 the @code{Xref} header.
18667 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18670 @item Multiple crossposts
18671 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18672 more than, say, 3 groups:
18675 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18679 @item Matching on the body
18680 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18681 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18682 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18683 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18684 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18685 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18686 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18689 @item Marking as read
18690 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18691 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18692 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18696 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18698 @item Negated character classes
18699 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18700 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18701 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18705 @node Reverse Scoring
18706 @section Reverse Scoring
18707 @cindex reverse scoring
18709 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18710 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18711 like this in your score file:
18715 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18720 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18721 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18724 @node Global Score Files
18725 @section Global Score Files
18726 @cindex global score files
18728 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18729 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18730 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18732 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18733 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18734 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18736 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18737 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18738 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18739 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18740 files are applicable to which group.
18742 To use the score file
18743 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18744 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18748 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18749 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18750 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18753 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18755 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18756 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18757 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18758 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18760 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18761 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18763 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18764 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18765 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18766 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18767 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18768 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18770 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18776 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18778 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18780 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18782 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18783 lowered out of existence.
18785 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18786 articles completely.
18789 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18790 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18791 old articles for a long time.
18794 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18795 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18796 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18797 holding our breath yet?
18801 @section Kill Files
18804 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18805 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18806 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18808 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18809 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18810 files into score files.
18812 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18813 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18814 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18815 that isn't a very good idea.
18817 Normal kill files look like this:
18820 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18821 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18825 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18826 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18828 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18829 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18832 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18837 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18838 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18839 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18842 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18843 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18844 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18847 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18852 @kindex M-k (Group)
18853 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18854 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18857 @kindex M-K (Group)
18858 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18859 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18862 Kill file variables:
18865 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18866 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18867 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18868 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18869 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18870 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18871 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18873 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18874 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18875 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18876 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18879 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18880 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18881 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18882 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18883 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18884 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18885 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18886 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18887 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
18889 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18890 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18891 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
18896 @node Converting Kill Files
18897 @section Converting Kill Files
18899 @cindex converting kill files
18901 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
18902 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
18903 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
18906 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
18907 You can fetch it from
18908 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
18910 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
18911 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
18912 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
18920 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
18921 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
18922 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
18923 news articles generated every day.
18925 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
18926 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
18927 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
18928 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
18929 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
18930 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
18931 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
18932 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
18935 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
18936 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
18939 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
18940 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
18941 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
18942 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
18946 @node Using GroupLens
18947 @subsection Using GroupLens
18949 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
18951 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
18952 better bit in town at the moment.
18954 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
18958 @item gnus-use-grouplens
18959 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
18960 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
18961 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
18963 @item grouplens-pseudonym
18964 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
18965 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
18966 with the Better Bit Bureau.
18968 @item grouplens-newsgroups
18969 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
18970 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
18974 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
18975 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
18976 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
18977 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
18978 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
18979 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
18982 @node Rating Articles
18983 @subsection Rating Articles
18985 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
18986 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
18987 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
18988 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
18991 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
18996 @kindex r (GroupLens)
18997 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
18998 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19001 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19002 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19003 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19004 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19005 threads in rec.humor.
19009 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19010 the score of the article you're reading.
19015 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19016 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19017 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19020 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19021 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19022 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19026 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19027 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19030 @node Displaying Predictions
19031 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19033 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19034 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19035 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19036 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19037 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19039 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19040 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19041 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19042 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19043 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19044 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19045 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19046 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19047 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19048 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19049 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19050 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19051 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19053 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19054 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19055 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19056 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19058 The following are valid values for that variable.
19061 @item prediction-spot
19062 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19065 @item confidence-interval
19066 A numeric confidence interval.
19068 @item prediction-bar
19069 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19071 @item confidence-bar
19072 Numerical confidence.
19074 @item confidence-spot
19075 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19077 @item prediction-num
19078 Plain-old numeric value.
19080 @item confidence-plus-minus
19081 Prediction +/- confidence.
19086 @node GroupLens Variables
19087 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19091 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19092 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19093 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19094 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19097 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19098 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19101 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19102 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19104 @item grouplens-score-offset
19105 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19106 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19109 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19110 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19111 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19116 @node Advanced Scoring
19117 @section Advanced Scoring
19119 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19120 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19121 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19122 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19123 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19125 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19129 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19130 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19131 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19135 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19136 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19138 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19139 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19140 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19141 non-@code{nil} value.
19143 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19144 operator, and various match operators.
19151 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19152 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19153 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19158 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19159 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19160 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19165 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19166 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19170 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19171 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19172 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19173 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19174 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19175 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19176 the ancestry you want to go.
19178 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19179 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19180 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19181 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19182 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19185 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19186 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19188 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19189 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19192 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19193 when he's talking about Gnus:
19197 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19198 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19204 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19208 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19215 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19216 really don't want to read what he's written:
19220 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19221 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19225 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19226 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19227 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19234 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19235 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19236 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19237 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19241 The possibilities are endless.
19244 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19245 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19247 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19248 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19249 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19250 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19251 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19252 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19253 @samp{subject}) first.
19255 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19256 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19267 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19268 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19274 ("subject" "Gnus")))
19281 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
19282 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19287 @section Score Decays
19288 @cindex score decays
19291 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19292 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19293 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19294 use them in any sensible way.
19296 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19297 @findex gnus-decay-score
19298 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19299 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19300 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19301 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19302 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19303 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19304 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19305 definition of that function:
19308 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19310 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19311 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19314 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19316 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19318 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19321 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19322 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19323 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19324 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19328 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19331 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19334 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19338 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19339 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19340 the new score, which should be an integer.
19342 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19343 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19348 @include message.texi
19349 @chapter Emacs MIME
19350 @include emacs-mime.texi
19352 @include sieve.texi
19362 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19363 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19364 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19365 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19366 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19367 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19368 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19369 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19370 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19371 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19372 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19373 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19374 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19375 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19376 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19377 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19378 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19379 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19380 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19384 @node Process/Prefix
19385 @section Process/Prefix
19386 @cindex process/prefix convention
19388 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19389 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19391 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19392 command to be performed on.
19396 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19397 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19398 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19399 with the current one.
19401 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19402 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19403 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19405 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19406 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19409 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19410 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19412 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19415 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19416 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19417 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19418 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19420 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19421 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19422 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19423 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19424 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19425 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19426 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19427 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19429 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19430 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19431 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19432 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19433 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
19437 @section Interactive
19438 @cindex interaction
19442 @item gnus-novice-user
19443 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19444 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19445 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19446 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19447 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19450 @item gnus-expert-user
19451 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19452 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19453 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19454 matter how strange.
19456 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19457 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19458 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19459 is @code{t} by default.
19461 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19462 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19463 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19468 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19469 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19470 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19472 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19473 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19474 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19475 rule of 900 to the current article.
19477 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19478 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19479 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19480 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19481 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19482 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19483 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19485 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19486 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19487 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19488 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19489 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19490 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19491 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19492 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19493 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19495 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19496 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19497 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19499 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19503 @node Formatting Variables
19504 @section Formatting Variables
19505 @cindex formatting variables
19507 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19508 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19509 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19510 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19511 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19514 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19515 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19516 lots of percentages everywhere.
19519 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19520 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19521 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19522 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19523 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19524 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19525 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19526 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19529 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19530 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19531 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19532 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19533 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19534 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19535 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19536 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19538 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19539 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19541 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19542 @findex gnus-update-format
19543 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19544 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19545 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19546 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19550 @node Formatting Basics
19551 @subsection Formatting Basics
19553 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19554 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19555 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19557 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19558 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19559 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19560 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19561 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19564 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19565 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19566 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19567 less than 4 characters wide.
19569 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19570 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19573 @node Mode Line Formatting
19574 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19576 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19577 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19578 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19579 with the following two differences:
19584 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19587 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19588 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19589 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19590 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19591 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19592 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19593 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19598 @node Advanced Formatting
19599 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19601 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19602 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19603 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19604 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19606 These are the valid modifiers:
19611 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19615 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19620 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19623 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19628 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19631 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19634 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19637 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19643 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19648 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19649 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19650 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19651 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19652 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19653 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19654 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19656 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19657 last operation, padding.
19659 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
19660 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
19661 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
19662 @xref{Compilation}.
19665 @node User-Defined Specs
19666 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19668 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19669 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19670 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19671 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19672 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19673 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19674 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19675 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19676 should protect against that.
19678 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19679 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19681 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19682 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19683 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19684 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19688 @node Formatting Fonts
19689 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19691 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19692 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19693 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19694 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19697 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19698 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19699 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19700 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19701 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19702 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19704 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
19705 special @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}.
19706 If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on.
19707 The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
19708 symbols naming functions that return a string. When the mouse passes
19709 over text with this property set, a balloon window will appear and
19710 display the string. Please refer to @ref{(emacs)Help Echo} (in GNU
19711 Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in XEmacs) for
19712 more information on this. (For technical reasons, the guillemets have
19713 been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this paragraph.)
19715 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19718 ;; Create three face types.
19719 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19720 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19722 ;; We want the article count to be in
19723 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19724 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19725 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19727 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19728 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19730 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19731 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19732 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19735 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19736 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19738 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19739 mode-line variables.
19741 @node Positioning Point
19742 @subsection Positioning Point
19744 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19745 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19746 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19748 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19750 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19751 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19752 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19754 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19755 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
19756 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19761 @subsection Tabulation
19763 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19764 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19765 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19766 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19768 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19769 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19771 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19772 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19773 This is the soft tabulator.
19775 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19776 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19777 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19780 @node Wide Characters
19781 @subsection Wide Characters
19783 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19784 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19785 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19787 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19788 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19789 these countries, that's not true.
19791 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19792 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19793 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19794 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
19798 @node Window Layout
19799 @section Window Layout
19800 @cindex window layout
19802 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19804 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19805 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19806 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19807 @code{t} by default.
19809 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19810 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19812 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19813 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19814 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19817 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19818 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19819 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19823 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19824 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19825 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19826 possible names is listed below.
19828 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19829 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19832 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19836 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19837 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19838 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19839 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19840 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19841 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19842 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19843 size spec per split.
19845 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19846 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19847 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19848 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19849 present) gets focus.
19851 Here's a more complicated example:
19854 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19855 (summary 0.25 point)
19856 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19860 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19861 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19862 occupy, not a percentage.
19864 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19865 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19866 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19867 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19868 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19871 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19874 (article (horizontal 1.0
19879 (summary 0.25 point)
19884 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
19885 @code{horizontal} thingie?
19887 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
19888 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
19889 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
19890 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
19891 the screen is to be given to this strip.
19893 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
19894 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
19895 lines from the splits.
19897 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
19901 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
19902 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
19903 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
19904 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
19905 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
19906 size = number | frame-params
19907 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
19910 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
19911 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
19912 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
19913 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
19915 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
19916 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
19917 @cindex window height
19918 @cindex window width
19919 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
19920 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
19921 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
19922 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
19923 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
19924 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
19926 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
19927 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
19928 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
19929 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
19931 @findex gnus-configure-frame
19932 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
19933 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
19934 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
19935 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
19936 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
19937 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
19938 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
19939 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
19940 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
19941 configuration list.
19944 (gnus-configure-frame
19948 (article 0.3 point))
19956 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
19957 @code{frame} split:
19960 (gnus-configure-frame
19963 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
19965 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
19966 (user-position . t)
19967 (left . -1) (top . 1))
19972 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
19973 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
19974 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
19975 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
19976 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
19977 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
19978 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
19979 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
19981 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
19982 be found in its default value.
19984 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
19985 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
19986 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
19990 (message (horizontal 1.0
19991 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
19993 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
19998 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
19999 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20000 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20005 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20006 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20007 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20008 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20009 (name . "Message"))
20010 (message 1.0 point))))
20013 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20014 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20015 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20016 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20017 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20020 (gnus-add-configuration
20021 '(article (vertical 1.0
20023 (summary .25 point)
20027 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20028 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20029 Gnus has been loaded.
20031 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20032 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20033 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20034 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20035 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20037 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20038 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20039 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20042 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20046 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20047 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20062 (gnus-add-configuration
20065 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20067 (summary 0.16 point)
20070 (gnus-add-configuration
20073 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20074 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20080 @node Faces and Fonts
20081 @section Faces and Fonts
20086 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20087 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20088 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20093 @section Compilation
20094 @cindex compilation
20095 @cindex byte-compilation
20097 @findex gnus-compile
20099 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20100 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20101 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
20102 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20103 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20104 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20107 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20108 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20109 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20110 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
20111 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
20112 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
20113 them into the @file{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
20117 @section Mode Lines
20120 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20121 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20122 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20123 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20124 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20125 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20126 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20129 @cindex display-time
20131 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20132 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20133 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20134 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20135 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20136 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20137 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20138 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20141 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20143 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20144 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20146 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20147 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20148 (length display-time-string)))))
20151 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20152 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20153 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20154 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20155 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20158 @node Highlighting and Menus
20159 @section Highlighting and Menus
20161 @cindex highlighting
20164 @vindex gnus-visual
20165 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20166 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20167 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20170 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20171 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20174 @item group-highlight
20175 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20176 @item summary-highlight
20177 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20178 @item article-highlight
20179 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20181 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20183 Create menus in the group buffer.
20185 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20187 Create menus in the article buffer.
20189 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20191 Create menus in the server buffer.
20193 Create menus in the score buffers.
20195 Create menus in all buffers.
20198 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20199 buffers, you could say something like:
20202 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20205 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20208 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20211 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20212 in all Gnus buffers.
20214 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20217 @item gnus-mouse-face
20218 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20219 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20220 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20224 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20228 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20229 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20230 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20232 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20233 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20234 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20236 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20237 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20238 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20240 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20241 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20242 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20244 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20245 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20246 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20248 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20249 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20250 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20261 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20262 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20263 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20264 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20265 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
20269 @vindex gnus-carpal
20270 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
20271 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
20272 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
20277 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20278 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20279 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
20281 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
20282 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
20283 Face used on buttons.
20285 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
20286 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
20287 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
20289 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20290 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20291 Buttons in the group buffer.
20293 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20294 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20295 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20297 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20298 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20299 Buttons in the server buffer.
20301 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20302 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20303 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20306 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20307 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20308 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20316 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20317 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20318 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20319 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20320 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20322 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20323 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20324 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20326 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20327 been idle for thirty minutes:
20330 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20333 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20337 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20340 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20341 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20342 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20344 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20345 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20346 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20347 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20349 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20350 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20351 @var{idle} minutes.
20353 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20354 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20357 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20358 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20359 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20361 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20362 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20363 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20364 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20366 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20367 your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20369 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20371 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20374 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20375 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20376 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20377 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20378 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20379 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20380 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20381 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20382 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20383 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20384 @file{.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
20386 @findex gnus-demon-init
20387 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20388 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20389 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20390 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20391 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20393 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20394 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20395 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20404 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20405 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20407 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20408 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20409 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20410 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20413 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20414 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20415 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20416 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20418 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20419 this will make spam disappear.
20421 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20424 @item gnus-use-nocem
20425 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20426 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20429 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20430 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20431 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20432 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20433 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20435 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20436 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20437 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20438 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20439 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20440 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20442 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20443 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20445 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20446 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20447 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20448 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20449 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20450 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20451 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20452 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20453 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20454 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20456 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20457 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20460 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20463 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20464 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20467 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20470 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20473 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20474 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20476 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20477 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20478 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20479 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20481 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20482 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20485 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20487 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20495 This might be dangerous, though.
20497 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20498 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20499 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20500 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20502 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20503 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20504 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20505 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20506 might then see old spam.
20508 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20509 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20510 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20511 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20512 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20515 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20516 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20517 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20518 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20522 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20523 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20524 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20525 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20532 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20533 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20534 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20536 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20537 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20538 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20539 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20540 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20541 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20542 @code{undo} function.
20544 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20545 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20546 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20547 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20548 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20549 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20550 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20551 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20552 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20553 never be totally undoable.
20555 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20556 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20558 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20559 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20560 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20561 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20565 @node Predicate Specifiers
20566 @section Predicate Specifiers
20567 @cindex predicate specifiers
20569 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20570 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20571 to type all that much.
20573 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20578 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20579 gnus-article-unread-p)
20582 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20583 functions all take one parameter.
20585 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20586 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20587 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20588 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20593 @section Moderation
20596 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20597 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20598 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20601 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20605 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20608 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20610 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20615 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20616 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20617 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20620 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20621 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20624 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20625 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20629 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20632 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20633 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20637 @node Image Enhancements
20638 @section Image Enhancements
20640 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20641 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20644 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20645 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20646 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20647 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
20648 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20661 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20662 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20663 over your shoulder as you read news.
20666 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
20667 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
20668 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
20669 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
20670 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
20675 @subsubsection Picon Basics
20677 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20686 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20687 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20688 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20689 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20690 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20691 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20692 @code{GIF} formats.
20695 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20696 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
20697 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
20698 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
20699 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
20701 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20702 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
20703 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
20704 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
20705 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
20706 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20708 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20709 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20712 @node Picon Requirements
20713 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
20715 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must have @code{x} support
20716 compiled into XEmacs. To display color picons which are much nicer
20717 than the black & white one, you also need one of @code{xpm} or
20718 @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
20720 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20721 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
20722 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
20723 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
20724 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
20725 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20728 @subsubsection Easy Picons
20730 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
20731 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
20734 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
20735 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
20738 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
20739 containing the Picons databases.
20741 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
20744 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20745 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
20750 @subsubsection Hard Picons
20758 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
20759 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
20760 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
20761 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
20762 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
20767 @item gnus-picons-database
20768 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20769 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
20770 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20771 subdirectories. This is only useful if
20772 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
20773 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
20775 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20776 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20777 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
20778 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
20779 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
20780 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
20781 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20783 @item gnus-picons-display-where
20784 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20785 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
20786 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
20787 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
20788 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
20789 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
20790 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
20792 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20793 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20794 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
20799 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
20800 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
20802 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
20803 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
20806 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20808 @item gnus-article-display-picons
20809 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
20810 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
20811 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
20813 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20814 @findex gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20815 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
20816 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the function name, not @code{xface})
20822 @node Picon Useless Configuration
20823 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
20831 The following variables offer further control over how things are
20832 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
20833 don't need to worry about.
20837 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
20838 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
20839 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20840 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20842 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
20843 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
20844 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
20845 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
20847 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
20848 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
20849 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20850 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20851 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20853 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20854 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20855 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
20856 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
20857 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
20858 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
20859 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
20860 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20862 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20863 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20864 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
20865 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
20866 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20868 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20869 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20870 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
20871 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
20872 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
20873 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
20874 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
20876 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20877 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20878 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
20879 Defaults to @code{nil}.
20881 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
20882 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
20883 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
20884 Defaults to @code{t}.
20886 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20887 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20888 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20889 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
20891 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
20892 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
20893 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
20895 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20896 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20897 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
20898 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
20900 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
20901 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
20903 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20904 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20905 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
20906 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
20907 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
20908 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
20909 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
20910 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
20921 @subsection Smileys
20926 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20931 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20932 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20934 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20935 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20938 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20941 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
20942 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20943 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20944 text and maps that to file names.
20946 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
20947 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
20948 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
20949 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
20950 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
20951 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
20953 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
20954 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
20956 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
20957 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
20958 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
20960 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20961 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
20965 @item smiley-data-directory
20966 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20967 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20969 @item smiley-flesh-color
20970 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
20971 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
20973 @item smiley-features-color
20974 @vindex smiley-features-color
20975 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20977 @item smiley-tongue-color
20978 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
20979 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
20981 @item smiley-circle-color
20982 @vindex smiley-circle-color
20983 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20985 @item smiley-mouse-face
20986 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
20987 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20996 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20997 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20998 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
21002 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
21003 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
21004 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
21005 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
21013 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
21014 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
21015 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
21016 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
21018 The variable that controls this is the
21019 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
21020 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
21021 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
21022 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
21023 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
21025 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
21026 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
21027 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
21028 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
21031 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
21032 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
21033 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
21034 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
21035 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
21036 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
21037 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
21038 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
21040 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
21043 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
21044 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
21046 @findex gnus-random-x-face
21047 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
21048 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
21049 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
21050 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
21051 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
21052 header data as a string.
21054 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
21055 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
21056 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
21057 randomly generated data.
21059 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
21060 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
21061 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
21062 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
21064 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
21065 like the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
21068 (setq message-required-news-headers
21069 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21070 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
21073 Using the last function would be something like this:
21076 (setq message-required-news-headers
21077 (nconc message-required-news-headers
21078 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
21079 (gnus-x-face-from-file
21080 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
21085 @subsection Toolbar
21095 @item gnus-use-toolbar
21096 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
21097 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
21098 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
21099 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
21101 @item gnus-group-toolbar
21102 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
21103 The toolbar in the group buffer.
21105 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
21106 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
21107 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
21109 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21110 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
21111 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
21117 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
21120 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21121 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
21122 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
21123 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
21124 unusual directory structure.
21126 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21127 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
21128 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
21129 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
21131 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21132 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
21133 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
21134 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
21135 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
21136 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
21138 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21139 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21140 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21154 @node Fuzzy Matching
21155 @section Fuzzy Matching
21156 @cindex fuzzy matching
21158 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21159 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21161 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21162 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21163 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21165 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21166 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21167 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21168 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21169 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21172 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21173 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21177 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21179 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21180 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21181 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21182 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21183 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21184 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21185 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21186 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21189 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21190 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21191 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21192 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21193 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21194 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21196 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21199 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21200 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21201 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21202 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21203 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21204 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21207 @node The problem of spam
21208 @subsection The problem of spam
21210 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21211 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21213 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21215 First, some background on spam.
21217 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21218 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21219 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21220 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21221 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21222 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21223 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21224 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21226 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21227 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21228 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21229 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21230 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21231 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21232 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21233 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21234 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21237 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21238 spam messages per day from @email{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21239 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21240 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21241 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21242 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21243 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21244 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21245 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21246 mail can be useful.
21248 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21249 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21250 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21251 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21252 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21253 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21254 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21255 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21256 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21258 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21259 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21260 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21261 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21262 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21263 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21264 because of the incident.
21266 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21267 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21268 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21269 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21270 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21271 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21272 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21273 to store the database of spam analyses.
21275 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21276 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21280 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21282 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21283 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21285 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21286 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21287 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21288 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21289 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21290 part of the mail address.)
21293 (setq message-default-news-headers
21294 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21297 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21298 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21303 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21304 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21305 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21311 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21312 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21313 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21314 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21316 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21317 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21318 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21319 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21320 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21321 your fancy split rule in this way:
21326 (to "larsi" "misc")
21330 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21331 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21332 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21333 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21334 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21336 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21337 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21338 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21339 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21340 cosmic balance somewhat.
21342 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21343 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21344 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21345 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21350 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21351 @cindex SpamAssassin
21352 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21355 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21356 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21357 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21358 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21359 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21360 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21361 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21363 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21364 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21365 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21366 Specifiers}) follows.
21370 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21373 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21376 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21377 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21378 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21381 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21385 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21388 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21389 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21393 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21394 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21395 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21396 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21399 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21401 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21403 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21404 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21406 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21408 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21409 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21413 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21414 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21415 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21418 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21419 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21421 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21422 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21423 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21427 @subsection Hashcash
21430 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21431 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21432 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21433 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21434 in smaller communities.
21436 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21437 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21438 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21439 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21440 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21441 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21442 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21443 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21444 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21445 one of them separately.
21448 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21449 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21450 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21451 header. For more details, and for the external application
21452 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21453 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21454 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21456 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21460 (require 'hashcash)
21461 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21464 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21465 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21466 development contrib directory.
21468 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21472 @item hashcash-default-payment
21473 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21474 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21475 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21476 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21478 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21479 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21480 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21481 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21482 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21483 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21484 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21485 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21489 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21493 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21494 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21495 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21496 a useful contribution, however.
21498 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21499 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21500 @cindex spam filtering
21503 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
21504 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
21505 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
21506 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
21509 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
21510 the following keyboard commands:
21520 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
21521 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
21523 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{H} mark.
21524 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
21525 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
21526 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
21532 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
21533 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
21535 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
21541 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
21542 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
21545 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
21546 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
21547 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
21548 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
21549 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
21550 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
21551 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
21552 will be detected later.
21554 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
21555 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
21556 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
21557 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
21558 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
21559 by customizing the corresponding variable
21560 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
21561 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
21562 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
21563 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
21564 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
21565 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
21566 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
21569 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
21570 they get the @samp{H} mark when you enter the group. You must review
21571 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{H} mark for
21572 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{H}
21573 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to "unread" the article, or @kbd{d} for
21574 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
21575 spam-marked (@samp{H}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
21576 will study them as spam samples.
21578 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
21579 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
21580 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
21581 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
21582 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
21583 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
21584 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
21585 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
21587 @defvar spam-ham-marks
21588 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21589 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
21590 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
21593 @defvar spam-spam-marks
21594 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21595 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
21598 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
21599 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
21600 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
21601 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
21602 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
21603 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{H},
21606 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
21607 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
21608 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
21609 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
21610 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
21611 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
21612 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
21613 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
21614 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
21615 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
21616 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
21618 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
21619 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
21621 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
21622 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
21623 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
21624 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
21625 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
21626 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
21627 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
21628 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
21629 the spam articles are only expired.
21631 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
21632 must add the following to your fancy split list
21633 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
21639 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
21640 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
21641 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
21643 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
21644 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
21645 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
21646 but you can customize it.
21648 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
21650 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
21651 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
21652 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
21653 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
21654 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
21655 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
21656 because it will slow IMAP down.
21658 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
21660 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
21661 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
21662 longer spam or ham.}
21664 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
21665 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
21668 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
21669 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
21672 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
21673 * BBDB Whitelists::
21676 * ifile spam filtering::
21677 * spam-stat spam filtering::
21678 * Extending the spam elisp package::
21681 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
21682 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
21683 @cindex spam filtering
21684 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
21685 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
21688 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
21689 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
21690 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
21691 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
21692 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
21696 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
21697 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
21698 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
21699 whitelist will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an
21700 implicit filter, meaning it believes everyone to be a spammer unless
21701 told otherwise. Use with care.
21704 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
21705 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21706 customizing the group parameters or the
21707 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21708 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21709 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
21712 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
21713 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21714 customizing the group parameters or the
21715 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21716 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21717 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21718 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21719 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21722 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
21723 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
21724 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
21725 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
21726 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
21728 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
21729 legitimate. All non-whitelisted addresses are considered spammers.
21730 This option is probably not useful for most Gnus users unless the
21731 whitelists is very comprehensive or permissive. Also see @ref{BBDB
21732 Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the Emacs regular expression
21735 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
21736 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
21737 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
21738 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
21739 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
21740 @file{blacklist} respectively.
21742 @node BBDB Whitelists
21743 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
21744 @cindex spam filtering
21745 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
21746 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
21749 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
21751 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
21752 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted addresses,
21753 without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded for
21754 @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Only addresses in the BBDB
21755 will be allowed through; all others will be classified as spam.
21759 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
21760 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21761 customizing the group parameters or the
21762 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21763 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21764 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21765 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21766 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21770 @subsubsection Blackholes
21771 @cindex spam filtering
21772 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
21775 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
21777 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
21778 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
21779 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
21780 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
21781 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
21782 contains outdated servers.
21784 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
21785 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
21786 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
21787 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
21788 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
21789 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
21793 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
21795 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
21799 @defvar spam-use-dig
21801 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
21802 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
21806 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
21807 ham processor for blackholes.
21810 @subsubsection Bogofilter
21811 @cindex spam filtering
21812 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
21815 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
21817 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21820 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{H} mark for spam
21821 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
21822 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
21823 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
21824 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
21825 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
21827 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
21828 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
21831 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
21832 processing will be turned off.
21834 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
21838 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
21840 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21841 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
21842 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
21843 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
21844 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
21845 installation documents for details.
21847 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
21851 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
21852 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21853 customizing the group parameters or the
21854 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21855 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
21856 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
21859 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
21860 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21861 customizing the group parameters or the
21862 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21863 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21864 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
21865 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21866 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21869 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
21871 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
21872 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
21873 database directory.
21877 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
21878 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21879 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
21880 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
21881 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
21882 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
21884 @node ifile spam filtering
21885 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
21886 @cindex spam filtering
21887 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
21890 @defvar spam-use-ifile
21892 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
21893 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
21897 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
21899 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
21900 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
21901 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
21905 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
21907 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
21908 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
21909 the default value of @samp{spam}.
21912 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
21914 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
21915 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
21919 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
21920 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21921 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
21922 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
21925 @node spam-stat spam filtering
21926 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
21927 @cindex spam filtering
21928 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
21932 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
21934 @defvar spam-use-stat
21936 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
21937 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
21941 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
21942 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21943 customizing the group parameters or the
21944 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21945 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
21946 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
21949 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
21950 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21951 customizing the group parameters or the
21952 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21953 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21954 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
21955 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21956 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21959 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
21960 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
21961 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
21962 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
21965 @node Extending the spam elisp package
21966 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
21967 @cindex spam filtering
21968 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
21969 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
21971 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
21972 incoming mail, provide the following:
21980 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
21981 "True if blackbox should be used.")
21986 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
21988 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
21993 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
21994 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
21995 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
21998 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
22005 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
22006 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
22009 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22010 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
22011 Only applicable to spam groups.")
22013 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
22014 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
22015 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
22023 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
22024 (spam-generic-register-routine
22025 ;; the spam function
22027 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22028 (when (stringp from)
22029 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
22030 ;; the ham function
22033 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
22034 (spam-generic-register-routine
22035 ;; the spam function
22037 ;; the ham function
22039 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
22040 (when (stringp from)
22041 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
22044 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
22045 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
22046 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
22047 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
22048 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
22049 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
22054 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22055 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
22056 @cindex Paul Graham
22057 @cindex Graham, Paul
22058 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
22059 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
22060 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
22062 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
22063 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
22064 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
22065 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
22066 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
22067 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
22068 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
22069 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
22070 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
22073 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
22074 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
22075 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
22076 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
22077 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
22078 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
22079 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
22080 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
22082 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
22083 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
22084 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
22085 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
22086 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
22089 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
22090 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
22091 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
22094 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22095 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
22097 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
22098 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
22099 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
22100 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
22101 need several hundred emails in both collections.
22103 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
22104 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
22105 per mail. Use the following:
22107 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
22108 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
22109 is treated as one spam mail.
22112 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
22113 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
22114 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
22117 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
22118 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
22119 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
22120 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
22121 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
22122 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
22124 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
22125 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
22126 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
22127 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
22128 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
22131 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
22132 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
22133 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
22134 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
22137 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
22138 reset the dictionary.
22140 @defun spam-stat-reset
22141 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22144 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22145 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22146 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22147 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22148 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22149 only non-spam mails.
22151 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22152 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22153 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22156 @defun spam-stat-save
22157 Save the dictionary.
22160 @defvar spam-stat-file
22161 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22162 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22165 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22166 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22168 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22169 following to your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22172 (require 'spam-stat)
22176 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22179 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22180 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22181 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22182 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22184 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22185 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22186 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22187 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22190 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22191 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22195 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22196 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22199 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22200 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22201 expression are considered potential spam.
22204 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22205 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22206 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22210 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22211 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22212 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22213 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22214 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22217 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22218 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22219 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22223 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22224 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22225 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22226 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22227 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22231 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22232 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22233 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22234 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22239 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22240 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22242 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22244 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22245 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22246 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22249 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22250 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22251 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22254 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22255 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22256 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22257 already been processed as non-spam.
22260 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22261 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22262 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22263 been processed as spam.
22266 @defun spam-stat-save
22267 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22268 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22271 @defun spam-stat-load
22272 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22273 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22276 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22277 Return the spam score for a word.
22280 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22281 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22284 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22285 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22286 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22289 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22290 following in your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22293 (require 'spam-stat)
22297 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22300 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22301 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22302 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22303 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22304 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22305 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22306 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22307 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22308 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22309 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22310 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22311 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22312 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22313 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22316 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22319 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22320 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22321 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22322 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22323 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22324 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22327 @node Various Various
22328 @section Various Various
22334 @item gnus-home-directory
22335 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22336 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22338 @item gnus-directory
22339 @vindex gnus-directory
22340 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22341 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22342 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22344 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22345 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22346 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22347 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22349 @item gnus-default-directory
22350 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22351 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22352 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22353 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22354 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22355 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22356 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22359 @vindex gnus-verbose
22360 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22361 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22362 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22363 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22364 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22366 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22367 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22368 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22369 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22371 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22372 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22373 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22374 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22375 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22376 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22377 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22378 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22379 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22380 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22382 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22383 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22384 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22385 read when doing the operation described above.
22387 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22388 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22390 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22391 @cindex characters in file names
22392 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22393 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22394 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22397 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22401 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22402 Windows (phooey) systems.
22404 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22405 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22406 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22407 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22408 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
22410 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
22411 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
22412 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
22413 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
22414 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
22416 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
22417 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
22418 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
22420 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22421 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22423 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
22424 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
22425 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
22426 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
22429 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
22437 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
22438 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
22440 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
22442 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
22448 Not because of victories @*
22451 but for the common sunshine,@*
22453 the largess of the spring.
22457 but for the day's work done@*
22458 as well as I was able;@*
22459 not for a seat upon the dais@*
22460 but at the common table.@*
22465 @chapter Appendices
22468 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
22469 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
22470 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
22471 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
22472 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
22473 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
22474 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
22475 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
22476 * Frequently Asked Questions::
22483 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
22485 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
22486 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
22487 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
22488 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
22489 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
22490 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
22497 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
22498 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
22500 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
22501 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
22502 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
22503 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
22504 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
22506 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
22507 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
22508 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
22509 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
22510 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
22511 appropriate name, don't you think?)
22513 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
22514 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
22515 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
22516 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
22519 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
22520 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
22521 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
22522 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
22523 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
22524 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
22525 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
22526 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
22527 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
22531 @node Gnus Versions
22532 @subsection Gnus Versions
22534 @cindex September Gnus
22536 @cindex Quassia Gnus
22537 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
22541 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
22542 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
22543 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
22545 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
22546 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
22548 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
22549 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
22551 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
22552 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
22554 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
22555 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
22558 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
22560 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
22561 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
22562 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
22563 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
22564 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
22565 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
22568 @node Other Gnus Versions
22569 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
22572 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
22573 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
22574 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
22575 @sc{mime} capabilities.
22577 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
22578 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
22579 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
22580 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
22587 What's the point of Gnus?
22589 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
22590 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
22591 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
22592 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
22593 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
22594 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
22595 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
22596 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
22597 keep track of millions of people who post?
22599 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
22600 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
22601 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
22602 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
22603 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
22604 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
22605 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
22606 every one of you to explore and invent.
22608 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
22609 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
22612 @node Compatibility
22613 @subsection Compatibility
22615 @cindex compatibility
22616 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
22617 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
22618 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
22623 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
22627 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
22630 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
22633 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
22634 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
22635 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
22636 important variables have their values copied into their global
22637 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
22638 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
22640 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
22641 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
22642 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
22643 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
22644 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
22648 @cindex highlighting
22649 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
22650 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
22651 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
22652 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
22653 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
22654 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
22657 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
22658 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
22659 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
22660 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
22662 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
22663 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
22664 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
22665 to stop doing it the old way.
22667 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
22669 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22671 @cindex reporting bugs
22673 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
22674 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
22675 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
22677 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
22678 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
22679 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
22680 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
22685 @subsection Conformity
22687 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
22688 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
22696 There are no known breaches of this standard.
22700 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
22702 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
22703 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
22704 We do have some breaches to this one.
22710 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
22711 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
22712 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
22713 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
22714 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
22719 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
22720 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
22721 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
22722 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
22724 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
22726 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
22728 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
22729 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
22731 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
22734 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
22735 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
22736 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
22737 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
22738 decoding (verification and decryption).
22740 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
22741 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
22742 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
22743 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
22745 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
22746 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
22748 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
22749 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
22750 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
22751 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
22752 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
22753 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
22754 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
22758 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
22759 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
22764 @subsection Emacsen
22770 Gnus should work on :
22778 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
22782 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
22783 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
22786 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
22787 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
22788 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
22792 @node Gnus Development
22793 @subsection Gnus Development
22795 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
22796 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
22797 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
22798 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
22799 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
22800 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
22801 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
22802 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
22804 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
22805 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
22806 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
22807 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
22808 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
22811 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
22812 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
22813 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
22814 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
22815 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
22817 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
22818 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
22819 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
22820 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
22821 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
22822 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
22823 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
22824 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
22825 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
22826 can't be assumed to do so.
22831 @subsection Contributors
22832 @cindex contributors
22834 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
22835 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
22836 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
22837 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
22838 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
22839 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
22840 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
22841 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
22842 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
22843 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
22845 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
22851 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
22854 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
22855 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
22856 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
22857 functionality and stuff.
22860 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
22861 well as numerous other things).
22864 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
22867 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
22870 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
22873 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
22876 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
22877 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
22880 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
22883 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
22884 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22887 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
22890 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
22893 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
22896 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
22899 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
22900 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
22903 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
22906 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
22909 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
22912 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
22916 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
22919 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
22922 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
22925 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
22926 well as autoconf support.
22930 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
22931 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
22933 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
22942 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
22946 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
22956 Alexei V. Barantsev,
22971 Massimo Campostrini,
22976 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
22977 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
22981 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
22984 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
22990 Michael Welsh Duggan,
22995 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
22999 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
23007 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
23009 Michelangelo Grigni,
23013 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
23015 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
23017 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
23024 François Felix Ingrand,
23025 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
23026 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
23028 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
23039 Peter Skov Knudsen,
23040 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
23042 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
23043 Thor Kristoffersen,
23046 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
23064 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
23065 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
23072 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
23077 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
23081 John McClary Prevost,
23087 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
23092 Christian von Roques,
23095 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
23102 Philippe Schnoebelen,
23104 Randal L. Schwartz,
23118 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
23123 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23139 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
23144 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23145 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23146 (550kB and counting).
23148 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23151 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23152 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23156 @subsection New Features
23157 @cindex new features
23160 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23161 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23162 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23163 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23164 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23167 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23168 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23169 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23172 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23174 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23179 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23180 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23183 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23184 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23187 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23190 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23191 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23192 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23195 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23196 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23197 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23198 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23201 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23202 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23205 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23206 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23207 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23210 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23211 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23214 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23215 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23216 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23219 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23220 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23221 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23224 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus.el}) to avoid cluttering up
23225 the @file{.emacs} file.
23228 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23229 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23232 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23233 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23236 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23237 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23240 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23241 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23244 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23245 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23248 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23251 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23252 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23255 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23256 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23259 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23260 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23263 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23266 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23267 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23270 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23274 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23278 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23279 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23282 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23288 @node September Gnus
23289 @subsubsection September Gnus
23293 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23297 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23302 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23303 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23307 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23308 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23312 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23316 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23317 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23320 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23324 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23327 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23330 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23333 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23337 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23338 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23341 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23345 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23349 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23353 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23357 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23360 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23361 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23364 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23368 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23369 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23372 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23375 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23376 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23377 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23380 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23384 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23387 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23391 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23392 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23395 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23396 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23399 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23400 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
23403 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
23404 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
23405 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
23408 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
23409 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
23412 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
23415 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23418 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
23421 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
23424 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
23425 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
23428 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
23432 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
23435 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
23440 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
23443 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
23447 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23450 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
23454 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
23457 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
23460 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
23461 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23464 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
23465 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
23469 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
23470 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
23473 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
23477 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
23478 buffer to allow easier treatment.
23481 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
23484 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
23488 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
23492 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
23493 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
23496 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
23500 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
23501 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23504 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
23505 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23508 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
23512 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23515 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
23518 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
23524 @subsubsection Red Gnus
23526 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
23530 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
23537 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
23540 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
23541 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23544 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
23545 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
23549 Article washing status can be displayed in the
23550 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
23553 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
23556 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
23557 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
23560 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
23564 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
23565 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
23569 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
23570 Server Internals}).
23573 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
23577 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
23580 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
23581 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
23584 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
23585 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
23586 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
23589 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
23590 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23593 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
23594 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
23597 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
23601 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
23602 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23605 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
23606 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23609 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
23613 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
23616 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
23620 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
23621 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23624 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
23625 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23628 A new command for reading collections of documents
23629 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
23630 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
23633 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
23637 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
23638 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
23641 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
23642 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
23643 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
23646 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
23647 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
23651 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
23655 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
23659 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
23664 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
23668 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
23672 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
23673 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
23676 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
23682 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
23684 New features in Gnus 5.6:
23689 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
23690 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
23691 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
23694 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
23695 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
23696 group, which is created automatically.
23699 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
23703 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
23706 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
23707 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
23710 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
23714 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
23717 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
23718 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
23721 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
23724 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
23725 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
23728 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
23729 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
23732 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
23733 control over simplification.
23736 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
23739 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
23743 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
23746 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
23749 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
23750 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
23751 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
23754 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
23755 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
23758 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
23762 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
23763 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
23766 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
23767 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
23770 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
23774 A history of where mails have been split is available.
23777 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
23780 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
23781 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
23784 A new function for citing in Message has been
23785 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
23788 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
23791 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
23795 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
23796 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
23799 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
23800 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
23803 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
23806 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
23810 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
23811 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
23813 New features in Gnus 5.8:
23818 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
23819 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
23821 If you used procmail like in
23824 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
23825 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
23826 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
23827 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
23830 this now has changed to
23834 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
23838 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
23839 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
23842 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
23843 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
23846 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
23847 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
23850 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
23851 called to position point.
23854 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
23855 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
23858 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
23859 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
23862 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
23863 subtly different manner.
23866 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
23867 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
23868 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
23871 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
23879 @section The Manual
23883 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
23884 either @code{texi2dvi}
23886 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
23887 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
23889 to get what you hold in your hands now.
23891 The following conventions have been used:
23896 This is a @samp{string}
23899 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
23902 This is a @file{file}
23905 This is a @code{symbol}
23909 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
23913 (setq flargnoze "yes")
23916 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
23919 (setq flumphel 'yes)
23922 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
23923 ever get them confused.
23927 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
23928 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
23929 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
23930 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
23931 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
23932 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
23933 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
23939 @node On Writing Manuals
23940 @section On Writing Manuals
23942 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
23943 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
23944 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
23945 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
23946 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
23947 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
23950 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
23951 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
23952 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
23955 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
23956 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
23961 @section Terminology
23963 @cindex terminology
23968 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
23969 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
23970 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
23971 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
23972 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
23976 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
23977 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
23978 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
23979 not posting, and replying is not following up.
23983 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
23987 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
23992 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
23993 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
23994 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
23995 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
23996 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
23997 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
23998 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
23999 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
24000 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
24002 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
24003 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
24004 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
24005 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
24006 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
24009 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
24010 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
24011 access the articles.
24013 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
24014 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
24015 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
24020 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
24021 default, way of getting news.
24025 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
24026 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
24031 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
24032 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
24036 A message that has been posted as news.
24039 @cindex mail message
24040 A message that has been mailed.
24044 A mail message or news article
24048 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
24053 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
24058 A line from the head of an article.
24062 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
24063 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
24067 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
24068 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
24069 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
24070 normal @sc{head} format.
24074 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
24075 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
24076 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
24077 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
24078 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
24079 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
24081 @item killed groups
24082 @cindex killed groups
24083 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
24084 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
24086 @item zombie groups
24087 @cindex zombie groups
24088 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
24091 @cindex active file
24092 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
24093 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
24094 is rather large, as you might surmise.
24097 @cindex bogus groups
24098 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
24099 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
24100 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
24103 @cindex activating groups
24104 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
24105 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
24106 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
24110 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
24112 @item select method
24113 @cindex select method
24114 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
24117 @item virtual server
24118 @cindex virtual server
24119 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
24120 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
24121 whole is a virtual server.
24125 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
24126 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
24129 @item ephemeral groups
24130 @cindex ephemeral groups
24131 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
24132 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
24133 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
24136 @cindex solid groups
24137 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
24138 group buffer are solid groups.
24140 @item sparse articles
24141 @cindex sparse articles
24142 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24143 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24147 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24148 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24152 @cindex thread root
24153 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24154 articles in the thread.
24158 An article that has responses.
24162 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24166 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24167 specified by RFC 1153.
24173 @node Customization
24174 @section Customization
24175 @cindex general customization
24177 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24178 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24179 for some quite common situations.
24182 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24183 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24184 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24185 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24189 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24190 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24192 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24193 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24194 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24198 @item gnus-read-active-file
24199 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24200 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24201 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24202 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24203 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24205 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24206 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24207 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24208 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24212 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24213 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24215 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24216 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24217 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24221 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24222 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24223 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24224 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24225 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24227 @item gnus-visible-headers
24228 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24229 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24230 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24231 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24233 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24235 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24236 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24237 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24240 @item gnus-use-full-window
24241 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24242 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24243 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24244 want to read them anyway.
24246 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24247 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24251 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24252 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24253 lines, which might save some time.
24257 @node Little Disk Space
24258 @subsection Little Disk Space
24261 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24262 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24266 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24267 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24268 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24269 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24272 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24273 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24274 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24275 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24278 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24279 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24280 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24281 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24282 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24288 @subsection Slow Machine
24289 @cindex slow machine
24291 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24292 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24294 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24295 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24297 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24298 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24299 summary buffer faster.
24303 @node Troubleshooting
24304 @section Troubleshooting
24305 @cindex troubleshooting
24307 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24315 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24318 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24319 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24323 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24324 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
24325 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
24326 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24329 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24333 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24334 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24335 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24336 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24337 something like that.
24340 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24343 @cindex reporting bugs
24345 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24347 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24348 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24349 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24350 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24352 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24353 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24354 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24355 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24358 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24359 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24360 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24361 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24362 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24363 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24365 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24366 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24367 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24371 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24372 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24375 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24376 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24377 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24378 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24379 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24380 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24381 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24382 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24383 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24384 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24385 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24386 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24387 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24388 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24393 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24394 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24395 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press C-j when things are
24396 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24397 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24398 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24399 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
24400 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
24401 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
24402 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-packagre RET message}. Then perform
24403 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
24404 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
24405 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
24406 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
24407 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
24408 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
24409 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
24410 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
24412 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
24413 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
24415 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
24416 @cindex ding mailing list
24417 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
24418 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
24422 @node Gnus Reference Guide
24423 @section Gnus Reference Guide
24425 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
24426 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
24427 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
24428 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
24431 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
24432 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
24433 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
24434 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
24435 and general methods of operation.
24438 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
24439 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
24440 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
24441 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
24442 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
24443 * Group Info:: The group info format.
24444 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
24445 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
24446 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
24450 @node Gnus Utility Functions
24451 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
24452 @cindex Gnus utility functions
24453 @cindex utility functions
24455 @cindex internal variables
24457 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
24458 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
24459 Below is a list of the most common ones.
24463 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
24464 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
24465 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
24467 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
24468 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
24469 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
24471 @item gnus-group-real-name
24472 @findex gnus-group-real-name
24473 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
24476 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
24477 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
24478 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
24479 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
24481 @item gnus-get-info
24482 @findex gnus-get-info
24483 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
24485 @item gnus-group-unread
24486 @findex gnus-group-unread
24487 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
24491 @findex gnus-active
24492 The active entry for @var{group}.
24494 @item gnus-set-active
24495 @findex gnus-set-active
24496 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
24498 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24499 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24500 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
24503 @item gnus-continuum-version
24504 @findex gnus-continuum-version
24505 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
24506 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
24509 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
24510 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
24511 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
24513 @item gnus-news-group-p
24514 @findex gnus-news-group-p
24515 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
24517 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24518 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24519 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
24521 @item gnus-server-to-method
24522 @findex gnus-server-to-method
24523 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
24525 @item gnus-server-equal
24526 @findex gnus-server-equal
24527 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
24529 @item gnus-group-native-p
24530 @findex gnus-group-native-p
24531 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
24533 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
24534 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
24535 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
24537 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
24538 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
24539 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
24541 @item group-group-find-parameter
24542 @findex group-group-find-parameter
24543 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
24544 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
24546 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
24547 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
24548 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
24550 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
24551 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
24552 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
24554 @item gnus-check-backend-function
24555 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
24556 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
24557 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
24560 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
24564 @item gnus-read-method
24565 @findex gnus-read-method
24566 Prompts the user for a select method.
24571 @node Back End Interface
24572 @subsection Back End Interface
24574 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
24575 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
24576 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
24577 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
24578 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
24579 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
24581 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
24582 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
24583 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
24584 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
24585 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
24586 been opened, the function should fail.
24588 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
24589 name. Take this example:
24593 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
24594 (nntp-port-number 4324))
24597 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
24598 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
24600 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
24601 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
24602 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
24604 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
24605 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
24606 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
24608 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
24609 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
24610 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
24611 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
24612 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
24613 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
24616 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
24617 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
24618 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
24619 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
24622 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
24623 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
24624 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
24625 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
24626 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
24627 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
24628 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
24629 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
24630 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
24631 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
24633 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
24634 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
24635 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
24636 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
24637 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
24638 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
24639 of numbers as long as possible.
24641 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
24642 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
24643 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
24645 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
24648 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
24651 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
24652 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
24653 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
24654 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
24655 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
24656 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
24660 @node Required Back End Functions
24661 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
24665 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
24667 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
24668 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
24669 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
24670 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
24672 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
24673 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
24674 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
24675 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
24677 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
24678 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
24679 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
24680 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
24681 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
24682 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
24683 number, do maximum fetches.
24685 Here's an example HEAD:
24688 221 1056 Article retrieved.
24689 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
24690 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
24691 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
24692 Subject: Re: Something very droll
24693 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
24694 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
24696 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
24697 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
24698 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
24702 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
24703 these in the data buffer.
24705 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
24709 head = error / valid-head
24710 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
24711 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
24712 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
24713 header = <text> eol
24716 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
24717 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
24721 nov-buffer = *nov-line
24722 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
24723 field = <text except TAB>
24726 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
24730 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
24732 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
24733 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
24735 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
24736 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
24737 server. In fact, it should do so.
24739 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
24740 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
24743 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
24745 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
24746 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
24749 There should be no data returned.
24752 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
24754 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
24755 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
24756 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
24757 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
24759 There should be no data returned.
24762 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
24764 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
24765 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
24766 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
24767 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
24769 There should be no data returned.
24772 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
24774 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
24776 There should be no data returned.
24779 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
24781 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
24782 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
24783 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
24784 it would be nice if that were possible.
24786 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
24787 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
24788 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
24789 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
24790 into its article buffer.
24792 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
24793 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
24794 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
24795 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
24796 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
24797 on successful article retrieval.
24800 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
24802 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
24803 making @var{group} the current group.
24805 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
24808 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
24811 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
24814 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
24815 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
24816 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
24817 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
24818 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
24819 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
24820 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
24821 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
24822 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
24826 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
24827 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
24828 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
24832 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24834 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
24835 a no-op on most back ends.
24837 There should be no data returned.
24840 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
24842 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
24845 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
24848 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
24849 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
24852 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
24853 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
24854 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
24855 and the highest as 0.
24858 active-file = *active-line
24859 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
24861 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
24864 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
24865 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
24866 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
24869 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
24871 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
24872 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
24873 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
24874 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
24875 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
24876 clear if the posting could not be completed.
24878 There should be no result data from this function.
24883 @node Optional Back End Functions
24884 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
24888 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
24890 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
24891 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
24892 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
24894 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
24895 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
24896 former is in the same format as the data from
24897 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
24898 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
24901 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
24905 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
24907 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
24908 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
24909 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
24910 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
24911 should return a non-nil value.
24913 There should be no result data from this function.
24916 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
24918 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
24919 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
24920 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
24921 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
24922 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
24923 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
24924 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
24925 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
24927 There should be no result data from this function.
24930 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
24932 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
24933 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
24934 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
24935 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
24936 propagate the mark information to the server.
24938 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
24941 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
24944 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
24945 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
24946 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
24947 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
24948 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
24949 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
24950 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
24951 possible, not limit itself to these.
24953 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
24954 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
24955 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
24956 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
24958 An example action list:
24961 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
24962 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
24963 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
24966 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
24967 mark on (currently not used for anything).
24969 There should be no result data from this function.
24971 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
24973 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
24974 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
24975 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
24976 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
24977 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
24979 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
24980 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
24981 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
24984 There should be no result data from this function.
24987 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
24989 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
24990 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
24991 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
24992 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
24993 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
24994 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
24995 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
24997 There should be no result data from this function.
25000 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
25002 The result data from this function should be a description of
25006 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
25008 description = <text>
25011 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
25013 The result data from this function should be the description of all
25014 groups available on the server.
25017 description-buffer = *description-line
25021 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
25023 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
25024 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
25025 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
25026 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
25027 in the active buffer format.
25029 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
25030 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
25031 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
25032 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
25033 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
25034 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
25035 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
25038 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
25040 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
25042 There should be no return data.
25045 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
25047 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
25048 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
25049 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
25050 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
25051 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
25054 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
25057 There should be no result data returned.
25060 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
25063 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
25064 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
25066 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
25067 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
25068 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
25069 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
25070 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
25071 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
25073 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
25074 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
25077 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25078 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25080 There should be no data returned.
25083 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
25085 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
25086 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
25087 this function in short order.
25089 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
25090 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
25092 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
25093 article for that group.
25095 There should be no data returned.
25098 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
25100 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
25101 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
25103 There should be no data returned.
25106 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
25108 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
25109 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
25110 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
25112 There should be no data returned.
25115 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
25117 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
25118 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
25120 There should be no data returned.
25125 @node Error Messaging
25126 @subsubsection Error Messaging
25128 @findex nnheader-report
25129 @findex nnheader-get-report
25130 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
25131 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
25132 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
25133 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
25134 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
25135 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
25138 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25140 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25143 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25144 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25145 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25146 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25148 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25149 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25150 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25153 @node Writing New Back Ends
25154 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25156 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25157 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25158 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25159 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25160 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25163 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25164 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25165 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25167 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25168 package called @code{nnoo}.
25170 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25171 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25177 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25178 parameters. For instance:
25181 (nnoo-declare nndir
25185 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25186 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25189 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25190 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25191 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25193 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25194 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25195 a function in those back ends.
25198 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25199 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25200 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25203 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25204 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25205 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25207 @item nnoo-define-basics
25208 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25212 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25216 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25217 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25218 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25220 @item nnoo-map-functions
25221 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25222 functions from the parent back ends.
25225 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25226 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25227 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25230 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25231 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25232 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25233 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25236 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25237 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25238 haven't already been defined.
25244 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25248 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25249 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25250 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25255 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25258 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25259 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25263 (require 'nnheader)
25267 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25269 (nnoo-declare nndir
25272 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25273 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25274 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25276 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25277 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25280 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25282 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25283 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25284 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25286 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25287 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25289 ;;; Interface functions.
25291 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25293 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25294 (setq nndir-directory
25295 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25297 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25298 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25299 (push `(nndir-current-group
25300 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25301 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25303 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25304 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25306 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25308 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25309 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25310 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25311 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25312 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25316 nnmh-status-message
25318 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25324 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25325 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25327 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25328 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25329 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25330 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25331 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25333 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25334 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25339 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25342 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25344 The abilities can be:
25348 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25350 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25352 This back end supports both mail and news.
25354 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25357 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25358 articles and groups.
25360 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25361 true for almost all back ends.
25362 @item prompt-address
25363 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25364 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25365 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25369 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25370 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25372 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25373 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25374 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25375 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25378 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25379 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25380 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25383 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25384 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25387 This function takes four parameters.
25391 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25394 @item exit-function
25395 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25397 @item temp-directory
25398 Where the temporary files should be stored.
25401 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
25402 performed for one group only.
25405 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
25406 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
25407 find the article number assigned to this article.
25409 The function also uses the following variables:
25410 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
25411 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
25412 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
25413 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
25417 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
25418 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
25422 @node Score File Syntax
25423 @subsection Score File Syntax
25425 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
25426 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
25427 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
25429 Here's a typical score file:
25433 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
25440 BNF definition of a score file:
25443 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
25444 element = rule / atom
25445 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
25446 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
25447 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
25448 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
25450 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
25451 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
25452 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
25453 date-header = "date"
25454 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25455 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25456 score = "nil" / <integer>
25457 date = "nil" / <natural number>
25458 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
25459 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
25460 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
25461 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
25462 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25463 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25464 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
25465 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25466 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
25467 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
25468 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
25469 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
25470 exclude-files / read-only / touched
25471 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
25472 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
25473 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
25474 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
25475 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
25476 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
25477 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
25478 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
25479 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
25480 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
25481 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
25482 eval = "eval" space <form>
25483 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
25486 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
25489 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
25490 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
25491 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
25492 one looong line, then that's ok.
25494 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
25495 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25499 @subsection Headers
25501 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
25502 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
25503 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
25504 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
25506 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
25507 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
25508 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
25509 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
25510 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
25511 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
25512 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
25514 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
25515 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
25516 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
25517 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
25518 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
25520 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
25521 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
25527 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
25528 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
25530 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
25531 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
25532 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
25533 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
25535 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
25539 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
25542 is transformed into
25545 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
25548 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
25549 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
25552 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
25555 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
25556 is slightly tricky:
25559 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
25565 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
25568 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
25574 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
25581 and is equal to the previous range.
25583 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
25584 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
25585 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
25589 range = simple-range / normal-range
25590 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
25591 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
25592 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
25593 number *[ " " contents ]
25596 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
25597 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
25598 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
25599 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
25600 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
25605 @subsection Group Info
25607 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
25608 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
25609 describes the group.
25611 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
25612 second is a more complex one:
25615 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
25617 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
25618 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
25620 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
25623 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
25624 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
25625 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
25626 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
25627 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
25628 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
25629 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
25630 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
25631 this section is about.
25633 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
25634 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
25635 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
25637 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
25640 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
25641 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
25642 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25643 group = quote <string> quote
25644 ralevel = rank / level
25645 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25646 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
25647 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25649 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
25650 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
25651 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
25652 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
25655 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
25656 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
25659 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
25660 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
25663 @item gnus-info-group
25664 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
25665 @findex gnus-info-group
25666 @findex gnus-info-set-group
25667 Get/set the group name.
25669 @item gnus-info-rank
25670 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
25671 @findex gnus-info-rank
25672 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
25673 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
25675 @item gnus-info-level
25676 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
25677 @findex gnus-info-level
25678 @findex gnus-info-set-level
25679 Get/set the group level.
25681 @item gnus-info-score
25682 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
25683 @findex gnus-info-score
25684 @findex gnus-info-set-score
25685 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
25687 @item gnus-info-read
25688 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
25689 @findex gnus-info-read
25690 @findex gnus-info-set-read
25691 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
25693 @item gnus-info-marks
25694 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
25695 @findex gnus-info-marks
25696 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
25697 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
25699 @item gnus-info-method
25700 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
25701 @findex gnus-info-method
25702 @findex gnus-info-set-method
25703 Get/set the group select method.
25705 @item gnus-info-params
25706 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
25707 @findex gnus-info-params
25708 @findex gnus-info-set-params
25709 Get/set the group parameters.
25712 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
25713 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
25715 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
25716 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
25717 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
25718 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
25721 @node Extended Interactive
25722 @subsection Extended Interactive
25723 @cindex interactive
25724 @findex gnus-interactive
25726 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
25727 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
25728 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
25731 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
25732 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
25737 The best thing to do would have been to implement
25738 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
25739 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
25740 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
25741 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
25742 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
25743 @code{interactive}.
25745 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
25750 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
25751 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
25755 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
25756 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
25757 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
25760 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
25764 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
25768 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
25774 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
25775 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
25779 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
25780 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
25781 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
25783 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
25784 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
25785 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
25786 Gnus, that's very useful.
25788 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
25789 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
25790 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
25791 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
25792 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
25793 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
25794 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
25795 following function:
25798 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
25802 (,function ,@@args))
25806 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
25807 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
25808 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
25811 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
25812 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
25813 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
25815 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
25816 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
25817 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
25820 @node Various File Formats
25821 @subsection Various File Formats
25824 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
25825 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
25829 @node Active File Format
25830 @subsubsection Active File Format
25832 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
25833 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
25836 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
25839 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
25840 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
25841 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
25842 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
25843 no.general 1000 900 y
25846 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
25849 active = *group-line
25850 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
25851 group = <non-white-space string>
25853 high-number = <non-negative integer>
25854 low-number = <positive integer>
25855 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
25858 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
25859 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
25862 @node Newsgroups File Format
25863 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
25865 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
25866 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
25867 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
25870 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
25871 Here's the definition:
25875 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
25876 group = <non-white-space string>
25878 description = <string>
25883 @node Emacs for Heathens
25884 @section Emacs for Heathens
25886 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
25887 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
25888 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
25889 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
25890 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
25891 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
25892 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
25896 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
25897 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
25902 @subsection Keystrokes
25906 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
25909 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
25912 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
25913 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
25914 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
25915 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
25916 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
25917 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
25919 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
25920 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
25921 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
25922 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
25923 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
25924 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
25925 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
25927 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
25928 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
25929 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
25930 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
25931 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
25932 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
25933 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
25935 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
25936 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
25937 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
25938 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
25939 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
25945 @subsection Emacs Lisp
25947 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
25948 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
25949 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
25950 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
25952 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
25953 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
25954 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
25955 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
25956 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
25957 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
25958 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
25961 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
25962 write the following:
25965 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
25968 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
25969 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
25970 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
25973 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
25974 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
25975 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
25976 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
25977 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
25979 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
25980 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
25981 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
25985 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
25989 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
25992 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
25993 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
25996 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
25999 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
26000 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
26003 @include gnus-faq.texi
26023 @c Local Variables:
26025 @c coding: iso-8859-1
26027 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
26028 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
26029 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
26030 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
26031 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref