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4 @settitle Gnus 5.6.33 Manual
9 @c * Gnus: (gnus). The news reader Gnus.
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264 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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273 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
275 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
276 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
277 are preserved on all copies.
279 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
280 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
281 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
282 permission notice identical to this one.
284 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
285 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
294 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
296 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
299 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
300 are preserved on all copies.
303 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
304 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
305 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
306 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
309 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
310 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
311 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
312 permission notice identical to this one.
314 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
315 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
321 @title Gnus 5.6.33 Manual
323 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
326 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
327 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
329 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
330 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
331 are preserved on all copies.
333 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
334 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
335 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
336 permission notice identical to this one.
338 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
339 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
348 @top The Gnus Newsreader
352 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
353 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
354 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
357 This manual corresponds to Gnus 5.6.33.
368 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
369 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
371 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
372 being accused of plagiarism:
374 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
375 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
376 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
377 even read news with it!
379 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
380 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
381 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
382 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
383 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
390 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
391 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
392 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
393 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
394 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
395 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
396 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
397 * Various:: General purpose settings.
398 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
399 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
400 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
401 * Key Index:: Key Index.
405 @chapter Starting Gnus
410 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
411 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
414 @findex gnus-other-frame
415 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
416 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
417 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
419 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
420 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
421 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
423 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
424 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
427 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
428 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
429 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
430 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
431 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
432 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
433 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
434 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
435 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
436 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
437 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
441 @node Finding the News
442 @section Finding the News
445 @vindex gnus-select-method
447 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
448 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
449 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
450 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
453 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
454 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
457 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
460 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
463 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
466 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
467 certainly be much faster.
469 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
471 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
472 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
473 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
474 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
475 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
476 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
478 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
479 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
480 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
481 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
483 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
484 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
485 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
486 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
487 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
488 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
490 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
492 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
493 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
494 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
495 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
496 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
497 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
499 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
501 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
502 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
503 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
504 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
505 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
506 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
509 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
510 would typically set this variable to
513 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
518 @section The First Time
519 @cindex first time usage
521 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
522 be subscribed by default.
524 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
525 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
526 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
527 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
530 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
531 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
532 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
534 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
535 help you with most common problems.
537 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
538 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
542 @node The Server is Down
543 @section The Server is Down
544 @cindex server errors
546 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
547 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
548 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
550 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
551 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
552 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
553 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
554 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
555 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
556 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
558 @findex gnus-no-server
559 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
561 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
562 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
563 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
564 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
565 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
566 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
571 @section Slave Gnusae
574 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
575 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
576 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
577 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
579 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
582 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
583 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
584 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
585 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
586 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
587 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
588 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
590 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
591 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
592 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
593 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
594 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
595 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
596 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
597 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
599 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
600 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
603 @node Fetching a Group
604 @section Fetching a Group
605 @cindex fetching a group
607 @findex gnus-fetch-group
608 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
609 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
610 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
611 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
612 It takes the group name as a parameter.
620 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
621 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
622 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
623 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
624 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
625 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
626 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
627 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
628 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
631 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
632 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
633 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
637 @node Checking New Groups
638 @subsection Checking New Groups
640 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
641 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
642 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
643 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
644 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
645 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
646 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
647 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
648 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
649 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
651 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
652 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
653 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
654 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
655 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
656 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
657 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
658 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
659 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
660 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
661 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
663 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
664 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
665 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
666 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
667 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
668 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
671 @node Subscription Methods
672 @subsection Subscription Methods
674 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
675 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
676 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
678 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
679 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
681 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
685 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
686 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
687 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
688 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
689 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
691 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
692 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
693 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
694 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
696 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
697 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
698 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
700 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
701 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
702 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
703 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
704 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
705 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
706 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
707 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
708 up. Or something like that.
710 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
711 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
712 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
713 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
714 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
716 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
717 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
722 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
723 A closely related variable is
724 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
725 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
726 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
727 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
730 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
731 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
732 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
733 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
736 @node Filtering New Groups
737 @subsection Filtering New Groups
739 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
740 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
741 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
744 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
747 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
748 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
749 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
750 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
751 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
752 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
753 subscribing these groups.
754 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
755 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
757 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
758 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
759 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
760 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
761 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
762 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
763 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
764 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
766 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
767 Yet another variable that meddles here is
768 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
769 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
770 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
771 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
772 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
773 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
774 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
775 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
777 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
778 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
781 @node Changing Servers
782 @section Changing Servers
783 @cindex changing servers
785 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
786 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
787 very flaky and you want to use another.
789 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
790 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
794 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
795 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
796 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
797 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
800 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
801 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
802 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
803 functions more than absolutely necessary.
805 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
806 @findex gnus-change-server
807 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
808 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
809 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
810 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
811 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
813 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
814 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
815 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
816 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
817 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
819 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
820 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
821 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
822 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
823 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
824 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
828 @section Startup Files
829 @cindex startup files
834 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
835 information is traditionally stored in this file.
837 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
838 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
839 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
840 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
841 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
842 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
843 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
845 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
846 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
847 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
848 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
849 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
850 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
852 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
853 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
854 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
855 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
856 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
857 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
859 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
860 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
861 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
862 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
863 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
864 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
865 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
866 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
867 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
868 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
869 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
870 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
872 @vindex gnus-startup-file
873 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
874 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
875 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
877 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
878 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
879 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
880 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
881 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
882 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
883 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
884 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
885 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
886 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
889 (defun turn-off-backup ()
890 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
892 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
893 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
896 @vindex gnus-init-file
897 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
898 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
899 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
900 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
901 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
902 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
903 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
904 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
905 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
914 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
915 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
916 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
917 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
918 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
921 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
922 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
925 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
926 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
927 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
929 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
930 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
931 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
932 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
933 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
934 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
936 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
937 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
938 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
941 @node The Active File
942 @section The Active File
944 @cindex ignored groups
946 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
947 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
948 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
950 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
951 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
952 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
953 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
954 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
955 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
956 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
959 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
960 @c if you set it to anything else.
962 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
964 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
965 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
966 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
968 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
969 you actually subscribe to.
971 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
972 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
973 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
974 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
976 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
977 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
978 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
979 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
980 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
981 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
983 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
984 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
985 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
986 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
987 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
988 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
990 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
991 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
993 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
994 secondary select methods.
997 @node Startup Variables
998 @section Startup Variables
1002 @item gnus-load-hook
1003 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1004 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1005 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1006 times you start Gnus.
1008 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1009 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1010 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1012 @item gnus-startup-hook
1013 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1014 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1016 @item gnus-started-hook
1017 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1018 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1021 @item gnus-started-hook
1022 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1023 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1024 generating the group buffer.
1026 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1027 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1028 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1029 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1030 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1031 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1032 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1033 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1035 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1036 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1037 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1038 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1039 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1040 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1042 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1043 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1044 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1046 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1047 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1048 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1050 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1051 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1052 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1053 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1058 @node The Group Buffer
1059 @chapter The Group Buffer
1060 @cindex group buffer
1062 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1063 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1064 long as Gnus is active.
1068 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1069 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1070 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1071 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1072 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1073 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1074 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1075 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1081 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1082 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1083 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1084 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1085 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1086 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1087 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1088 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1089 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1090 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1091 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1092 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1093 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1094 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1095 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1096 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1097 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1101 @node Group Buffer Format
1102 @section Group Buffer Format
1105 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1106 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1107 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1111 @node Group Line Specification
1112 @subsection Group Line Specification
1113 @cindex group buffer format
1115 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1116 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1118 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1121 25: news.announce.newusers
1122 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1127 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1128 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1129 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1130 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1132 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1133 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1134 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1135 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1136 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1137 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1139 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1141 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1142 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1143 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1144 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1147 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1148 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1149 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1151 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1156 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1159 Whether the group is subscribed.
1162 Level of subscribedness.
1165 Number of unread articles.
1168 Number of dormant articles.
1171 Number of ticked articles.
1174 Number of read articles.
1177 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1178 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1181 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1184 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1193 Newsgroup description.
1196 @samp{m} if moderated.
1199 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1208 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1212 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1215 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1216 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1217 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1218 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1219 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1222 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1224 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1228 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1232 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1233 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1234 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1235 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1236 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1237 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1242 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1243 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1244 group, or a bogus native group.
1247 @node Group Modeline Specification
1248 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1249 @cindex group modeline
1251 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1252 The mode line can be changed by setting
1253 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1254 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1258 The native news server.
1260 The native select method.
1264 @node Group Highlighting
1265 @subsection Group Highlighting
1266 @cindex highlighting
1267 @cindex group highlighting
1269 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1270 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1271 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1272 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1273 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1275 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1279 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-1
1280 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))))
1281 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-2
1282 '((t (:foreground "SeaGreen" :bold t))))
1283 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-3
1284 '((t (:foreground "SpringGreen" :bold t))))
1285 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-4
1286 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))))
1287 (face-spec-set 'my-group-face-5
1288 '((t (:foreground "SkyBlue" :bold t))))
1290 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1291 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1292 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1293 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1294 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1295 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1298 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1300 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1307 The number of unread articles in the group.
1311 Whether the group is a mail group.
1313 The level of the group.
1315 The score of the group.
1317 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1319 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1320 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1322 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1323 topic being inserted.
1326 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1327 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1328 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1330 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1331 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1332 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1333 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1334 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1337 @node Group Maneuvering
1338 @section Group Maneuvering
1339 @cindex group movement
1341 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1342 expected, hopefully.
1348 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1349 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1350 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1356 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1357 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1358 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1362 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1363 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1367 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1368 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1372 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1373 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1374 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1378 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1379 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1380 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1383 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1389 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1390 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1391 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1396 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1397 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1398 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1402 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1403 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1404 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1407 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1408 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1409 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1410 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1414 @node Selecting a Group
1415 @section Selecting a Group
1416 @cindex group selection
1421 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1422 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1423 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1424 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1425 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1426 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1427 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1428 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1429 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1430 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1434 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1435 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1436 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1437 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1438 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1442 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1443 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1444 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1445 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1446 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1447 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1448 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1449 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1450 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1451 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1454 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1455 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1456 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1457 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1458 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1461 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1462 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1463 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1464 doing any processing of its contents
1465 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1466 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1467 manner will have no permanent effects.
1471 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1472 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1473 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1474 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1475 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1476 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1477 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1478 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1481 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1482 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1483 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1484 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1489 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1490 full summary buffer.
1493 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1496 Select the highest scored article in the group when entering the
1500 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1501 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1502 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1506 @node Subscription Commands
1507 @section Subscription Commands
1508 @cindex subscription
1516 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1517 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1518 Toggle subscription to the current group
1519 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1525 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1526 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1527 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1528 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1534 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1535 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1536 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1542 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1543 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1546 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1547 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1548 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1549 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1550 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1556 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1557 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1561 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1562 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1565 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1566 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1567 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1568 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1569 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1570 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1571 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1572 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1573 @file{.newsrc} file.
1577 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1587 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1588 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1589 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1590 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1591 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1592 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1597 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1598 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1599 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1603 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1604 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1605 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1607 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1608 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1609 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1610 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1611 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1612 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1619 @section Group Levels
1623 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1624 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1625 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1626 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1627 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1629 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1635 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1636 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1637 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1638 prompted for a level.
1641 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1642 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1643 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1644 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1645 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1646 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1647 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1648 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1649 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1650 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1651 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1652 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1653 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1654 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1655 reasons of efficiency.
1657 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1658 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1660 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1661 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1662 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1664 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1665 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1666 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1667 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1668 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1669 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1670 relevant valid ranges.
1672 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1673 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1674 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1675 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1676 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1677 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1680 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1681 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1682 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1685 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1686 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1687 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1688 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1691 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1692 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1693 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1694 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1696 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1697 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1698 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1699 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1700 to 5. The default is 6.
1704 @section Group Score
1709 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1710 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1711 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1714 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1715 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1716 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1717 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1718 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1719 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1720 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1722 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1723 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1724 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1725 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1726 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1727 action after each summary exit, you can add
1728 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1729 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1730 slow things down somewhat.
1733 @node Marking Groups
1734 @section Marking Groups
1735 @cindex marking groups
1737 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1738 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1739 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1740 bidding on those groups.
1742 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1743 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1744 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1752 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1753 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1759 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1760 Remove the mark from the current group
1761 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1765 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1766 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1770 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1771 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1775 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1776 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1780 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1781 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1782 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1785 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1787 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1788 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1789 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1790 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1791 the command to be executed.
1794 @node Foreign Groups
1795 @section Foreign Groups
1796 @cindex foreign groups
1798 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1799 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1800 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1801 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1808 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1809 @cindex making groups
1810 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1811 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1812 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1816 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1817 @cindex renaming groups
1818 Rename the current group to something else
1819 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1820 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1826 @findex gnus-group-customize
1827 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1831 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1832 @cindex renaming groups
1833 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1834 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1838 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1839 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1840 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1844 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1845 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1846 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1850 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1852 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1853 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1858 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1859 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1863 @cindex (ding) archive
1864 @cindex archive group
1865 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1866 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1867 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1868 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1869 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1870 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1871 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1875 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1877 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1878 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1879 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1880 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1884 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1886 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1887 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1888 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1892 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1893 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1895 Make a group based on some file or other
1896 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1897 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1898 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1899 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1900 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1901 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1902 @xref{Document Groups}.
1906 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1911 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1912 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1913 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1914 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1915 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1916 @xref{Web Searches}.
1918 If you use the @code{dejanews} search engine, you can limit the search
1919 to a particular group by using a match string like
1920 @samp{~g alt.sysadmin.recovery shaving}.
1923 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1924 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1925 This function will delete the current group
1926 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1927 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1928 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1929 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1930 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1934 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1935 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1936 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1940 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1941 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1942 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1945 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1948 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1949 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1950 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1951 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1952 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
1953 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
1957 @node Group Parameters
1958 @section Group Parameters
1959 @cindex group parameters
1961 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
1962 Here's an example group parameter list:
1965 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
1969 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
1970 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
1971 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
1972 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
1974 The following group parameters can be used:
1979 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
1982 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
1985 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
1986 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
1987 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
1988 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
1989 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
1991 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1992 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1993 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1994 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1995 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1996 list address instead.
2000 Address used when doing a @kbd{a} in that group.
2003 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2006 It is totally ignored
2007 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2008 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2010 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2011 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2012 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2013 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2014 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2016 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2017 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2018 sending the message.
2022 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2023 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2024 of whether it has any unread articles.
2026 @item broken-reply-to
2027 @cindex broken-reply-to
2028 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2029 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2030 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2031 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2032 broken behavior. So there!
2036 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2037 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2041 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2042 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2043 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2048 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2049 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2050 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2051 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2052 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2053 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2054 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2058 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2059 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2060 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2063 @cindex total-expire
2064 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2065 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2066 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2067 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2072 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2073 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2074 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2075 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2076 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2077 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2080 @cindex score file group parameter
2081 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2082 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2083 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2086 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2087 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2088 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2089 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2092 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2093 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2094 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2095 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2098 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2099 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2103 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2106 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2111 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2112 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2113 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2116 @item @var{(variable form)}
2117 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2118 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2119 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2120 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2121 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2122 @code{eval}ed there.
2124 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2125 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2126 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2127 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2128 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2132 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group. You
2133 might also be interested in reading about topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
2137 @node Listing Groups
2138 @section Listing Groups
2139 @cindex group listing
2141 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2149 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2150 List all groups that have unread articles
2151 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2152 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2153 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2154 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2161 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2162 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2163 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2164 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2165 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2166 unsubscribed groups).
2170 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2171 List all unread groups on a specific level
2172 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2173 with no unread articles.
2177 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2178 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2179 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2180 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2185 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2186 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2190 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2191 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2192 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2196 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2197 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2201 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2202 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2203 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2204 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2205 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2206 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2207 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2208 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2212 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2213 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2214 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2218 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2219 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2220 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2224 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2225 @cindex visible group parameter
2226 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2227 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2228 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2229 get the same effect.
2231 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2232 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2233 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2234 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2235 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2238 @node Sorting Groups
2239 @section Sorting Groups
2240 @cindex sorting groups
2242 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2243 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2244 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2245 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2246 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2247 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2252 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2253 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2254 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2256 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2257 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2258 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2260 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2261 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2262 Sort by group level.
2264 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2265 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2266 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
2268 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2269 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2270 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2271 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
2273 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2274 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2275 Sort by number of unread articles.
2277 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2278 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2279 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2284 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2285 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2289 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2290 some sorting criteria:
2294 @kindex G S a (Group)
2295 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2296 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2297 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2300 @kindex G S u (Group)
2301 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2302 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2303 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2306 @kindex G S l (Group)
2307 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2308 Sort the group buffer by group level
2309 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2312 @kindex G S v (Group)
2313 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2314 Sort the group buffer by group score
2315 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2318 @kindex G S r (Group)
2319 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2320 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2321 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2324 @kindex G S m (Group)
2325 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2326 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2327 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2331 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
2333 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2337 @kindex G P a (Group)
2338 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2339 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2340 group name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2343 @kindex G P u (Group)
2344 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2345 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of
2346 unread articles (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2349 @kindex G P l (Group)
2350 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2351 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level
2352 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2355 @kindex G P v (Group)
2356 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2357 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score
2358 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2361 @kindex G P r (Group)
2362 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2363 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank
2364 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2367 @kindex G P m (Group)
2368 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2369 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2370 backend name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2376 @node Group Maintenance
2377 @section Group Maintenance
2378 @cindex bogus groups
2383 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2384 Find bogus groups and delete them
2385 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2389 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2390 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2391 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2392 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
2393 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
2397 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2398 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2399 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2400 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2403 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2404 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2405 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2406 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2411 @node Browse Foreign Server
2412 @section Browse Foreign Server
2413 @cindex foreign servers
2414 @cindex browsing servers
2419 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2420 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2421 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2422 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2425 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2426 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2427 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2428 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2430 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2435 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2436 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2440 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2441 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2444 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2445 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2446 Enter the current group and display the first article
2447 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2450 @kindex RET (Browse)
2451 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2452 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2456 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2457 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2458 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2464 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2465 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2469 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2470 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2471 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2476 @section Exiting Gnus
2477 @cindex exiting Gnus
2479 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2484 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2485 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2486 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2487 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2491 @findex gnus-group-exit
2492 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2493 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2497 @findex gnus-group-quit
2498 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2499 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2502 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2503 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2504 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2505 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2506 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2511 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2512 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2513 trying to customize meta-variables.
2518 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2519 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2520 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2526 @section Group Topics
2529 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2530 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2531 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2532 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2533 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2534 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2538 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2539 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2550 2: alt.religion.emacs
2553 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2555 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2556 13: comp.sources.unix
2559 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2561 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2562 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2563 is a toggling command.)
2565 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2566 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2567 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2568 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2571 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2572 the hook for the group mode:
2575 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2579 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2580 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2581 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2582 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2583 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2587 @node Topic Variables
2588 @subsection Topic Variables
2589 @cindex topic variables
2591 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2592 really neat, I think.
2594 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2595 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2596 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2609 Number of groups in the topic.
2611 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2613 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2616 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2617 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2618 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2621 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2622 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2624 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2625 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2626 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2629 @node Topic Commands
2630 @subsection Topic Commands
2631 @cindex topic commands
2633 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2634 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2635 definitions slightly.
2641 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2642 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2643 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2647 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2648 Move the current group to some other topic
2649 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2650 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2654 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2655 Copy the current group to some other topic
2656 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2657 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2661 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2662 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2663 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
2664 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
2665 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
2666 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
2667 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
2670 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2671 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2675 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2676 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2677 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2681 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2682 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2683 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2687 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2688 Toggle hiding empty topics
2689 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2693 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2694 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2695 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2698 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2699 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2700 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2701 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2705 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2707 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2708 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2709 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2710 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2711 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2712 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2716 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2718 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2719 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2720 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2721 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2724 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
2725 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
2726 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2727 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
2731 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2732 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2733 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2737 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2738 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2739 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2744 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2745 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2748 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2749 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2750 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2754 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2755 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2756 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2760 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2761 @cindex group parameters
2762 @cindex topic parameters
2764 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2765 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2771 @subsection Topic Sorting
2772 @cindex topic sorting
2774 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2780 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2781 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2782 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2783 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2786 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2787 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2788 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2789 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2792 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2793 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2794 Sort the current topic by group level
2795 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2798 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2799 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2800 Sort the current topic by group score
2801 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
2804 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2805 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2806 Sort the current topic by group rank
2807 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
2810 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2811 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2812 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2813 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2817 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2820 @node Topic Topology
2821 @subsection Topic Topology
2822 @cindex topic topology
2825 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2831 2: alt.religion.emacs
2834 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2836 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2837 13: comp.sources.unix
2840 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2841 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2842 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2847 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2848 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2852 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2853 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2854 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2855 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2856 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2857 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2859 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2860 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2861 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2864 @node Topic Parameters
2865 @subsection Topic Parameters
2866 @cindex topic parameters
2868 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2869 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2870 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2872 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2873 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2874 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2875 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2881 2: alt.religion.emacs
2885 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2887 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2888 13: comp.sources.unix
2892 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2893 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2894 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2895 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2896 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2897 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2899 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2900 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2901 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2902 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2903 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2905 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2906 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2907 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2908 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2909 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2910 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2911 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2912 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2915 @node Misc Group Stuff
2916 @section Misc Group Stuff
2919 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2920 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2921 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2922 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2929 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2930 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2931 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2935 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2936 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2937 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2941 @findex gnus-group-mail
2942 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2946 Variables for the group buffer:
2950 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2951 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2952 is called after the group buffer has been
2955 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2956 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2957 is called after the group buffer is
2958 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2961 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
2962 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2963 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
2964 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
2966 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2967 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2968 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2969 whether they are empty or not.
2974 @node Scanning New Messages
2975 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2976 @cindex new messages
2977 @cindex scanning new news
2983 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2984 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
2985 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2986 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2987 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2988 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
2993 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2994 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2995 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
2996 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2997 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
2998 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
2999 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
3001 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
3002 @cindex activating groups
3004 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
3005 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
3010 @findex gnus-group-restart
3011 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
3012 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
3013 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
3017 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
3018 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
3020 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
3021 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
3025 @node Group Information
3026 @subsection Group Information
3027 @cindex group information
3028 @cindex information on groups
3035 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
3036 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
3039 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
3040 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
3041 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
3042 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
3043 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
3044 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
3045 for fetching the file.
3047 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
3048 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
3052 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
3054 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
3055 @cindex describing groups
3056 @cindex group description
3057 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
3058 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
3059 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
3063 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
3064 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
3065 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
3072 @findex gnus-version
3073 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
3077 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
3078 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3081 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3084 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3085 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3089 @node Group Timestamp
3090 @subsection Group Timestamp
3092 @cindex group timestamps
3094 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3095 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3096 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3099 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3102 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3104 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3105 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3108 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3109 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3112 This will result in lines looking like:
3115 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3116 0: custom 19961002T012713
3119 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3120 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3124 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3125 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3130 @subsection File Commands
3131 @cindex file commands
3137 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3138 @vindex gnus-init-file
3139 @cindex reading init file
3140 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3141 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3145 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3146 @cindex saving .newsrc
3147 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3148 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3149 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3152 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3153 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3154 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3159 @node The Summary Buffer
3160 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3161 @cindex summary buffer
3163 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3164 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3166 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3167 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3169 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3172 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3173 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3174 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3175 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3176 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3177 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3178 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3179 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3180 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3181 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3182 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3183 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3184 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3185 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3186 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3187 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3188 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3189 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3190 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3191 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3192 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3193 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3194 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3195 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3196 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3197 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3198 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3202 @node Summary Buffer Format
3203 @section Summary Buffer Format
3204 @cindex summary buffer format
3208 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3209 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3210 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3216 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3217 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3218 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3221 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3222 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3223 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3224 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3225 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3226 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3227 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3228 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3229 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3230 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3231 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead.
3233 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3234 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3235 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3236 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
3239 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3240 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3242 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3243 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3244 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3245 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3246 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3248 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3250 The following format specification characters are understood:
3258 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3259 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3260 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
3262 Full @code{From} header.
3264 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3266 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3267 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3268 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3269 may be more thorough.
3271 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3274 Number of lines in the article.
3276 Number of characters in the article.
3278 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3280 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3281 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3283 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3284 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3286 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3287 for adopted articles.
3289 One space for each thread level.
3291 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3296 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
3297 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
3301 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3303 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3304 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3305 default level. If the difference between
3306 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
3307 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3315 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3317 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3323 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3324 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3326 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3327 article has any children.
3333 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3334 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3335 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3336 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3337 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3338 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3341 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3342 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3343 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3344 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3345 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3346 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3348 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3349 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3351 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3354 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3355 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3357 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3358 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
3359 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
3360 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3362 Here are the elements you can play with:
3368 Unprefixed group name.
3370 Current article number.
3372 Current article score.
3376 Number of unread articles in this group.
3378 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3381 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3382 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3383 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3384 and no unselected ones.
3386 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3387 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3389 Subject of the current article.
3391 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3393 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3395 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3397 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3399 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3401 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3405 @node Summary Highlighting
3406 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3410 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3411 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3412 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3413 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3414 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3416 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3417 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3418 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3419 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3421 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3422 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3423 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3424 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3426 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3427 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3428 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3429 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3430 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3431 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3433 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3434 ((> score default) . bold))
3436 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3437 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3441 @node Summary Maneuvering
3442 @section Summary Maneuvering
3443 @cindex summary movement
3445 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3446 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3448 None of these commands select articles.
3453 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3454 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3455 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3456 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3457 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3461 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3462 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3463 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3464 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3465 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3470 @kindex G j (Summary)
3471 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3472 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3473 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3476 @kindex G g (Summary)
3477 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3478 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3479 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3482 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3483 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3484 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3485 to the group buffer.
3487 Variables related to summary movement:
3491 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3492 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3493 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3494 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3495 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3496 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3497 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3498 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3499 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3500 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3501 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3502 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3503 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3504 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3506 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3507 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3508 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3509 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3510 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3511 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
3512 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
3514 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3516 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3517 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3518 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3519 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3520 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3522 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3523 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3524 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3525 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3526 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3527 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3528 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3529 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3535 @node Choosing Articles
3536 @section Choosing Articles
3537 @cindex selecting articles
3540 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3541 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3545 @node Choosing Commands
3546 @subsection Choosing Commands
3548 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3549 and they all select and display an article.
3553 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3554 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3555 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3556 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3561 @kindex G n (Summary)
3562 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3563 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3564 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3569 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3570 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3571 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3576 @kindex G N (Summary)
3577 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3578 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3583 @kindex G P (Summary)
3584 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3585 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3588 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3589 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3590 Go to the next article with the same subject
3591 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3594 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3595 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3596 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3597 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3601 @kindex G f (Summary)
3603 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3604 Go to the first unread article
3605 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3609 @kindex G b (Summary)
3611 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3612 Go to the article with the highest score
3613 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3618 @kindex G l (Summary)
3619 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3620 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3623 @kindex G o (Summary)
3624 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3626 @cindex article history
3627 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3628 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3629 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3630 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
3631 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
3632 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3636 @node Choosing Variables
3637 @subsection Choosing Variables
3639 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3642 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3643 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3644 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3645 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3646 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3647 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3649 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3650 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3651 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3652 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3654 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3655 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3656 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3657 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3658 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3659 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3660 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3661 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3662 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3663 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3664 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3665 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3666 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3667 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3672 @node Paging the Article
3673 @section Scrolling the Article
3674 @cindex article scrolling
3679 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3680 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3681 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3682 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3683 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3686 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3687 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3688 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3691 @kindex RET (Summary)
3692 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3693 Scroll the current article one line forward
3694 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3698 @kindex A g (Summary)
3700 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3701 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3702 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3703 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3704 the way it came from the server.
3709 @kindex A < (Summary)
3710 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3711 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3712 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3717 @kindex A > (Summary)
3718 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3719 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3723 @kindex A s (Summary)
3725 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3726 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3727 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3731 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
3732 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
3737 @node Reply Followup and Post
3738 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3741 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3742 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3746 @node Summary Mail Commands
3747 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3749 @cindex composing mail
3751 Commands for composing a mail message:
3757 @kindex S r (Summary)
3759 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3760 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3761 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3762 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3763 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3768 @kindex S R (Summary)
3769 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3770 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3771 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3772 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3773 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3776 @kindex S w (Summary)
3777 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3778 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3779 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3780 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3781 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3784 @kindex S W (Summary)
3785 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3786 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3787 message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3788 the process/prefix convention.
3791 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3792 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3793 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3794 Forward the current article to some other person
3795 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3796 headers of the forwarded article.
3801 @kindex S m (Summary)
3802 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3803 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3804 Send a mail to some other person
3805 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3808 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3809 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3810 @cindex bouncing mail
3811 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3812 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3813 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3814 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3815 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3816 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3817 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3818 very well fail, though.
3821 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3822 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3823 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3824 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3825 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3826 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3827 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3828 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3829 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3830 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3832 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3833 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3834 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3835 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3836 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3838 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3839 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3842 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3843 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3844 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3845 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3846 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3849 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3850 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3851 @cindex crossposting
3852 @cindex excessive crossposting
3853 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3854 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3856 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3857 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
3858 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3859 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3860 command understands the process/prefix convention
3861 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3865 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3868 @node Summary Post Commands
3869 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3871 @cindex composing news
3873 Commands for posting a news article:
3879 @kindex S p (Summary)
3880 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3881 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
3882 Post an article to the current group
3883 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3888 @kindex S f (Summary)
3889 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3890 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
3891 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3895 @kindex S F (Summary)
3897 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
3898 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3899 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3900 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3901 process/prefix convention.
3904 @kindex S n (Summary)
3905 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3906 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3907 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3910 @kindex S N (Summary)
3911 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
3912 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3913 message through mail and include the original message
3914 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3915 the process/prefix convention.
3918 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3919 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3920 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3921 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3922 headers of the forwarded article.
3925 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3926 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3928 @cindex making digests
3929 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3930 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3931 process/prefix convention.
3934 @kindex S u (Summary)
3935 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3936 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
3937 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3938 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3941 Also @pxref{(message)Header Commands} for more information.
3944 @node Canceling and Superseding
3945 @section Canceling Articles
3946 @cindex canceling articles
3947 @cindex superseding articles
3949 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3950 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3952 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3954 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3956 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
3957 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3958 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3959 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3960 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3961 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3963 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3964 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3967 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
3968 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
3969 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
3971 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3972 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3973 your original article.
3975 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3977 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3978 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3979 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3982 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3983 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3984 have posted almost the same article twice.
3986 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3987 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3988 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3989 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
3990 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3991 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3992 header by substituting one of those words for the word
3993 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
3994 you would do normally. The previous article will be
3995 canceled/superseded.
3997 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
4000 @node Marking Articles
4001 @section Marking Articles
4002 @cindex article marking
4003 @cindex article ticking
4006 There are several marks you can set on an article.
4008 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
4009 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
4010 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
4012 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
4015 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
4016 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
4017 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
4021 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
4025 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
4026 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
4030 @node Unread Articles
4031 @subsection Unread Articles
4033 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
4038 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
4039 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
4041 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
4042 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
4043 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
4044 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
4045 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
4049 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
4050 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
4052 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
4053 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
4054 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
4057 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
4058 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
4060 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
4065 @subsection Read Articles
4066 @cindex expirable mark
4068 All the following marks mark articles as read.
4073 @vindex gnus-del-mark
4074 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
4075 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
4078 @vindex gnus-read-mark
4079 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
4082 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
4083 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
4084 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
4087 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
4088 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
4091 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
4092 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
4095 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
4096 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
4099 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
4100 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
4103 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4104 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4107 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4108 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4111 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4112 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4116 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4117 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4118 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4122 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4123 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4125 One more special mark, though:
4129 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4130 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4132 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4133 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4134 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4135 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4141 @subsection Other Marks
4142 @cindex process mark
4145 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4151 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4152 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4153 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4154 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4155 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}
4158 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4159 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4160 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4161 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4164 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4165 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4166 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}
4169 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4170 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4171 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4172 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4175 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4176 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4177 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4178 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4179 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4182 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4183 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4184 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4185 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4186 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4187 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4191 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4192 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4193 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4195 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4196 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4197 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4201 @subsection Setting Marks
4202 @cindex setting marks
4204 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4209 @kindex M c (Summary)
4210 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4211 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4212 @cindex mark as unread
4213 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4214 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4220 @kindex M t (Summary)
4221 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4222 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4223 @xref{Article Caching}
4228 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4229 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4230 Mark the current article as dormant
4231 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}
4235 @kindex M d (Summary)
4237 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4238 Mark the current article as read
4239 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4243 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4244 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4245 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4250 @kindex M k (Summary)
4251 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4252 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4253 and then select the next unread article
4254 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4258 @kindex M K (Summary)
4259 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4260 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4261 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4262 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4265 @kindex M C (Summary)
4266 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4267 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4268 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4271 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4272 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4273 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4274 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4277 @kindex M H (Summary)
4278 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4279 Catchup the current group to point
4280 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4283 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4284 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4285 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4286 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4289 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4290 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4291 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4292 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4296 @kindex M e (Summary)
4298 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4299 Mark the current article as expirable
4300 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4303 @kindex M b (Summary)
4304 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4305 Set a bookmark in the current article
4306 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4309 @kindex M B (Summary)
4310 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4311 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4312 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4315 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4316 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4317 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4318 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4321 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4322 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4323 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4324 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4327 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4328 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4329 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4330 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4331 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4334 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4335 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4336 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4337 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4338 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4339 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4340 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4341 The default is @code{t}.
4344 @node Setting Process Marks
4345 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4346 @cindex setting process marks
4353 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4354 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4355 Mark the current article with the process mark
4356 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4357 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4361 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4362 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4363 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4364 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4367 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4368 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4369 Remove the process mark from all articles
4370 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4373 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4374 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4375 Invert the list of process marked articles
4376 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4379 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4380 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4381 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
4382 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4385 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4386 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4387 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4390 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4391 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4392 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4393 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4396 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4397 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4398 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4399 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4402 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4403 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4404 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4405 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4408 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4409 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4410 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4413 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4414 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4415 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4416 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4419 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4420 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4421 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4424 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4425 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4426 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4427 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4430 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4431 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4432 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4433 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4436 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4437 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4438 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4439 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4442 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4443 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4444 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4445 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4454 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4455 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4456 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4459 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
4460 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
4461 additional articles.
4467 @kindex / / (Summary)
4468 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4469 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4470 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4473 @kindex / a (Summary)
4474 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4475 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4476 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4480 @kindex / u (Summary)
4482 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4483 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4484 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4485 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4486 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4489 @kindex / m (Summary)
4490 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4491 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
4492 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4495 @kindex / t (Summary)
4496 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4497 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4498 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4499 articles younger than that number of days.
4502 @kindex / n (Summary)
4503 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4504 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4505 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4506 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4509 @kindex / w (Summary)
4510 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4511 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4512 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4516 @kindex / v (Summary)
4517 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4518 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4519 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4523 @kindex M S (Summary)
4524 @kindex / E (Summary)
4525 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4526 Include all expunged articles in the limit
4527 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4530 @kindex / D (Summary)
4531 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4532 Include all dormant articles in the limit
4533 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4536 @kindex / * (Summary)
4537 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
4538 Include all cached articles in the limit
4539 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
4542 @kindex / d (Summary)
4543 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4544 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
4545 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4548 @kindex / T (Summary)
4549 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
4550 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
4553 @kindex / c (Summary)
4554 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4555 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
4556 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4559 @kindex / C (Summary)
4560 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4561 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4562 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4563 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4571 @cindex article threading
4573 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4574 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4575 hierarchical fashion.
4577 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4578 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4579 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4580 or simply missing. Weird news propagation excarcerbates the problem,
4581 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4582 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4583 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4585 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4589 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4592 A tree-like article structure.
4595 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4598 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4599 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4600 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
4601 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4602 called loose threads.
4604 @item thread gathering
4605 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4607 @item sparse threads
4608 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4609 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4615 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4616 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4620 @node Customizing Threading
4621 @subsection Customizing Threading
4622 @cindex customizing threading
4625 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
4626 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
4627 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
4628 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
4633 @subsubsection Loose Threads
4636 @cindex loose threads
4639 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4640 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4641 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4642 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4643 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4644 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4646 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4647 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4648 There are four possible values:
4652 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4653 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4654 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4655 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4656 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4661 @cindex adopting articles
4666 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4667 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4668 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4669 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4672 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4673 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4674 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4675 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4676 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4677 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4678 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4681 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4682 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4683 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4687 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4688 display them after one another.
4691 Don't gather loose threads.
4694 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4695 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4696 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4697 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4698 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4699 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4700 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4701 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4702 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4703 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4704 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4706 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4707 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4708 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4711 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4712 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4713 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4714 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4715 simplification is used.
4717 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4718 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4719 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4720 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4722 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4724 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4730 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4731 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4732 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4733 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4738 (mapconcat 'identity
4739 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4741 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4744 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4747 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4748 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
4749 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
4750 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
4751 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
4752 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
4754 Useful functions to put in this list include:
4757 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
4758 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
4759 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
4761 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4762 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
4765 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
4766 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
4767 Remove excessive whitespace.
4770 You may also write your own functions, of course.
4773 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4774 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4775 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4776 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4777 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4778 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4779 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4780 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4782 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4783 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4784 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4785 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4786 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4787 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4788 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4789 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4790 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4794 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4795 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4796 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4797 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4799 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4800 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4801 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4804 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4808 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4809 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4815 @node Filling In Threads
4816 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
4819 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4820 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4821 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4822 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4823 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4824 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4825 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4826 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4827 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4828 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4829 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4830 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4832 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
4833 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
4834 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
4836 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4837 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4838 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4839 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4840 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4841 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4842 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4843 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4844 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4845 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4846 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4847 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4848 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4849 @code{nil} by default.
4854 @node More Threading
4855 @subsubsection More Threading
4858 @item gnus-show-threads
4859 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4860 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4861 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4862 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4863 slower and more awkward.
4865 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4866 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4867 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4870 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4871 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4872 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4873 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
4874 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
4875 threads are expunged.
4877 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4878 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4879 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4882 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4883 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4884 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4885 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4886 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4889 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4890 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4891 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4897 @node Low-Level Threading
4898 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
4902 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
4903 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
4904 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
4905 @code{(gnus-decode-rfc1522)}, which means that QPized headers will be
4906 slightly decoded in a hackish way. This is likely to change in the
4907 future when Gnus becomes @sc{MIME}ified.
4909 @item gnus-alter-header-function
4910 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
4911 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
4912 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
4913 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
4914 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
4915 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
4916 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
4917 meaningful. Here's one example:
4920 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
4922 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
4923 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
4925 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
4927 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
4934 @node Thread Commands
4935 @subsection Thread Commands
4936 @cindex thread commands
4942 @kindex T k (Summary)
4943 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4944 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4945 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4946 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4947 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4952 @kindex T l (Summary)
4953 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4954 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4955 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4956 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4959 @kindex T i (Summary)
4960 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4961 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4962 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4965 @kindex T # (Summary)
4966 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4967 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4968 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4971 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4972 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4973 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4974 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4977 @kindex T T (Summary)
4978 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4979 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4982 @kindex T s (Summary)
4983 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4984 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4985 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4988 @kindex T h (Summary)
4989 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4990 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4993 @kindex T S (Summary)
4994 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4995 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4998 @kindex T H (Summary)
4999 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
5000 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
5003 @kindex T t (Summary)
5004 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
5005 Re-thread the current article's thread
5006 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
5007 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
5010 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
5011 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
5012 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
5013 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
5017 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
5018 understand the numeric prefix.
5023 @kindex T n (Summary)
5024 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
5025 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
5028 @kindex T p (Summary)
5029 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
5030 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
5033 @kindex T d (Summary)
5034 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
5035 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
5038 @kindex T u (Summary)
5039 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
5040 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
5043 @kindex T o (Summary)
5044 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
5045 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
5048 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
5049 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
5050 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
5051 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
5052 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
5053 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
5054 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
5055 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
5056 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
5057 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
5058 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
5059 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
5066 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
5067 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
5068 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
5069 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5070 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
5071 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5072 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
5073 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
5074 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
5075 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
5076 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
5077 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
5078 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
5079 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
5081 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
5082 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
5083 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
5084 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
5085 in the list. You should probably always include
5086 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
5087 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
5088 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
5089 ascending article order.
5091 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
5092 number, you could do something like:
5095 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5096 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
5097 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
5098 gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score))
5101 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
5102 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
5103 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
5104 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
5105 which the articles arrived.
5107 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
5111 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
5113 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
5114 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
5117 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
5118 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
5119 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
5120 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
5123 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
5124 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
5125 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
5126 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
5127 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
5128 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
5129 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
5130 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
5131 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
5132 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
5133 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
5134 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
5135 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
5137 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
5141 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
5142 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
5143 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
5148 @node Asynchronous Fetching
5149 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
5150 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
5151 @cindex article pre-fetch
5154 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
5155 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
5156 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
5157 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
5158 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
5160 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
5161 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
5163 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
5164 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
5165 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
5166 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
5167 connection is blocked.
5169 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
5170 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
5171 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
5172 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
5174 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
5175 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
5176 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
5177 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
5180 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
5183 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
5184 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5185 happen automatically.
5187 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5188 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5189 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5190 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5191 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5192 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5193 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5195 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5196 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5197 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5198 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5199 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5200 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5201 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5202 data structure as the only parameter.
5204 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5207 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5208 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5209 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5210 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5213 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5216 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5217 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5218 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5220 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5221 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5222 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5223 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5227 Remove articles when they are read.
5230 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5233 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5235 @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5236 If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5237 from the next group.
5240 @node Article Caching
5241 @section Article Caching
5242 @cindex article caching
5245 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5246 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5247 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5248 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5249 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5251 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5253 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5254 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5255 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5256 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5257 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5258 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5259 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5260 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5262 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5263 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5264 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5265 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5266 as dormant, and don't worry.
5268 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5270 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5271 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5272 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5273 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5274 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5275 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5276 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5277 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5278 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5279 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5281 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5282 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5283 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5284 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5285 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5286 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5287 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5288 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
5289 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
5290 not then be downloaded by this command.
5292 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5293 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
5294 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5295 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5296 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
5297 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
5298 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
5301 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5302 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5303 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5304 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5305 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5306 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5307 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5308 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5309 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5313 @node Persistent Articles
5314 @section Persistent Articles
5315 @cindex persistent articles
5317 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5318 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5319 useful in my opinion.
5321 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5322 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5323 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5324 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5325 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5326 the expiry going on at the news server.
5328 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5329 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5330 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5336 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5337 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5340 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5341 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5342 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5343 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5347 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5349 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5350 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5351 interested in persistent articles:
5354 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5358 @node Article Backlog
5359 @section Article Backlog
5361 @cindex article backlog
5363 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5364 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5365 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5366 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5367 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5368 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5369 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5370 increase memory usage some.
5372 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5373 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5374 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5375 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5376 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5377 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5378 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5380 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5383 @node Saving Articles
5384 @section Saving Articles
5385 @cindex saving articles
5387 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5388 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5389 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5390 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5391 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5393 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5394 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5395 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5397 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5398 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5399 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5400 deleted before saving.
5406 @kindex O o (Summary)
5408 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5409 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5410 Save the current article using the default article saver
5411 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5414 @kindex O m (Summary)
5415 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5416 Save the current article in mail format
5417 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5420 @kindex O r (Summary)
5421 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5422 Save the current article in rmail format
5423 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5426 @kindex O f (Summary)
5427 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5428 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5429 Save the current article in plain file format
5430 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5433 @kindex O F (Summary)
5434 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5435 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5436 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5439 @kindex O b (Summary)
5440 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5441 Save the current article body in plain file format
5442 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5445 @kindex O h (Summary)
5446 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5447 Save the current article in mh folder format
5448 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5451 @kindex O v (Summary)
5452 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5453 Save the current article in a VM folder
5454 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5457 @kindex O p (Summary)
5458 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5459 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5460 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5463 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5464 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5465 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5466 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5467 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5468 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5469 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5470 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5471 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5472 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5473 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5474 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5478 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5479 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5480 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
5481 functions below, or you can create your own.
5485 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5486 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5487 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5488 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5489 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5490 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5491 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5493 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5494 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5495 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5496 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5497 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5498 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5500 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5501 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5502 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5503 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5504 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5505 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5506 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5508 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5509 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5510 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5511 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5512 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5514 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5515 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5516 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5517 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5518 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5521 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5522 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5523 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5524 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5525 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5527 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5528 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5529 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5530 reader to use this setting.
5533 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5534 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5535 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5536 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5539 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5540 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5541 available functions that generate names:
5545 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5546 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5547 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5549 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5550 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5551 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5553 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5554 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5555 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5557 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5558 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5559 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5562 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5563 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5564 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5565 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5566 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5570 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5571 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5572 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5573 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5576 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5577 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5578 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5579 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5580 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5581 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5582 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5583 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5584 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5586 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5587 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5588 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5589 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5591 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5592 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5593 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5596 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5597 lots of mail groups called things like
5598 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5599 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5600 following will do just that:
5603 (defun my-save-name (group)
5604 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5605 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5607 (setq gnus-split-methods
5608 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5613 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5614 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5615 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5616 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5617 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5618 all the files in the top level directory
5619 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5620 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5621 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5622 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5624 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5625 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5626 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5627 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5628 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5631 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5635 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5636 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5639 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5640 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5641 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5642 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5645 @node Decoding Articles
5646 @section Decoding Articles
5647 @cindex decoding articles
5649 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5650 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5653 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5654 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5655 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5656 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5657 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5658 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5662 @cindex article series
5663 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5664 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5665 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5666 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5667 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5669 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5670 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5671 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5673 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5674 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5675 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5677 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5678 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5679 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5682 @node Uuencoded Articles
5683 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5685 @cindex uuencoded articles
5690 @kindex X u (Summary)
5691 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5692 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5693 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5696 @kindex X U (Summary)
5697 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5698 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5699 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5702 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5703 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5704 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5707 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5708 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5709 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5710 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5714 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5715 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5716 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5717 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5718 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5720 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5721 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5722 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5723 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5726 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5727 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5728 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5729 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5730 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5731 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5735 @node Shell Archives
5736 @subsection Shell Archives
5738 @cindex shell archives
5739 @cindex shared articles
5741 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5742 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5743 some commands to deal with these:
5748 @kindex X s (Summary)
5749 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5750 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5753 @kindex X S (Summary)
5754 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5755 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5758 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5759 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5760 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5763 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5764 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5765 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5766 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5770 @node PostScript Files
5771 @subsection PostScript Files
5777 @kindex X p (Summary)
5778 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5779 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5782 @kindex X P (Summary)
5783 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5784 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5785 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5788 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5789 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5790 View the current PostScript series
5791 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5794 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5795 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5796 View and save the current PostScript series
5797 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5802 @subsection Other Files
5806 @kindex X o (Summary)
5807 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5808 Save the current series
5809 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5812 @kindex X b (Summary)
5813 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5814 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5815 doesn't really work yet.
5819 @node Decoding Variables
5820 @subsection Decoding Variables
5822 Adjective, not verb.
5825 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5826 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5827 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5831 @node Rule Variables
5832 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5833 @cindex rule variables
5835 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5836 variables are of the form
5839 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5846 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5847 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5849 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5850 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5853 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5854 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5857 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5858 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5859 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5860 user and default view rules.
5862 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5863 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5864 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5869 @node Other Decode Variables
5870 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5873 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5875 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5876 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
5877 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5878 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5879 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5883 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5884 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5887 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5888 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5889 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5892 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5893 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5894 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5895 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5896 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5899 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5900 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5901 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5903 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5904 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5905 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5906 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5907 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5910 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5911 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5912 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5914 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5915 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5916 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5917 looking for files to display.
5919 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5920 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5921 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5924 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5925 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5926 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5929 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5930 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5931 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5934 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5935 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5936 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5939 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5940 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5941 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
5942 decoded articles as unread.
5944 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5945 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5946 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5947 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5949 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5950 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
5951 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
5953 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5954 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5956 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5957 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5958 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5959 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5961 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5962 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5963 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5964 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5965 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5966 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5967 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5968 simply dropped them.
5973 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5974 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5978 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5979 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5980 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5981 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5982 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
5983 for you when you post the article.
5985 @item gnus-uu-post-length
5986 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
5987 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
5988 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
5990 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
5991 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
5992 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
5993 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
5994 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
5995 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
5996 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
5998 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5999 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
6000 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
6001 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
6002 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
6003 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
6004 Default is @code{t}.
6010 @subsection Viewing Files
6011 @cindex viewing files
6012 @cindex pseudo-articles
6014 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
6015 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
6016 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
6017 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
6018 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
6019 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
6020 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
6022 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
6023 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
6024 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
6025 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
6027 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
6028 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
6029 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
6031 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
6032 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
6033 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
6034 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
6035 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
6037 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
6038 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
6039 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
6040 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
6041 a list of parameters to that command.
6043 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
6044 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
6045 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
6047 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
6048 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
6049 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
6052 @node Article Treatment
6053 @section Article Treatment
6055 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
6056 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
6057 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
6058 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
6059 these articles easier.
6062 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
6063 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
6064 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
6065 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
6066 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
6067 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
6068 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
6072 @node Article Highlighting
6073 @subsection Article Highlighting
6074 @cindex highlighting
6076 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
6077 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
6082 @kindex W H a (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-article-highlight
6084 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
6085 Do much highlighting of the current article
6086 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
6087 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
6089 Most users would prefer using @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} in
6090 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}) instead.
6091 This is a bit less agressive---it highlights only the headers, the
6092 signature and adds buttons.
6095 @kindex W H h (Summary)
6096 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
6097 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
6098 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
6099 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
6100 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
6101 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
6102 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
6103 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
6104 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
6105 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
6108 @kindex W H c (Summary)
6109 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
6110 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
6112 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
6115 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6117 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
6118 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
6119 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
6121 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6122 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
6123 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
6125 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
6126 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
6127 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
6129 @item gnus-cite-face-list
6130 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
6131 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
6132 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
6133 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
6134 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
6136 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
6137 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
6138 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
6140 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6141 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
6142 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
6144 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6145 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
6146 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
6147 that it's a citation.
6149 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6150 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
6151 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
6153 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6154 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
6155 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
6157 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
6158 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
6159 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
6160 cited text belonging to the attribution.
6166 @kindex W H s (Summary)
6167 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6168 @vindex gnus-signature-face
6169 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
6170 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
6171 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
6172 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
6173 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
6178 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to highlight articles automatically.
6181 @node Article Fontisizing
6182 @subsection Article Fontisizing
6184 @cindex article emphasis
6186 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
6187 @kindex W e (Summary)
6188 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
6189 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
6190 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
6191 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
6193 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
6194 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
6195 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
6196 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
6197 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
6198 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
6199 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
6200 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6204 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6205 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6206 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6209 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6210 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6211 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6212 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6213 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6214 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6215 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6216 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6217 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6218 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6219 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6220 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6221 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6223 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6224 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6225 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6229 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6232 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to fontize articles automatically.
6235 @node Article Hiding
6236 @subsection Article Hiding
6237 @cindex article hiding
6239 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6240 too much cruft in most articles.
6245 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6246 @findex gnus-article-hide
6247 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
6248 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
6249 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
6252 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6253 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6254 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6258 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6259 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6260 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6261 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6264 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6265 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6266 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6270 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6271 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6272 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6273 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6274 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6275 signature has been hidden.
6278 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6279 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6280 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6281 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6284 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6285 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6286 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6287 customizing the hiding:
6291 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6292 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6293 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
6294 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
6295 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6296 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6297 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6302 Start point of the hidden text.
6304 End point of the hidden text.
6306 Length of the hidden text.
6309 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6310 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6311 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6316 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
6317 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
6319 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
6320 following two variables:
6323 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6324 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6325 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6326 50), hide the cited text.
6328 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6329 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6330 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6335 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6336 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6337 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6338 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6339 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6340 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6344 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6345 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6346 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6348 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6349 citation customization.
6351 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to hide article elements
6355 @node Article Washing
6356 @subsection Article Washing
6358 @cindex article washing
6360 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6361 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6363 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6364 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6370 @kindex W l (Summary)
6371 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6372 Remove page breaks from the current article
6373 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article} for page
6377 @kindex W r (Summary)
6378 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6379 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6380 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6381 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6382 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
6383 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
6385 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
6386 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
6387 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
6388 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
6391 @kindex W t (Summary)
6392 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6393 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6394 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6397 @kindex W v (Summary)
6398 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6399 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6400 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6403 @kindex W m (Summary)
6404 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6405 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
6406 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6409 @kindex W o (Summary)
6410 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6411 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6414 @kindex W d (Summary)
6415 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
6416 Treat M******** sm*rtq**t*s (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}).
6419 @kindex W w (Summary)
6420 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6421 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6422 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6423 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6425 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6429 @kindex W c (Summary)
6430 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6431 Remove CR (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines)
6432 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6435 @kindex W q (Summary)
6436 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6437 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6438 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6439 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6440 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6444 @kindex W f (Summary)
6446 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6447 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6448 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6449 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6455 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6456 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6457 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6458 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6459 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6460 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6461 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6462 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6463 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6464 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6465 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6466 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6467 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6468 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6472 @kindex W b (Summary)
6473 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6474 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6475 @xref{Article Buttons}
6478 @kindex W B (Summary)
6479 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6480 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6481 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6484 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6485 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6486 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6487 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6490 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6491 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6492 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6493 lines with a single empty line.
6494 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6497 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6498 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6499 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6500 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6503 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6504 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6505 Do all the three commands above
6506 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6509 @kindex W E A (Summary)
6510 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
6511 Remove all blank lines
6512 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
6515 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6516 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6517 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6518 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6522 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to wash articles automatically.
6525 @node Article Buttons
6526 @subsection Article Buttons
6529 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6530 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6531 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6532 button on these references.
6534 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6535 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6536 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6541 @item gnus-button-alist
6542 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6543 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6546 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6552 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6553 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6554 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6557 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6558 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6559 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6562 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6563 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6564 avoid false matches.
6567 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6570 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6571 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6575 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6578 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6581 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6582 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6583 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6584 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6585 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6588 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6591 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6593 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6594 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6595 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6596 default values of the variables above.
6598 @item gnus-article-button-face
6599 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6600 Face used on buttons.
6602 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6603 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6604 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6608 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to buttonize articles automatically.
6612 @subsection Article Date
6614 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6615 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6616 when the article was sent.
6621 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6622 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6623 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6624 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6627 @kindex W T i (Summary)
6628 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
6630 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
6631 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
6634 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6635 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6636 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6639 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6640 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6641 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6642 @findex format-time-string
6643 Display the date using a user-defined format
6644 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6645 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6646 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6647 for a list of possible format specs.
6650 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6651 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6652 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
6653 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
6654 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6655 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). If you want to have this line
6656 updated continually, you can put
6659 (gnus-start-date-timer)
6662 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
6663 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
6667 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6668 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6669 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6670 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6671 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6672 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6673 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6677 @xref{Customizing Articles} for how to display the date in your
6678 preferred format automatically.
6681 @node Article Signature
6682 @subsection Article Signature
6684 @cindex article signature
6686 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6687 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6688 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6689 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6690 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6691 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6692 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6693 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6694 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6697 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6698 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6699 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6700 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6701 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6702 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6703 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6704 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6707 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6710 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6711 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6716 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6719 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6722 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6723 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6725 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6726 in question is not a signature.
6729 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6730 listed above. Here's an example:
6733 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6734 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6737 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6738 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6739 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6740 signature after all.
6743 @node Article Commands
6744 @section Article Commands
6751 @kindex A P (Summary)
6752 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6753 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6754 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6755 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6756 run just before printing the buffer.
6761 @node Summary Sorting
6762 @section Summary Sorting
6763 @cindex summary sorting
6765 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6766 can't really see why you'd want that.
6771 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6772 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6773 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
6776 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
6777 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
6778 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
6781 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
6782 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
6783 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
6786 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
6787 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
6788 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
6791 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
6792 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
6793 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
6796 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
6797 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
6798 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
6801 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
6802 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
6803 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
6804 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
6805 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
6809 @node Finding the Parent
6810 @section Finding the Parent
6811 @cindex parent articles
6812 @cindex referring articles
6817 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
6818 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
6819 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
6820 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
6821 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
6822 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
6823 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
6824 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
6825 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
6827 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
6828 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
6829 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
6830 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
6831 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
6835 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
6836 @kindex A R (Summary)
6837 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
6838 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
6841 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
6842 @kindex A T (Summary)
6843 Display the full thread where the current article appears
6844 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
6845 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
6846 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
6847 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
6848 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
6849 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
6851 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
6852 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
6853 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
6854 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
6855 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
6856 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
6859 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
6860 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
6862 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
6863 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
6864 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
6865 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
6866 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
6867 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
6868 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
6871 The current select method will be used when fetching by
6872 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
6873 by giving this command a prefix.
6875 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
6876 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
6877 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
6878 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
6879 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
6880 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
6883 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
6884 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
6885 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
6886 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
6887 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
6888 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
6891 @node Alternative Approaches
6892 @section Alternative Approaches
6894 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
6895 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
6898 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
6899 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
6904 @subsection Pick and Read
6905 @cindex pick and read
6907 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
6908 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
6909 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
6910 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
6912 @findex gnus-pick-mode
6913 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
6914 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
6915 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
6916 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
6917 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
6919 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
6924 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
6925 Pick the article or thread on the current line
6926 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
6927 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
6928 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
6929 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
6930 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
6931 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
6934 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
6935 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
6936 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
6937 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
6941 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
6942 Unpick the thread or article
6943 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
6944 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
6945 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
6946 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
6947 the thread or article at that line.
6951 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
6952 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
6953 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
6954 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
6955 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
6956 will still be visible when you are reading.
6960 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
6961 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
6962 which is mapped to the same function
6963 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
6965 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
6968 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
6971 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
6972 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
6974 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
6975 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
6976 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
6978 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
6979 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
6980 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
6981 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
6982 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
6983 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
6984 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
6988 @subsection Binary Groups
6989 @cindex binary groups
6991 @findex gnus-binary-mode
6992 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
6993 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
6994 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
6995 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
6996 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
6997 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
7000 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
7001 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
7002 command, when you have turned on this mode
7003 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
7005 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
7006 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
7010 @section Tree Display
7013 @vindex gnus-use-trees
7014 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
7015 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
7016 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
7019 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
7022 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
7023 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
7024 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
7026 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7027 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
7028 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
7029 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
7030 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
7032 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
7033 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
7034 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
7035 default is @code{modeline}.
7037 @item gnus-tree-line-format
7038 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
7039 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
7040 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
7041 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
7042 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
7043 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
7049 The name of the poster.
7051 The @code{From} header.
7053 The number of the article.
7055 The opening bracket.
7057 The closing bracket.
7062 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
7064 Variables related to the display are:
7067 @item gnus-tree-brackets
7068 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
7069 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
7070 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
7071 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
7072 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
7074 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7075 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
7076 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
7077 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
7081 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
7082 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
7083 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
7084 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
7085 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
7086 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
7087 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
7088 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
7089 other windows displayed next to it.
7091 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
7092 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
7093 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7094 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
7095 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
7096 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
7097 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
7101 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
7104 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
7114 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
7118 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
7119 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
7121 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
7123 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
7128 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
7129 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
7130 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
7133 (setq gnus-use-trees t
7134 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
7135 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
7136 (gnus-add-configuration
7140 (summary 0.75 point)
7145 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
7148 @node Mail Group Commands
7149 @section Mail Group Commands
7150 @cindex mail group commands
7152 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
7153 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
7155 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
7156 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7161 @kindex B e (Summary)
7162 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
7163 Expire all expirable articles in the group
7164 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
7167 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
7168 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
7169 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
7170 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
7171 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
7172 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
7175 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
7176 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
7177 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
7178 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
7179 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
7180 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
7183 @kindex B m (Summary)
7185 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
7186 Move the article from one mail group to another
7187 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7190 @kindex B c (Summary)
7192 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
7193 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
7194 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
7195 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
7198 @kindex B B (Summary)
7199 @cindex crosspost mail
7200 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
7201 Crosspost the current article to some other group
7202 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
7203 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
7204 be properly updated.
7207 @kindex B i (Summary)
7208 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
7209 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
7210 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
7211 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
7214 @kindex B r (Summary)
7215 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
7216 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
7217 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
7218 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
7219 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
7223 @kindex B w (Summary)
7225 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
7226 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
7227 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
7228 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
7229 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
7230 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
7233 @kindex B q (Summary)
7234 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
7235 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
7236 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
7237 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
7240 @kindex B t (Summary)
7241 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
7242 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
7243 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
7246 @kindex B p (Summary)
7247 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
7248 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
7249 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
7250 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
7251 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
7252 article from your news server (or rather, from
7253 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
7254 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
7255 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
7256 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
7257 just not have arrived yet.
7261 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7262 @cindex moving articles
7263 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7264 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7265 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7266 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7267 suggestions you find reasonable.
7270 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7271 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7272 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7273 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7277 @node Various Summary Stuff
7278 @section Various Summary Stuff
7281 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7282 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7283 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7284 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7288 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7289 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7290 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7292 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7293 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7294 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7295 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7296 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7297 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7300 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7301 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7302 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7303 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7304 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7306 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7307 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7308 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7309 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7310 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7311 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7312 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7313 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7314 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7315 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7320 @node Summary Group Information
7321 @subsection Summary Group Information
7326 @kindex H f (Summary)
7327 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7328 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7329 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7330 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7331 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7332 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7333 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7334 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7335 be used for fetching the file.
7338 @kindex H d (Summary)
7339 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7340 Give a brief description of the current group
7341 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7342 rereading the description from the server.
7345 @kindex H h (Summary)
7346 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7347 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7348 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7351 @kindex H i (Summary)
7352 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7353 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7357 @node Searching for Articles
7358 @subsection Searching for Articles
7363 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7364 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7365 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7366 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7369 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7370 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7371 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7372 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7376 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7377 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7378 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7379 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7383 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7384 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7385 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7386 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7389 @node Summary Generation Commands
7390 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7395 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7396 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7397 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7400 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7401 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7402 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7403 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7408 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7409 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7414 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7415 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7416 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7417 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7418 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7419 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7420 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7421 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7422 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7426 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7427 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7428 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7429 several documents into one biiig group
7430 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7431 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7432 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7433 command understands the process/prefix convention
7434 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7437 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7438 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7439 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7440 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7441 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7442 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7446 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7447 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7448 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7451 @kindex M-C-e (Summary)
7452 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
7453 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
7454 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
7459 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7460 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7461 @cindex summary exit
7462 @cindex exiting groups
7464 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7465 group and return you to the group buffer.
7471 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7473 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7474 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7475 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7476 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7477 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7478 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7479 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7480 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7481 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7482 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7483 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7487 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7489 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7490 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7491 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7495 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7497 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7498 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7499 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7500 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7503 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7504 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7505 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7506 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7509 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7510 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7511 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7512 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7515 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7516 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7517 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7518 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7519 all articles, both read and unread.
7523 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7524 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7525 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7526 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7527 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7528 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7529 articles, both read and unread.
7532 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7533 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7534 Exit the group and go to the next group
7535 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7538 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7539 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7540 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7541 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7544 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7545 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7546 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7547 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7548 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7549 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7552 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7553 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7556 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7557 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7558 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7559 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7560 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7561 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7562 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7563 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7564 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7565 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7566 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7567 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7569 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7571 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7572 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7573 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7574 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7575 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7576 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7577 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7578 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7579 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7582 @node Crosspost Handling
7583 @section Crosspost Handling
7587 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7588 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7589 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7590 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7591 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7592 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7595 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7596 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7597 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7598 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7599 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7601 @cindex cross-posting
7604 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7605 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7606 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7607 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7608 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7609 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7610 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7611 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7612 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7613 the cross reference mechanism.
7615 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7616 @cindex overview.fmt
7617 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7618 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7619 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7620 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7621 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7622 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7625 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7626 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7627 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7632 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7635 @node Duplicate Suppression
7636 @section Duplicate Suppression
7638 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7639 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7640 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7641 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7646 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7647 is evil and not very common.
7650 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7651 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7654 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7655 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7658 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7661 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7662 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7664 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7665 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7666 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7667 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7668 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7669 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7670 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7673 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7674 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7675 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7676 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7677 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7681 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7682 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7683 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7685 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7686 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7687 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7688 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7689 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7690 session are suppressed.
7692 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7693 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7694 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7695 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7697 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7698 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7699 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7700 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7703 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7704 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7705 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7706 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7707 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7708 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7709 to you to figure out, I think.
7712 @node The Article Buffer
7713 @chapter The Article Buffer
7714 @cindex article buffer
7716 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7717 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7718 tell Gnus otherwise.
7721 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7722 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7723 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7724 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7725 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7729 @node Hiding Headers
7730 @section Hiding Headers
7731 @cindex hiding headers
7732 @cindex deleting headers
7734 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7735 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7737 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7738 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7739 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7740 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7741 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7742 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7743 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7744 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7745 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7747 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7751 @item gnus-visible-headers
7752 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7753 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7754 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7755 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7757 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7758 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7761 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
7764 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7767 @item gnus-ignored-headers
7768 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
7769 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
7770 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
7771 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
7772 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
7774 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
7775 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
7778 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
7781 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7784 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
7785 variable will have no effect.
7789 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
7790 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
7791 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
7792 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
7793 the headers are to be displayed.
7795 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
7796 and then the subject, you might say something like:
7799 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
7802 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
7803 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
7805 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7806 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7807 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
7808 You can hide further boring headers by entering
7809 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
7810 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
7811 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
7812 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
7813 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
7815 These conditions are:
7818 Remove all empty headers.
7820 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
7821 @code{Newsgroups} header.
7823 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
7826 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
7829 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
7832 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
7834 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
7837 To include the four three elements, you could say something like;
7840 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
7841 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
7844 This is also the default value for this variable.
7848 @section Using @sc{mime}
7851 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
7852 while people stand around yawning.
7854 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
7855 while all newsreaders die of fear.
7857 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
7858 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
7859 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
7861 @vindex gnus-show-mime
7862 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
7863 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
7864 @findex metamail-buffer
7865 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
7866 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
7867 default. This function calls the external @code{metamail} program to
7868 actually do the work. One common problem with this program is that is
7869 thinks that it can't display 8-bit things in the Emacs buffer. To tell
7870 it the truth, put something like the following in your
7871 @file{.bash_profile} file. (You do use @code{bash}, don't you?)
7874 export MM_CHARSET="iso-8859-1"
7877 For more information on @code{metamail}, see its manual page.
7879 Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
7880 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
7881 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
7882 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
7883 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
7884 buffer. These can't be avoided.
7886 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
7887 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
7888 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
7889 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
7890 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
7891 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
7892 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
7893 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
7894 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
7896 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
7899 @node Customizing Articles
7900 @section Customizing Articles
7901 @cindex article customization
7903 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7904 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
7905 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
7906 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
7908 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7909 @findex gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers
7910 By default this hook just contains
7911 @code{gnus-article-maybe-hide-headers},
7912 @code{gnus-hide-boring-headers}, @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike},
7913 and @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight} (and under XEmacs,
7914 @code{gnus-article-display-x-face}), but there are thousands, nay
7915 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
7916 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
7917 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
7918 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
7919 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
7921 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
7922 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
7923 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
7924 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
7925 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
7928 @node Article Keymap
7929 @section Article Keymap
7931 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
7932 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
7933 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
7934 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
7937 A few additional keystrokes are available:
7942 @kindex SPACE (Article)
7943 @findex gnus-article-next-page
7944 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
7947 @kindex DEL (Article)
7948 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
7949 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
7952 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
7953 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
7954 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
7955 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
7956 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
7959 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
7960 @findex gnus-article-mail
7961 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
7962 given a prefix, include the mail.
7966 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
7967 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
7968 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
7972 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
7973 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
7974 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
7977 @kindex TAB (Article)
7978 @findex gnus-article-next-button
7979 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
7980 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
7983 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
7984 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
7985 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
7991 @section Misc Article
7995 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
7996 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
7997 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
7998 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
8001 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
8002 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
8003 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
8004 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
8005 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
8006 the contents of the article buffer.
8008 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
8009 @item gnus-article-display-hook
8010 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
8011 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
8012 hiding headers, and the like.
8014 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
8015 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
8016 Hook called in article mode buffers.
8018 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8019 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
8020 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
8021 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
8023 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
8024 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
8025 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
8026 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
8027 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with one
8032 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
8033 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
8037 @vindex gnus-break-pages
8039 @item gnus-break-pages
8040 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
8041 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
8042 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
8043 paging will not be done.
8045 @item gnus-page-delimiter
8046 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
8047 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
8052 @node Composing Messages
8053 @chapter Composing Messages
8054 @cindex composing messages
8057 @cindex sending mail
8062 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
8063 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
8064 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
8065 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
8066 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
8067 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
8068 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
8071 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
8072 * Post:: Posting and following up.
8073 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
8074 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
8075 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
8076 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
8077 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
8078 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
8081 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
8082 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
8088 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
8091 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
8092 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
8093 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
8094 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
8096 @item gnus-add-to-list
8097 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
8098 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
8099 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
8107 Variables for composing news articles:
8110 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8111 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
8112 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
8113 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
8114 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
8115 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
8116 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
8117 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
8118 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
8121 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8122 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
8123 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
8124 file. It is 1000 by default.
8129 @node Posting Server
8130 @section Posting Server
8132 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
8133 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
8135 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
8137 @vindex gnus-post-method
8139 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
8140 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
8141 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
8142 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
8143 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
8146 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
8149 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
8150 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
8151 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
8152 the ``current'' server for posting.
8154 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
8155 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
8157 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
8158 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
8161 Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
8162 you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
8163 groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
8168 @section Mail and Post
8170 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
8174 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
8175 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
8176 @cindex mailing lists
8178 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
8179 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
8180 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
8181 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
8182 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
8183 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
8184 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
8185 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
8186 still a pain, though.
8190 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
8191 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
8192 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
8195 @findex ispell-message
8197 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
8201 @node Archived Messages
8202 @section Archived Messages
8203 @cindex archived messages
8204 @cindex sent messages
8206 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
8207 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
8208 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
8209 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
8212 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
8213 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
8214 use to store sent messages. The default is:
8218 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
8219 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
8220 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
8221 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
8224 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
8225 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
8226 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
8227 directory chosen, you could say something like:
8230 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
8231 '(nnfolder "archive"
8232 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
8233 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
8234 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
8237 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
8239 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
8240 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
8241 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
8243 This variable can be used to do the following:
8247 Messages will be saved in that group.
8248 @item a list of strings
8249 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
8250 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
8251 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
8253 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
8258 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
8260 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
8263 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
8265 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
8268 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
8270 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8271 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
8272 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
8273 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
8278 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8279 '((if (message-news-p)
8284 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
8285 messages in one file per month:
8288 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
8289 '((if (message-news-p)
8291 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
8292 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
8295 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
8296 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8298 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8299 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8300 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8301 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8302 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8303 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8304 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8305 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8306 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8307 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8309 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8310 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8311 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8312 this will disable archiving.
8315 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8316 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8317 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8318 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8319 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8322 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8323 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8324 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8327 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8328 but the latter is the preferred method.
8332 @node Posting Styles
8333 @section Posting Styles
8334 @cindex posting styles
8337 All them variables, they make my head swim.
8339 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8340 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8341 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8344 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8345 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8346 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8347 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8348 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8353 (signature "Peace and happiness")
8354 (organization "What me?"))
8356 (signature "Death to everybody"))
8357 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8358 (organization "Emacs is it")))
8361 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8362 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8363 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8364 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8365 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8366 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8367 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8368 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8370 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8371 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8372 If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8373 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8374 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8375 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8378 Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8379 attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
8380 can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
8381 @code{organization}, @code{address} or @code{name}. The attribute name
8382 can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as a header name,
8383 and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article.
8385 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8386 return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8387 list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8389 So here's a new example:
8392 (setq gnus-posting-styles
8394 (signature-file "~/.signature")
8396 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8397 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
8399 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8400 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8401 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
8402 (posting-from-work-p
8403 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
8404 (address "user@@bar.foo")
8405 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
8407 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
8415 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8416 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8417 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8418 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8419 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8421 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8422 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8423 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8424 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8425 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8429 @vindex nndraft-directory
8430 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8431 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8432 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8433 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8434 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8435 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8437 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8438 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8441 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8442 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8443 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8444 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8445 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8446 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8447 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8448 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8449 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8450 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8451 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8452 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8453 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8454 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8456 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8457 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8458 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8460 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8462 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8463 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8464 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8466 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8469 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8470 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8471 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8472 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8473 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8474 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8475 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8478 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8479 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8480 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8483 @node Rejected Articles
8484 @section Rejected Articles
8485 @cindex rejected articles
8487 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8488 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8489 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8490 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8492 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8493 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8494 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8495 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8496 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8498 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8499 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8500 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8503 @node Select Methods
8504 @chapter Select Methods
8505 @cindex foreign groups
8506 @cindex select methods
8508 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8509 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8510 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8511 personal mail group.
8513 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8514 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8515 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8516 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8517 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8518 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8520 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8521 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8523 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8526 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8527 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8528 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8529 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8530 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8532 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8535 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8536 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8537 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8538 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8539 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8540 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8544 @node The Server Buffer
8545 @section The Server Buffer
8547 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8548 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8549 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8550 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8551 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8552 backend represents a virtual server.
8554 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8555 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8556 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8557 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8559 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8560 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8561 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8562 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8563 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8564 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8565 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8567 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8568 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8571 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8572 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8573 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8574 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8575 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8576 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8577 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8580 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8581 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8584 @node Server Buffer Format
8585 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8586 @cindex server buffer format
8588 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8589 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8590 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8591 variable, with some simple extensions:
8596 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8599 The name of this server.
8602 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8605 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8608 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8609 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8610 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
8611 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
8621 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8624 @node Server Commands
8625 @subsection Server Commands
8626 @cindex server commands
8632 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8633 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8637 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8638 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8641 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8642 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8643 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8647 @findex gnus-server-exit
8648 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8652 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8653 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8657 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8658 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8662 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8663 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8667 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8668 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8672 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8673 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8674 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8679 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8680 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8681 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8682 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8687 @node Example Methods
8688 @subsection Example Methods
8690 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8693 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
8696 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8702 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8703 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8706 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
8707 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8709 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8710 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
8714 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8717 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8718 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
8720 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8721 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8722 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8726 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
8729 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
8732 Here's the method for a public spool:
8736 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
8737 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
8740 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
8741 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
8742 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
8743 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
8744 should probably look something like this:
8748 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
8749 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8750 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8751 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8752 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
8755 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
8756 compressed connection over the modem line, you could create a virtual
8757 server that would look something like this:
8761 (nntp-address "copper.uio.no")
8762 (nntp-rlogin-program "ssh")
8763 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8764 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8765 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8766 ("telnet" "news.uio.no" "nntp")))
8769 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
8770 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
8771 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
8772 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
8775 @node Creating a Virtual Server
8776 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
8778 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
8779 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
8781 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
8782 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
8783 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
8785 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
8787 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
8788 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
8789 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
8790 will contain the following:
8800 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
8801 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
8802 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
8805 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
8806 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
8807 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
8810 @node Server Variables
8811 @subsection Server Variables
8813 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
8814 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
8815 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
8816 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
8817 won't change the "derived" variables.
8819 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
8820 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
8821 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
8822 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
8823 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
8824 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
8825 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
8826 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
8827 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
8831 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
8832 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
8833 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
8837 @node Servers and Methods
8838 @subsection Servers and Methods
8840 Wherever you would normally use a select method
8841 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
8842 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
8843 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
8847 @node Unavailable Servers
8848 @subsection Unavailable Servers
8850 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
8851 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
8852 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
8853 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
8854 actually the case or not.
8856 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
8857 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
8858 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
8859 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
8860 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
8861 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
8862 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
8863 it will regard that server as ``down''.
8865 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
8866 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
8868 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
8869 with the following commands:
8875 @findex gnus-server-open-server
8876 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
8877 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
8881 @findex gnus-server-close-server
8882 Close the connection (if any) to the server
8883 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
8887 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
8888 Mark the current server as unreachable
8889 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
8892 @kindex M-o (Server)
8893 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
8894 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
8895 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
8898 @kindex M-c (Server)
8899 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
8900 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
8901 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
8905 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
8906 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
8907 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
8913 @section Getting News
8914 @cindex reading news
8915 @cindex news backends
8917 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
8918 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
8919 or it can read from a local spool.
8922 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
8923 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
8928 @subsection @sc{nntp}
8931 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
8932 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
8933 server as the, uhm, address.
8935 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
8936 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
8937 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
8938 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8940 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
8941 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
8942 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
8944 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
8949 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
8950 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
8951 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
8953 @cindex authentification
8954 @cindex nntp authentification
8955 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8956 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
8957 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
8958 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
8959 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
8960 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
8961 present in this hook.
8963 @item nntp-authinfo-function
8964 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
8965 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8966 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
8967 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
8968 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
8969 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
8970 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
8971 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
8972 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
8973 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
8974 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
8978 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
8981 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs. The
8982 valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
8983 @samp{default} and @samp{force}. (The latter is not a valid
8984 @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} token, which is the only way the
8985 @file{.authinfo} file format deviates from the @file{.netrc} file
8990 Here's an example file:
8993 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
8994 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
8997 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
8998 have to be first, for instance.
9000 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
9001 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
9002 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
9003 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
9004 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
9005 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
9006 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
9008 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
9009 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
9015 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
9016 previously mentioned.
9018 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
9020 @item nntp-server-action-alist
9021 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
9022 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
9023 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
9024 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
9027 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
9031 You probably don't want to do that, though.
9033 The default value is
9036 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
9037 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
9040 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
9041 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
9043 @item nntp-maximum-request
9044 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
9045 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
9046 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
9047 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
9048 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
9049 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
9050 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
9052 @c @item nntp-connection-timeout
9053 @c @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
9054 @c If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
9055 @c regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
9056 @c responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
9057 @c time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
9058 @c somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
9059 @c that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
9060 @c connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
9061 @c no timeouts are done.
9063 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
9064 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
9065 @c @cindex PPP connections
9066 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
9067 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
9068 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
9069 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
9070 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
9071 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
9072 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
9073 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
9074 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
9075 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
9077 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
9078 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
9079 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
9080 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
9083 @item nntp-server-hook
9084 @vindex nntp-server-hook
9085 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
9088 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
9089 @findex nntp-open-telnet
9090 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
9091 @item nntp-open-connection-function
9092 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
9093 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Four pre-made
9094 functions are supplied:
9097 @item nntp-open-network-stream
9098 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
9101 @item nntp-open-rlogin
9102 Does an @samp{rlogin} on the
9103 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
9106 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
9110 @item nntp-rlogin-program
9111 @vindex nntp-rlogin-program
9112 Program used to log in on remote machines. The default is @samp{rsh},
9113 but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
9115 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
9116 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
9117 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
9119 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9120 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9121 User name on the remote system.
9125 @item nntp-open-telnet
9126 Does a @samp{telnet} to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet}
9127 to get to the @sc{nntp} server.
9129 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
9132 @item nntp-telnet-command
9133 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
9134 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
9136 @item nntp-telnet-switches
9137 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
9138 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
9140 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
9141 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
9142 User name for log in on the remote system.
9144 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
9145 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
9146 Password to use when logging in.
9148 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
9149 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
9150 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
9153 @item nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9154 @vindex nntp-telnet-shell-prompt
9155 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the remote machine. The default is
9156 @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
9158 @item nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9159 @vindex nntp-open-telnet-envuser
9160 If non-@code{nil}, the @code{telnet} session (client and server both)
9161 will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for login name.
9162 This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
9166 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
9167 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
9168 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use this
9169 you must have SSLay installed
9170 (@file{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also need
9171 @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distributeion, for instance). You then
9172 define a server as follows:
9175 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
9177 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
9179 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
9180 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
9181 (nntp-port-number "snews")
9182 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
9187 @item nntp-end-of-line
9188 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
9189 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
9190 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
9191 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
9193 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
9194 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
9195 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
9199 @vindex nntp-address
9200 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
9202 @item nntp-port-number
9203 @vindex nntp-port-number
9204 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
9207 @item nntp-buggy-select
9208 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
9209 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
9211 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
9212 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
9213 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
9214 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
9217 @item nntp-xover-commands
9218 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
9221 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
9222 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
9226 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
9227 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
9228 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
9229 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
9230 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
9231 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
9232 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
9233 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
9234 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
9235 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
9236 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
9238 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
9239 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
9240 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
9242 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9243 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
9244 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
9245 server closes connection.
9247 @item nntp-record-commands
9248 @vindex nntp-record-commands
9249 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
9250 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestep) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
9251 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
9252 that doesn't seem to work.
9258 @subsection News Spool
9262 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
9263 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
9264 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
9267 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
9268 anything else) as the address.
9270 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
9271 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
9272 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
9273 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
9277 @item nnspool-inews-program
9278 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
9279 Program used to post an article.
9281 @item nnspool-inews-switches
9282 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
9283 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
9285 @item nnspool-spool-directory
9286 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
9287 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
9288 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
9290 @item nnspool-nov-directory
9291 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
9292 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
9293 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
9295 @item nnspool-lib-dir
9296 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
9297 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
9299 @item nnspool-active-file
9300 @vindex nnspool-active-file
9301 The path to the active file.
9303 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
9304 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
9305 The path to the group descriptions file.
9307 @item nnspool-history-file
9308 @vindex nnspool-history-file
9309 The path to the news history file.
9311 @item nnspool-active-times-file
9312 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
9313 The path to the active date file.
9315 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
9316 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
9317 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
9320 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9321 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
9323 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
9324 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
9325 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
9331 @section Getting Mail
9332 @cindex reading mail
9335 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
9339 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
9340 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
9341 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
9342 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
9343 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
9344 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
9345 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
9346 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
9347 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
9348 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
9349 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
9353 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
9354 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
9356 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
9357 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
9358 and things will happen automatically.
9360 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
9361 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
9364 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
9365 '((nnml "private")))
9368 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
9369 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
9370 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
9371 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
9372 like any other group.
9374 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
9377 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9378 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9379 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9383 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
9384 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
9385 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
9388 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
9389 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
9390 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
9393 @node Splitting Mail
9394 @subsection Splitting Mail
9395 @cindex splitting mail
9396 @cindex mail splitting
9398 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
9399 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
9400 to be split into groups.
9403 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9404 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9405 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9409 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9410 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9411 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9412 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9413 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
9414 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
9415 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
9418 ("list.\\1" "From:.*\\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
9421 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9422 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9423 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9424 mail belongs in that group.
9426 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9427 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9428 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9429 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9430 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9431 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9433 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9434 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9435 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9436 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9437 thinks should carry this mail message.
9439 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9440 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9441 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9442 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9444 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9445 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9446 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9447 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9448 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9450 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9453 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9454 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9455 links. If that's the case for you, set
9456 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9457 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9459 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9460 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9461 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9462 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9464 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9465 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9466 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9467 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9468 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9469 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9470 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9471 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9475 @node Mail Backend Variables
9476 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
9478 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
9482 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9483 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9484 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
9485 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
9487 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
9488 @item nnmail-spool-file
9492 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
9493 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
9494 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
9495 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
9496 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
9497 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
9498 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
9499 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
9500 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
9501 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
9502 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
9503 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
9504 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
9505 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
9506 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
9508 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9510 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9511 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9514 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9515 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9516 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9517 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9518 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9519 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9521 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9522 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9523 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9524 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9525 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9526 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9527 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9530 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9531 @item nnmail-crash-box
9532 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9533 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9534 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9537 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9538 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9539 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
9540 used for, well, anything, really.
9542 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9543 @item nnmail-split-hook
9544 @findex article-decode-rfc1522
9545 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9546 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9547 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9548 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9549 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9550 in the buffer will show up in any files. @code{gnus-article-decode-rfc1522}
9551 is one likely function to add to this hook.
9553 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9554 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9555 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9556 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9557 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9558 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9559 starting to handle the new mail) and
9560 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9561 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9562 default file modes the new mail files get:
9565 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9566 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9568 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9569 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9572 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9573 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9574 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9575 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9576 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9577 it will be used instead.
9579 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9580 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9581 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9582 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9584 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9585 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9588 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9589 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9590 @cindex incoming mail files
9591 @cindex deleting incoming files
9592 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9593 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9596 @c This is @code{nil} by
9597 @c default for reasons of security.
9599 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9600 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9601 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9602 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9603 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9606 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9608 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9609 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9610 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9611 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9612 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9613 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9614 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9616 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9617 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9619 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9621 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9622 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9623 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9624 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9625 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9630 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9631 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9632 @cindex mail splitting
9633 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9635 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9636 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9637 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9638 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9639 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9640 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9642 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9645 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9646 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9647 ;; from real errors.
9648 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9650 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9651 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9652 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9653 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9654 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9655 ;; Other mailing lists...
9656 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9657 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9659 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9660 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9664 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9665 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9666 the five possible split syntaxes:
9671 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
9672 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
9676 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9677 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9678 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9681 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9682 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9683 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9684 be stored in one or more groups.
9687 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9688 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9691 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9692 this message. Use with extreme caution.
9695 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9696 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
9697 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
9701 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
9705 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
9706 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
9707 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
9708 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
9709 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
9711 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
9712 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
9713 are expanded as specified by the variable
9714 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
9715 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
9718 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
9719 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
9720 when all this splitting is performed.
9722 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
9723 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
9724 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
9727 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
9730 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
9731 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
9732 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
9733 groupings 1 through 9.
9736 @node Mail and Procmail
9737 @subsection Mail and Procmail
9742 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
9743 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
9744 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
9745 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
9746 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
9748 If you have a combined @code{procmail}/POP/mailbox setup, you can do
9749 something like the following:
9751 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9753 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
9754 (setq nnmail-spool-file
9755 '("/usr/spool/mail/my-name" "po:my-name"))
9758 This also means that you probably don't want to set
9759 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
9762 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
9763 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
9764 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
9765 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
9766 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
9767 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
9769 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
9772 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
9774 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
9775 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
9777 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
9778 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
9779 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
9780 to include all your mail groups.
9782 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
9783 method will be created automatically.
9785 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9786 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
9787 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
9788 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
9789 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
9790 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
9791 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
9792 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
9794 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
9795 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
9796 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
9797 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
9798 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
9800 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9801 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
9802 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
9803 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
9804 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
9805 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
9807 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
9808 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
9809 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
9810 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
9811 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
9814 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
9815 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
9816 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
9817 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
9818 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
9822 @node Incorporating Old Mail
9823 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
9825 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
9826 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
9827 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
9830 Doing so can be quite easy.
9832 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
9833 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
9834 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
9835 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
9836 your @code{nnml} groups.
9842 Go to the group buffer.
9845 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
9846 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9849 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
9852 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
9853 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
9856 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
9857 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
9860 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
9861 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
9862 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
9863 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
9864 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
9866 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
9867 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
9868 using the new mail backend.
9872 @subsection Expiring Mail
9873 @cindex article expiry
9875 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
9876 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
9877 different approach to mail reading.
9879 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
9880 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
9881 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
9882 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
9883 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
9884 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
9887 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
9888 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
9889 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
9890 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
9891 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
9892 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
9893 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
9894 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
9896 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9897 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
9898 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
9899 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
9900 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
9901 column in the summary buffer.
9903 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
9904 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
9905 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
9906 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
9909 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
9911 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
9912 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
9913 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
9916 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
9917 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
9918 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
9919 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
9920 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
9922 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
9923 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
9926 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9927 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
9930 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
9931 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
9933 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
9934 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
9935 don't really mix very well.
9937 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
9938 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
9939 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
9940 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
9943 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
9944 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
9945 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
9946 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
9949 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9951 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9953 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
9955 ((string= group "mail.junk")
9957 ((string= group "important")
9963 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
9964 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
9966 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
9967 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
9968 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
9971 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
9972 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9974 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9975 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
9976 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
9977 easier for procmail users.
9979 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
9980 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
9981 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
9982 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
9983 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
9984 caution. Even more dangerous is the
9985 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
9986 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
9987 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
9988 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
9989 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
9990 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
9991 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
9994 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
9998 @subsection Washing Mail
9999 @cindex mail washing
10000 @cindex list server brain damage
10001 @cindex incoming mail treatment
10003 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
10004 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
10005 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
10006 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
10007 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
10008 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
10010 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
10011 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
10012 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
10015 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
10016 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
10017 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
10018 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
10021 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10022 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
10023 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
10024 grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include:
10027 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10028 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
10029 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
10030 Emacs running on MS machines.
10034 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10035 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
10036 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
10037 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
10040 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10041 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
10042 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
10043 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
10045 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10046 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
10047 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
10048 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
10049 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
10050 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
10051 also be a list of regexp.
10053 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
10054 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
10057 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
10058 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
10061 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
10062 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
10063 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
10067 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10068 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
10069 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
10073 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
10074 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
10075 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
10082 @subsection Duplicates
10084 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
10085 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
10086 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
10087 @cindex duplicate mails
10088 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
10089 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
10090 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
10091 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
10092 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
10093 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
10094 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
10095 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
10096 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
10097 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
10098 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
10099 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
10100 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
10102 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
10103 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
10104 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
10105 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
10107 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
10110 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
10111 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
10115 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
10116 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
10117 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
10118 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
10119 (any mail "mail.misc")
10126 (setq nnmail-split-methods
10127 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
10132 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
10133 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
10134 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
10135 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
10136 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
10139 @node Not Reading Mail
10140 @subsection Not Reading Mail
10142 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
10143 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
10144 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
10146 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
10147 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
10149 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10150 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10151 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10152 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10153 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10154 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
10155 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
10156 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
10157 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
10158 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
10159 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
10161 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
10162 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
10166 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
10167 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
10169 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
10170 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
10171 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
10174 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
10175 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
10176 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
10177 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
10178 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
10182 @node Unix Mail Box
10183 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
10185 @cindex unix mail box
10187 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10188 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10189 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
10190 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
10191 which group it belongs in.
10193 Virtual server settings:
10196 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
10197 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
10198 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
10200 @item nnmbox-active-file
10201 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
10202 The name of the active file for the mail box.
10204 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
10205 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
10206 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
10212 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
10216 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10217 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10218 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
10219 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
10220 article to say which group it belongs in.
10222 Virtual server settings:
10225 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
10226 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
10227 The name of the rmail mbox file.
10229 @item nnbabyl-active-file
10230 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
10231 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
10233 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10234 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
10235 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
10240 @subsubsection Mail Spool
10242 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
10244 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
10245 format. It should be used with some caution.
10247 @vindex nnml-directory
10248 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
10249 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
10250 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
10251 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
10253 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
10256 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
10257 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
10258 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
10259 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
10260 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
10261 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
10262 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
10263 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
10265 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
10266 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
10267 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
10268 backend when it comes to reading mail.
10270 Virtual server settings:
10273 @item nnml-directory
10274 @vindex nnml-directory
10275 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
10277 @item nnml-active-file
10278 @vindex nnml-active-file
10279 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
10281 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
10282 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
10283 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
10286 @item nnml-get-new-mail
10287 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
10288 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
10290 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
10291 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
10292 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
10294 @item nnml-nov-file-name
10295 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
10296 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
10298 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10299 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
10300 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
10304 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
10305 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
10306 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
10307 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
10308 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
10309 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
10310 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
10315 @subsubsection MH Spool
10317 @cindex mh-e mail spool
10319 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
10320 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
10321 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
10322 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
10324 Virtual server settings:
10327 @item nnmh-directory
10328 @vindex nnmh-directory
10329 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
10331 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
10332 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
10333 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
10336 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
10337 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
10338 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
10339 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
10340 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
10341 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
10342 to set this variable to @code{t}.
10347 @subsubsection Mail Folders
10349 @cindex mbox folders
10350 @cindex mail folders
10352 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
10353 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
10354 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
10357 Virtual server settings:
10360 @item nnfolder-directory
10361 @vindex nnfolder-directory
10362 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
10364 @item nnfolder-active-file
10365 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
10366 The name of the active file.
10368 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10369 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
10370 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
10372 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
10373 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
10374 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
10377 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
10378 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
10379 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
10380 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
10381 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
10382 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
10385 @node Other Sources
10386 @section Other Sources
10388 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
10389 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
10393 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
10394 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
10395 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
10396 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
10397 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
10398 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
10402 @node Directory Groups
10403 @subsection Directory Groups
10405 @cindex directory groups
10407 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
10408 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
10411 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
10412 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
10413 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
10414 backend to read directories. Big deal.
10416 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
10417 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
10418 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
10419 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
10420 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
10422 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
10424 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
10425 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
10426 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
10427 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
10430 @node Anything Groups
10431 @subsection Anything Groups
10434 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
10435 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
10436 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
10439 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
10440 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
10441 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
10442 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
10443 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
10444 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
10445 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
10446 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
10447 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
10448 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
10451 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
10452 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
10453 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
10454 in the article buffer, just as usual.
10456 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
10457 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
10458 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
10459 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
10461 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
10462 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
10463 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
10464 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
10465 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
10466 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
10467 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
10468 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
10473 @item nneething-map-file-directory
10474 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
10475 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
10476 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
10478 @item nneething-exclude-files
10479 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
10480 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
10481 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
10483 @item nneething-map-file
10484 @vindex nneething-map-file
10485 Name of the map files.
10489 @node Document Groups
10490 @subsection Document Groups
10492 @cindex documentation group
10495 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
10496 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
10503 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
10508 The standard Unix mbox file.
10510 @cindex MMDF mail box
10512 The MMDF mail box format.
10515 Several news articles appended into a file.
10518 @cindex rnews batch files
10519 The rnews batch transport format.
10520 @cindex forwarded messages
10523 Forwarded articles.
10526 MIME multipart messages, besides digests.
10530 @cindex MIME digest
10531 @cindex 1153 digest
10532 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10533 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10534 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10536 @item standard-digest
10537 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10540 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10543 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10544 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10545 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10548 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10549 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10550 group. And that's it.
10552 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10553 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10554 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10555 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10556 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10557 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10558 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10559 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10560 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10561 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10563 Virtual server variables:
10566 @item nndoc-article-type
10567 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10568 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10569 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10570 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{mime-digest},
10571 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or
10574 @item nndoc-post-type
10575 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10576 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10577 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10582 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10586 @node Document Server Internals
10587 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10589 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10590 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10591 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10592 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10594 First, here's an example document type definition:
10598 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10599 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10602 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10603 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10604 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10605 types can be defined with very few settings:
10608 @item first-article
10609 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10610 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10613 @item article-begin
10614 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10615 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10617 @item head-begin-function
10618 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10621 @item nndoc-head-begin
10622 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10625 @item nndoc-head-end
10626 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10627 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10629 @item body-begin-function
10630 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10634 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10637 @item body-end-function
10638 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10642 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10645 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10646 regexp will be totally ignored.
10650 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10651 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10652 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10653 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10654 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10657 @item prepare-body-function
10658 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10659 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10660 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10662 @item article-transform-function
10663 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
10664 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
10665 body of the article.
10667 @item generate-head-function
10668 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
10669 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
10670 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
10671 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
10675 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
10680 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10681 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10682 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
10683 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
10684 (head-end . "^ ?$")
10685 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
10686 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
10687 (subtype digest guess))
10690 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
10691 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
10692 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
10693 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
10694 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
10696 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
10697 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
10698 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
10699 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
10700 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
10701 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
10702 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
10703 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
10704 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
10705 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
10713 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
10714 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
10715 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
10717 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
10718 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
10719 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
10722 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
10723 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
10724 that interested in doing things properly.
10726 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
10727 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
10730 First some terminology:
10735 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
10736 get news and/or mail from.
10739 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
10740 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
10743 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
10747 @item message packets
10748 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
10749 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
10750 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10752 @item response packets
10753 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
10754 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
10755 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10765 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
10766 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
10767 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
10768 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
10771 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
10774 You put the packet in your home directory.
10777 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
10778 the native or secondary server.
10781 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
10782 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
10785 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
10789 You transfer this packet to the server.
10792 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
10795 You then repeat until you die.
10799 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
10800 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
10803 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
10804 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
10805 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
10809 @node SOUP Commands
10810 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
10812 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
10816 @kindex G s b (Group)
10817 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
10818 Pack all unread articles in the current group
10819 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
10820 process/prefix convention.
10823 @kindex G s w (Group)
10824 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
10825 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
10828 @kindex G s s (Group)
10829 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
10830 Send all replies from the replies packet
10831 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
10834 @kindex G s p (Group)
10835 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
10836 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
10839 @kindex G s r (Group)
10840 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
10841 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
10844 @kindex O s (Summary)
10845 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
10846 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
10847 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
10848 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10853 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
10858 @item gnus-soup-directory
10859 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
10860 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
10861 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
10863 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
10864 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
10865 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
10866 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
10868 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
10869 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
10870 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
10871 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
10873 @item gnus-soup-packer
10874 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
10875 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10876 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
10878 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
10879 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
10880 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10881 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10883 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
10884 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
10885 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
10887 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10888 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10889 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
10890 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
10896 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
10899 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
10900 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
10901 you can read them at leisure.
10903 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
10907 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
10908 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
10909 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
10910 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
10912 @item nnsoup-directory
10913 @vindex nnsoup-directory
10914 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
10915 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
10917 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
10918 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
10919 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
10920 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
10922 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
10923 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
10924 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
10925 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
10926 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
10928 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
10929 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
10930 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
10931 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
10933 @item nnsoup-active-file
10934 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
10935 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
10936 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
10937 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
10938 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
10940 @item nnsoup-packer
10941 @vindex nnsoup-packer
10942 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
10943 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
10945 @item nnsoup-unpacker
10946 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
10947 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
10948 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10950 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
10951 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
10952 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
10955 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
10956 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
10957 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
10960 @item nnsoup-always-save
10961 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
10962 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
10968 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
10970 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
10971 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
10972 more for that to happen.
10974 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
10975 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
10976 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
10979 In specific, this is what it does:
10982 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
10983 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
10986 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
10987 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
10988 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
10992 @subsection Web Searches
10996 @cindex InReference
10997 @cindex Usenet searches
10998 @cindex searching the Usenet
11000 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
11001 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
11002 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
11003 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
11004 searches without having to use a browser.
11006 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
11007 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
11008 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
11009 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
11010 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
11012 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
11013 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
11014 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
11015 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
11016 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
11017 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
11018 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
11019 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
11020 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
11021 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
11024 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
11025 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
11026 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
11027 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
11028 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
11029 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
11031 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
11032 to use @code{nnweb}.
11034 Virtual server variables:
11039 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
11040 are @code{dejanews}, @code{dejanewsold}, @code{altavista} and
11044 @vindex nnweb-search
11045 The search string to feed to the search engine.
11047 @item nnweb-max-hits
11048 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
11049 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
11052 @item nnweb-type-definition
11053 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
11054 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
11055 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
11060 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
11064 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
11067 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
11070 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
11074 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
11081 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
11082 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
11083 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
11086 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
11087 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
11088 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
11090 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
11096 @item nngateway-address
11097 @vindex nngateway-address
11098 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
11100 @item nngateway-header-transformation
11101 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
11102 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
11103 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
11104 transformation should be called, and defaults to
11105 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
11106 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
11109 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
11110 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
11111 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
11114 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
11117 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
11120 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
11123 The following pre-defined functions exist:
11125 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11128 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
11129 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11130 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
11132 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11134 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
11135 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
11136 @code{nngateway-address}.
11141 (setq gnus-post-method
11142 '(nngateway "mail2news@@replay.com"
11143 (nngateway-header-transformation
11144 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
11152 So, to use this, simply say something like:
11155 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
11159 @node Combined Groups
11160 @section Combined Groups
11162 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
11166 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
11167 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
11171 @node Virtual Groups
11172 @subsection Virtual Groups
11174 @cindex virtual groups
11175 @cindex merging groups
11177 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
11180 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
11181 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
11182 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
11184 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
11185 regexp to match component groups.
11187 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
11188 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
11189 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
11190 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
11191 the virtual group.)
11193 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
11194 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
11197 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
11200 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
11201 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
11203 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
11204 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
11205 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
11206 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
11209 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
11212 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
11213 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
11214 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
11216 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
11217 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
11218 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
11219 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
11220 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
11222 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
11223 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
11224 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
11226 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
11227 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
11228 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
11229 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
11230 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
11231 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
11232 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
11233 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
11234 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
11235 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
11236 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
11239 @node Kibozed Groups
11240 @subsection Kibozed Groups
11244 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
11245 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
11246 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
11247 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
11249 @kindex G k (Group)
11250 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
11253 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
11254 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
11255 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
11256 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
11258 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
11259 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
11260 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
11262 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
11263 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
11264 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
11265 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
11266 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
11267 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
11268 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
11269 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
11271 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
11272 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
11273 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
11274 Stranger things have happened.
11276 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
11277 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
11279 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
11280 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
11281 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
11282 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
11283 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
11284 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
11286 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
11287 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
11290 @node Gnus Unplugged
11291 @section Gnus Unplugged
11296 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
11298 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
11299 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
11300 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
11301 read news. Believe it or not.
11303 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
11304 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
11305 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
11306 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
11307 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
11309 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
11310 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
11311 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
11312 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
11313 reading news on a machine.
11315 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
11319 First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
11320 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
11324 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
11325 @file{.gnus.el} file:
11332 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
11334 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
11337 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
11338 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
11339 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
11340 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
11341 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
11342 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
11343 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
11344 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
11349 @subsection Agent Basics
11351 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
11353 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
11354 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
11355 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
11356 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
11358 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
11359 connected to the net continuously.
11361 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
11362 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
11364 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
11369 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
11370 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
11371 already fetched while in this mode.
11374 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
11375 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
11376 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
11379 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
11380 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
11381 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
11382 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
11385 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
11386 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
11387 then you read the news offline.
11390 And then you go to step 2.
11393 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
11399 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
11400 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
11401 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
11402 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
11403 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
11404 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
11407 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}
11414 @node Agent Categories
11415 @subsection Agent Categories
11417 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
11418 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
11419 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
11420 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
11421 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
11422 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
11423 you're interested in the articles anyway.
11425 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
11426 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
11427 Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
11430 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
11431 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
11432 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
11436 @node Category Syntax
11437 @subsubsection Category Syntax
11439 A category consists of two things.
11443 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
11444 are eligible for downloading; and
11447 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
11448 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
11449 score} is wholly unrelated to normal scores.)
11452 A predicate consists of predicates with logical operators sprinkled in
11455 Perhaps some examples are in order.
11457 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
11458 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
11464 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
11465 short (for some value of ``short'').
11467 Here's a more complex predicate:
11476 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
11477 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
11480 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
11481 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
11482 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
11484 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
11485 you want to do, you can write your own.
11489 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
11490 lines; default 100.
11493 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
11494 lines; default 200.
11497 True iff the article has a download score less than
11498 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
11501 True iff the article has a download score greater than
11502 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
11505 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
11506 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
11507 checksum and sees whether articles match.
11516 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
11517 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
11518 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
11521 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
11522 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
11523 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
11524 following headers can be scored on: @code{From}, @code{Subject},
11525 @code{Date}, @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars}, @code{Message-ID},
11526 and @code{References}.
11529 @node The Category Buffer
11530 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
11532 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
11533 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
11534 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
11536 The following commands are available in this buffer:
11540 @kindex q (Category)
11541 @findex gnus-category-exit
11542 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
11545 @kindex k (Category)
11546 @findex gnus-category-kill
11547 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
11550 @kindex c (Category)
11551 @findex gnus-category-copy
11552 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
11555 @kindex a (Category)
11556 @findex gnus-category-add
11557 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
11560 @kindex p (Category)
11561 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
11562 Edit the predicate of the current category
11563 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
11566 @kindex g (Category)
11567 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
11568 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
11569 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
11572 @kindex s (Category)
11573 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
11574 Edit the download score rule of the current category
11575 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
11578 @kindex l (Category)
11579 @findex gnus-category-list
11580 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
11584 @node Category Variables
11585 @subsubsection Category Variables
11588 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
11589 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
11590 Hook run in category buffers.
11592 @item gnus-category-line-format
11593 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
11594 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
11595 Variables}). Valid elements are:
11599 The name of the category.
11602 The number of groups in the category.
11605 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
11606 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
11607 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
11609 @item gnus-agent-short-article
11610 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
11611 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
11613 @item gnus-agent-long-article
11614 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
11615 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
11617 @item gnus-agent-low-score
11618 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
11619 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
11622 @item gnus-agent-high-score
11623 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
11624 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
11630 @node Agent Commands
11631 @subsection Agent Commands
11633 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
11634 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
11635 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
11639 * Group Agent Commands::
11640 * Summary Agent Commands::
11641 * Server Agent Commands::
11644 You can run a complete batch fetch from the command line with the
11645 following incantation:
11647 @cindex gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11649 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch-fetch
11654 @node Group Agent Commands
11655 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
11659 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
11660 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
11661 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
11662 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
11665 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
11666 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
11667 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
11670 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
11671 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
11672 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
11673 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
11676 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
11677 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
11678 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
11679 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}
11682 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
11683 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
11684 Add the current group to an Agent category
11685 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}).
11690 @node Summary Agent Commands
11691 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
11695 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
11696 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
11697 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
11700 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
11701 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
11702 Remove the downloading mark from the article
11703 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
11706 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
11707 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
11708 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
11711 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
11712 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
11713 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
11718 @node Server Agent Commands
11719 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
11723 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
11724 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
11725 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
11726 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
11729 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
11730 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
11731 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
11732 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
11738 @subsection Agent Expiry
11740 @vindex gnus-agent-expiry-days
11741 @findex gnus-agent-expiry
11742 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expiry
11743 @cindex Agent expiry
11744 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
11747 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
11748 @code{gnus-agent-expiry} command that will expire all read articles that
11749 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expiry-days} days. It can be run
11750 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
11751 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
11752 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
11754 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
11755 if @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
11756 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
11757 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
11758 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
11761 @node Outgoing Messages
11762 @subsection Outgoing Messages
11764 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
11765 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
11766 after posting, and edit them at will.
11768 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
11769 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
11770 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
11771 messages in the draft group.
11775 @node Agent Variables
11776 @subsection Agent Variables
11779 @item gnus-agent-directory
11780 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
11781 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
11782 @file{~/News/agent/}.
11784 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
11785 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
11786 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
11787 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
11788 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
11791 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11792 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11793 Hook run when connecting to the network.
11795 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11796 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11797 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
11802 @node Example Setup
11803 @subsection Example Setup
11805 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
11806 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
11807 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
11810 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
11811 ;;; from your ISP's server.
11812 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "nntp.your-isp.com"))
11814 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
11815 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
11816 (setenv "MAILHOST" "pop.your-isp.com")
11817 (setq nnmail-spool-file "po:username")
11819 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
11820 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
11822 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
11826 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
11827 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
11830 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
11831 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
11832 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
11833 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
11834 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
11837 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
11838 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
11839 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
11840 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
11841 back all the killed groups.)
11843 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
11844 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
11845 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
11848 @node Batching Agents
11849 @subsection Batching Agents
11851 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
11852 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
11853 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
11857 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
11866 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
11867 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
11868 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
11871 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
11872 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
11873 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
11874 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
11875 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
11877 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
11878 before generating the summary buffer.
11880 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
11881 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
11882 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
11884 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
11885 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
11886 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
11887 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
11890 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
11891 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
11892 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
11893 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
11894 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
11895 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
11896 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
11897 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
11898 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
11899 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
11900 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
11901 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
11902 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
11903 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
11904 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
11905 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
11909 @node Summary Score Commands
11910 @section Summary Score Commands
11911 @cindex score commands
11913 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
11914 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
11915 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
11916 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
11917 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
11919 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
11920 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
11921 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
11922 score file the current one.
11924 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
11929 @kindex V s (Summary)
11930 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
11931 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
11934 @kindex V S (Summary)
11935 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
11936 Display the score of the current article
11937 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
11940 @kindex V t (Summary)
11941 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
11942 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
11943 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
11946 @kindex V R (Summary)
11947 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
11948 Run the current summary through the scoring process
11949 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
11950 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
11951 effect you're having.
11954 @kindex V c (Summary)
11955 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
11956 Make a different score file the current
11957 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
11960 @kindex V e (Summary)
11961 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
11962 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
11963 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
11967 @kindex V f (Summary)
11968 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
11969 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
11970 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
11973 @kindex V F (Summary)
11974 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
11975 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
11976 after editing score files.
11979 @kindex V C (Summary)
11980 @findex gnus-score-customize
11981 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
11982 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
11986 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
11991 @kindex V m (Summary)
11992 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
11993 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
11994 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
11997 @kindex V x (Summary)
11998 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
11999 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
12000 expunge all articles below this score
12001 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
12004 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
12005 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
12008 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
12009 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
12013 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
12014 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
12016 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
12017 keys are available:
12021 Score on the author name.
12024 Score on the subject line.
12027 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
12030 Score on thread---the References line.
12036 Score on the number of lines.
12039 Score on the Message-ID.
12042 Score on followups.
12052 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
12053 what headers you are scoring on.
12065 Substring matching.
12068 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
12097 Greater than number.
12102 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
12103 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
12104 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
12108 Temporary score entry.
12111 Permanent score entry.
12114 Immediately scoring.
12119 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
12120 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
12121 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
12122 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
12124 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
12125 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
12126 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
12127 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
12128 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
12130 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
12131 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
12132 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
12133 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
12134 current score file.
12136 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
12137 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
12138 pretend they are keymaps or not.
12141 @node Group Score Commands
12142 @section Group Score Commands
12143 @cindex group score commands
12145 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
12150 @kindex W f (Group)
12151 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
12152 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
12153 all the time. This command will flush the cache
12154 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
12158 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
12160 @findex gnus-batch-score
12161 @cindex batch scoring
12163 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l gnus -f gnus-batch-score
12167 @node Score Variables
12168 @section Score Variables
12169 @cindex score variables
12173 @item gnus-use-scoring
12174 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
12175 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
12176 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
12178 @item gnus-kill-killed
12179 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
12180 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
12181 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
12182 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
12183 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
12184 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
12185 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
12187 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
12188 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
12189 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
12190 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
12191 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
12193 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
12194 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
12195 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
12196 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
12198 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12199 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
12200 @cindex score cache
12201 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
12202 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
12203 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
12204 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
12205 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
12206 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
12209 @item gnus-save-score
12210 @vindex gnus-save-score
12211 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
12212 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
12213 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
12215 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12216 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
12217 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
12218 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
12219 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
12220 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
12221 manually entered data.
12223 @item gnus-summary-default-score
12224 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
12225 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
12227 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
12228 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
12229 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
12230 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
12231 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
12232 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
12234 @item gnus-score-over-mark
12235 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
12236 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
12237 default. Default is @samp{+}.
12239 @item gnus-score-below-mark
12240 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
12241 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
12242 default. Default is @samp{-}.
12244 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12245 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
12246 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
12247 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
12249 Predefined functions available are:
12252 @item gnus-score-find-single
12253 @findex gnus-score-find-single
12254 Only apply the group's own score file.
12256 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
12257 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
12258 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
12259 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
12260 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
12261 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
12262 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
12263 then a regexp match is done.
12265 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
12266 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
12268 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
12269 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
12270 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
12271 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
12273 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12274 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
12275 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
12276 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
12277 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
12280 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
12281 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
12282 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
12283 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
12284 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
12285 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
12288 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
12289 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
12290 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
12291 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
12292 are expired. It's 7 by default.
12294 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12295 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
12296 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
12297 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
12298 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
12299 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
12300 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
12303 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12304 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
12305 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
12307 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
12308 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
12309 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
12310 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
12311 threading---according to the current value of
12312 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
12313 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
12314 simplified in this manner.
12319 @node Score File Format
12320 @section Score File Format
12321 @cindex score file format
12323 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
12324 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
12325 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
12327 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
12331 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
12333 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
12335 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
12337 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
12342 (mark-and-expunge -10)
12346 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
12347 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
12348 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
12349 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
12353 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
12354 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
12356 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
12357 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
12358 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
12360 Six keys are supported by this alist:
12365 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
12366 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
12367 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
12368 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
12369 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
12370 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
12371 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
12372 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
12373 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
12374 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
12375 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
12376 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
12377 to articles that matches these score entries.
12379 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
12380 score entry has one to four elements.
12384 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
12385 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
12389 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
12390 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
12391 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
12392 is successful. If this element is not present, the
12393 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
12394 instead. This is 1000 by default.
12397 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
12398 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
12399 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
12400 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
12401 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
12404 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
12405 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
12406 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
12407 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
12410 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
12411 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
12412 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
12413 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
12414 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
12415 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
12416 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
12417 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
12418 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
12419 instead, if you feel like.
12422 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
12423 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
12425 These predicates are true if
12428 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
12431 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
12432 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
12439 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
12440 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
12441 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
12442 it's not. I think.)
12444 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some backends (like
12445 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
12446 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
12447 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
12450 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
12451 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
12452 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
12453 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
12454 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
12455 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
12456 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
12460 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
12461 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
12462 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
12463 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
12464 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
12465 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
12466 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
12467 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
12470 @item Head, Body, All
12471 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
12475 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
12476 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
12477 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
12478 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
12479 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
12480 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
12481 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
12485 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
12486 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
12487 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
12488 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
12489 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
12490 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
12491 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
12492 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
12493 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
12494 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
12498 @cindex Score File Atoms
12500 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12501 lower than this number will be marked as read.
12504 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12505 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
12507 @item mark-and-expunge
12508 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
12509 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
12512 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
12513 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
12514 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
12515 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
12516 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
12519 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
12520 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
12523 @item exclude-files
12524 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
12525 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
12529 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
12530 ignored when handling global score files.
12533 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
12534 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
12535 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
12536 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
12539 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
12540 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
12541 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
12542 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
12544 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
12548 (mark-and-expunge -100)
12551 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
12552 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
12553 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
12554 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
12555 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
12557 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
12558 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
12559 ordinary scoring rules.
12562 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
12563 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
12564 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
12565 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
12566 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
12567 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
12568 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12569 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
12570 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
12571 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
12572 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
12576 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
12577 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
12578 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
12579 file for a number of groups.
12582 @cindex local variables
12583 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
12584 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
12585 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
12586 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
12587 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
12591 @node Score File Editing
12592 @section Score File Editing
12594 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
12595 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
12596 with a mode for that.
12598 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
12599 additional commands:
12604 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
12605 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
12606 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
12607 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
12610 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
12611 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
12612 Insert the current date in numerical format
12613 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
12614 you were wondering.
12617 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
12618 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
12619 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
12620 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
12621 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
12626 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
12628 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
12629 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
12631 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
12632 e} to begin editing score files.
12635 @node Adaptive Scoring
12636 @section Adaptive Scoring
12637 @cindex adaptive scoring
12639 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
12640 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
12641 stupidity, to be precise.
12643 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
12644 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
12645 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
12646 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
12647 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12648 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
12649 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
12650 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
12651 variable to @code{(word line)}.
12653 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12654 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
12655 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
12656 might look something like this:
12659 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12660 '((gnus-unread-mark)
12661 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
12662 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
12663 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
12664 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
12665 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
12666 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
12667 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
12668 (gnus-ancient-mark)
12669 (gnus-low-score-mark)
12670 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
12673 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
12674 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
12675 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
12676 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
12677 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
12678 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
12681 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
12682 will be applied to each article.
12684 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
12685 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
12686 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
12687 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
12689 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
12690 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
12691 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
12692 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
12694 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
12695 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
12696 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
12697 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
12699 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
12700 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
12701 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
12702 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
12703 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
12704 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
12706 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
12707 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
12708 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
12709 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
12710 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
12711 aspirins afterwards.)
12713 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
12714 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
12715 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
12717 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
12718 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
12719 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
12721 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
12722 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
12723 let you use different rules in different groups.
12725 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
12726 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
12727 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
12730 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
12731 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
12732 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
12733 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
12734 the length of the match is less than
12735 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
12736 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
12739 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12740 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
12741 headers. If you adapt on words, the
12742 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
12743 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
12746 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12747 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
12748 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
12749 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
12750 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
12753 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
12754 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
12755 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
12756 score with 30 points.
12758 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
12759 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
12760 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
12761 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
12762 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
12764 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
12765 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
12766 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
12767 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
12769 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
12770 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
12771 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
12772 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
12774 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
12775 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
12776 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
12778 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
12779 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
12780 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
12781 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
12784 @node Home Score File
12785 @section Home Score File
12787 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
12788 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
12789 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
12790 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
12792 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
12793 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
12794 could perhaps use the same home score file.
12796 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
12797 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
12802 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
12806 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
12807 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
12811 A list. The elements in this list can be:
12815 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
12816 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
12819 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
12820 the home score file.
12823 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
12826 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
12831 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
12834 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12835 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
12838 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
12839 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
12841 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
12843 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12844 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
12847 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
12848 Other functions include
12851 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
12852 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
12853 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
12854 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
12858 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
12859 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
12860 their own home score files:
12863 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12864 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
12865 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
12866 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
12867 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
12870 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
12871 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
12872 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
12873 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
12874 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
12876 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
12877 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
12878 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
12879 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
12880 precedence over this variable.
12883 @node Followups To Yourself
12884 @section Followups To Yourself
12886 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
12887 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
12888 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
12889 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
12890 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
12891 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
12895 @item gnus-score-followup-article
12896 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
12897 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
12900 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
12901 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
12902 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
12906 @vindex message-sent-hook
12907 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
12908 @code{message-sent-hook}.
12910 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
12911 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
12915 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12916 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12919 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
12920 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
12925 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
12929 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
12930 is system-dependent.
12934 @section Scoring Tips
12935 @cindex scoring tips
12941 @cindex scoring crossposts
12942 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
12943 the @code{Xref} header.
12945 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
12948 @item Multiple crossposts
12949 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
12950 more than, say, 3 groups:
12952 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
12955 @item Matching on the body
12956 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
12957 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
12958 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
12959 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
12960 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
12961 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
12962 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
12965 @item Marking as read
12966 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
12967 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
12968 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
12972 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
12974 @item Negated character classes
12975 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
12976 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
12977 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
12981 @node Reverse Scoring
12982 @section Reverse Scoring
12983 @cindex reverse scoring
12985 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
12986 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
12987 like this in your score file:
12991 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
12996 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
12997 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
13000 @node Global Score Files
13001 @section Global Score Files
13002 @cindex global score files
13004 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
13005 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
13006 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
13008 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
13009 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
13010 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
13012 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
13013 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
13014 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
13015 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
13016 files are applicable to which group.
13018 Say you want to use the score file
13019 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
13020 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
13023 (setq gnus-global-score-files
13024 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
13025 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
13028 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
13029 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
13030 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
13031 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
13032 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
13034 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
13035 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
13037 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
13038 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
13039 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
13040 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
13041 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
13042 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
13044 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
13050 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
13052 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
13054 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
13056 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
13057 lowered out of existence.
13059 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
13060 articles completely.
13063 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
13064 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
13065 old articles for a long time.
13068 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
13069 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
13070 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
13071 holding our breath yet?
13075 @section Kill Files
13078 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
13079 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
13080 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
13082 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
13083 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
13084 files into score files.
13086 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
13087 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
13088 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
13089 that isn't a very good idea.
13091 Normal kill files look like this:
13094 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13095 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
13099 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
13100 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
13102 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
13103 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
13106 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
13111 @kindex M-k (Summary)
13112 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
13113 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
13116 @kindex M-K (Summary)
13117 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
13118 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
13121 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
13126 @kindex M-k (Group)
13127 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
13128 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
13131 @kindex M-K (Group)
13132 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
13133 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
13136 Kill file variables:
13139 @item gnus-kill-file-name
13140 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
13141 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
13142 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
13143 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
13144 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
13145 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
13147 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13148 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
13149 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
13150 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
13153 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
13154 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
13155 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
13156 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
13157 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
13158 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
13159 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
13160 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
13161 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
13163 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13164 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
13165 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
13170 @node Converting Kill Files
13171 @section Converting Kill Files
13173 @cindex converting kill files
13175 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
13176 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
13177 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
13180 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
13181 You can fetch it from
13182 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
13184 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
13185 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
13186 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
13194 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
13195 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
13196 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
13198 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
13199 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
13200 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
13201 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
13202 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
13203 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
13204 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
13205 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
13209 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
13210 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
13211 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
13212 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
13216 @node Using GroupLens
13217 @subsection Using GroupLens
13219 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
13221 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
13222 better bit in town at the moment.
13224 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
13228 @item gnus-use-grouplens
13229 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
13230 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
13231 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
13233 @item grouplens-pseudonym
13234 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
13235 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
13236 with the Better Bit Bureau.
13238 @item grouplens-newsgroups
13239 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
13240 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
13244 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
13245 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
13246 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
13247 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
13248 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
13249 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
13252 @node Rating Articles
13253 @subsection Rating Articles
13255 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
13256 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
13257 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
13258 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
13261 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
13266 @kindex r (GroupLens)
13267 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
13268 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
13271 @kindex k (GroupLens)
13272 @findex grouplens-score-thread
13273 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
13274 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
13275 threads in rec.humor.
13279 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
13280 the score of the article you're reading.
13285 @kindex n (GroupLens)
13286 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
13287 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
13290 @kindex , (GroupLens)
13291 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
13292 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
13296 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
13297 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
13300 @node Displaying Predictions
13301 @subsection Displaying Predictions
13303 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
13304 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
13305 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
13306 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
13307 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
13309 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
13310 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
13311 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
13312 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
13313 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
13314 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
13315 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
13316 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
13317 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
13318 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
13319 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
13320 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
13321 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
13323 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
13324 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
13325 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
13326 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
13328 The following are valid values for that variable.
13331 @item prediction-spot
13332 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
13335 @item confidence-interval
13336 A numeric confidence interval.
13338 @item prediction-bar
13339 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
13341 @item confidence-bar
13342 Numerical confidence.
13344 @item confidence-spot
13345 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
13347 @item prediction-num
13348 Plain-old numeric value.
13350 @item confidence-plus-minus
13351 Prediction +/- confidence.
13356 @node GroupLens Variables
13357 @subsection GroupLens Variables
13361 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
13362 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
13363 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
13364 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
13367 @item grouplens-bbb-host
13368 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
13371 @item grouplens-bbb-port
13372 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
13374 @item grouplens-score-offset
13375 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
13376 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
13379 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
13380 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
13381 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
13386 @node Advanced Scoring
13387 @section Advanced Scoring
13389 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
13390 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
13391 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
13392 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
13393 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
13395 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
13399 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
13400 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
13401 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
13405 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
13406 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
13408 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
13409 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
13410 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
13411 non-@code{nil} value.
13413 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
13414 operator, and various match operators.
13421 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13422 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
13423 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
13428 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
13429 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
13430 then this operator will return @code{false}.
13435 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
13436 logical negation of the value of its argument.
13440 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
13441 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
13442 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
13443 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
13444 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
13445 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
13446 the ancestry you want to go.
13448 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
13449 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
13450 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
13451 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
13452 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
13455 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
13456 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
13458 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
13459 when he's talking about Gnus:
13463 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13464 ("subject" "Gnus"))
13470 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
13474 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13481 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
13482 really don't want to read what he's written:
13486 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13487 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
13491 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
13492 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
13493 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
13500 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
13501 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
13502 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
13503 ("body" "white.*socks"))
13507 The possibilities are endless.
13510 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
13511 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
13513 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
13514 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
13515 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
13516 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
13517 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
13518 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
13519 @samp{subject}) first.
13521 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
13522 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
13533 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
13534 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
13540 ("subject" "Gnus")))
13547 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
13548 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
13553 @section Score Decays
13554 @cindex score decays
13557 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
13558 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
13559 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
13560 use them in any sensible way.
13562 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
13563 @findex gnus-decay-score
13564 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
13565 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
13566 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
13567 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
13568 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
13569 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
13570 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
13571 definition of that function:
13574 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
13576 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
13577 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
13580 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
13582 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
13584 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
13587 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
13588 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
13589 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
13590 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
13594 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
13597 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
13600 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
13604 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
13605 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
13606 the new score, which should be an integer.
13608 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
13609 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
13616 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
13617 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
13618 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
13619 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
13620 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
13621 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
13622 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
13623 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
13624 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
13625 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
13626 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
13627 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
13628 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
13629 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
13630 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
13631 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
13632 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
13633 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
13637 @node Process/Prefix
13638 @section Process/Prefix
13639 @cindex process/prefix convention
13641 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
13642 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
13644 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
13645 command to be performed on.
13649 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
13650 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
13651 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
13652 with the current one.
13654 @vindex transient-mark-mode
13655 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
13656 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
13658 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
13659 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
13662 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
13663 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
13665 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
13668 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
13669 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
13670 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
13671 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13673 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
13674 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
13675 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
13676 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
13677 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
13678 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
13679 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
13680 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
13684 @section Interactive
13685 @cindex interaction
13689 @item gnus-novice-user
13690 @vindex gnus-novice-user
13691 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
13692 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
13693 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
13694 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
13697 @item gnus-expert-user
13698 @vindex gnus-expert-user
13699 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
13700 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
13701 matter how strange.
13703 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
13704 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
13705 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
13706 is @code{t} by default.
13708 @item gnus-interactive-exit
13709 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
13710 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
13715 @node Symbolic Prefixes
13716 @section Symbolic Prefixes
13717 @cindex symbolic prefixes
13719 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
13720 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
13721 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
13722 rule of 900 to the current article.
13724 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
13725 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
13726 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
13727 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
13728 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
13729 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
13730 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
13732 @kindex M-i (Summary)
13733 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
13734 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
13735 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
13736 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
13737 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a M-C-u} means ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u}
13738 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b M-C-u} means
13739 ``feed the @kbd{M-C-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
13740 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
13742 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
13743 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
13744 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
13746 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
13750 @node Formatting Variables
13751 @section Formatting Variables
13752 @cindex formatting variables
13754 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
13755 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
13756 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
13757 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
13758 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
13761 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
13762 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
13763 lots of percentages everywhere.
13766 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
13767 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
13768 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
13769 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
13770 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
13773 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
13774 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
13775 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
13776 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
13777 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
13778 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
13779 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
13780 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
13782 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
13783 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
13785 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
13786 @findex gnus-update-format
13787 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
13788 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
13789 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
13790 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
13794 @node Formatting Basics
13795 @subsection Formatting Basics
13797 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
13798 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
13799 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
13801 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
13802 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
13803 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
13804 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
13805 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
13808 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
13809 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
13810 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
13811 less than 4 characters wide.
13814 @node Mode Line Formatting
13815 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
13817 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
13818 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
13819 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
13820 with the following two differences:
13825 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
13828 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
13829 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
13830 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
13831 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
13832 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
13833 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
13834 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
13839 @node Advanced Formatting
13840 @subsection Advanced Formatting
13842 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
13843 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
13844 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
13845 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
13847 These are the valid modifiers:
13852 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
13856 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
13861 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
13864 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
13869 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
13872 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
13875 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
13878 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
13882 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
13883 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
13884 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
13885 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
13886 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
13887 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
13888 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
13890 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
13891 last operation, padding.
13893 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
13894 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
13895 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
13896 @xref{Compilation}.
13899 @node User-Defined Specs
13900 @subsection User-Defined Specs
13902 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
13903 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
13904 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
13905 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
13906 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
13907 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
13908 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
13909 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
13910 should protect against that.
13912 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
13913 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
13914 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
13915 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
13919 @node Formatting Fonts
13920 @subsection Formatting Fonts
13922 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
13923 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
13924 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
13925 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
13928 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
13929 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
13930 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
13931 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
13932 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
13933 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
13935 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
13938 ;; Create three face types.
13939 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
13940 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
13942 ;; We want the article count to be in
13943 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
13944 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
13945 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
13947 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
13948 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
13950 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
13951 (setq gnus-group-line-format
13952 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
13955 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
13956 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
13958 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
13959 mode-line variables.
13962 @node Windows Configuration
13963 @section Windows Configuration
13964 @cindex windows configuration
13966 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
13968 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
13969 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
13970 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
13971 @code{t} by default.
13973 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
13974 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
13975 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
13978 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
13979 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
13980 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13984 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
13985 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
13986 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
13987 possible names is listed below.
13989 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
13990 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
13993 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13997 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
13998 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
13999 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
14000 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
14001 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
14002 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
14003 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
14004 size spec per split.
14006 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
14007 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
14008 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
14009 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
14010 present) gets focus.
14012 Here's a more complicated example:
14015 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
14016 (summary 0.25 point)
14017 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
14021 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
14022 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
14023 occupy, not a percentage.
14025 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
14026 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
14027 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
14028 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
14029 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
14032 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
14035 (article (horizontal 1.0
14040 (summary 0.25 point)
14045 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
14046 @code{horizontal} thingie?
14048 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
14049 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
14050 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
14051 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
14052 the screen is to be given to this strip.
14054 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
14055 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
14056 lines from the splits.
14058 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
14062 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
14063 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
14064 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
14065 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
14066 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
14067 size = number | frame-params
14068 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
14071 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
14072 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
14073 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
14074 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
14076 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
14077 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
14078 @cindex window height
14079 @cindex window width
14080 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
14081 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
14082 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
14083 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
14084 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
14085 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
14087 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
14088 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
14089 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
14090 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
14092 @findex gnus-configure-frame
14093 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
14094 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
14095 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
14096 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
14097 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
14098 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
14099 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
14100 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
14101 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
14102 configuration list.
14105 (gnus-configure-frame
14109 (article 0.3 point))
14117 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
14118 @code{frame} split:
14121 (gnus-configure-frame
14124 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
14126 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
14127 (user-position . t)
14128 (left . -1) (top . 1))
14133 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
14134 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
14135 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
14136 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
14137 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
14138 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
14139 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
14140 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
14143 Here's a list of all possible keys for
14144 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
14146 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
14147 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
14148 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
14149 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
14150 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
14151 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
14153 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
14154 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
14155 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
14159 (message (horizontal 1.0
14160 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
14162 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
14167 @findex gnus-add-configuration
14168 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
14169 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
14170 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
14171 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
14174 (gnus-add-configuration
14175 '(article (vertical 1.0
14177 (summary .25 point)
14181 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
14182 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
14183 Gnus has been loaded.
14185 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
14186 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
14187 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
14188 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
14189 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
14192 @node Faces and Fonts
14193 @section Faces and Fonts
14198 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
14199 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
14200 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
14205 @section Compilation
14206 @cindex compilation
14207 @cindex byte-compilation
14209 @findex gnus-compile
14211 Remember all those line format specification variables?
14212 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
14213 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
14214 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
14215 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
14216 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
14219 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
14220 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
14221 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
14222 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
14223 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
14224 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
14225 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
14229 @section Mode Lines
14232 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
14233 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
14234 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
14235 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
14236 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
14237 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
14238 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
14241 @cindex display-time
14243 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
14244 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
14245 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
14246 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
14247 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
14248 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
14249 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
14250 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
14253 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
14255 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
14256 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
14258 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
14259 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
14260 (length display-time-string)))))
14263 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
14264 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
14265 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
14266 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
14267 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
14270 @node Highlighting and Menus
14271 @section Highlighting and Menus
14273 @cindex highlighting
14276 @vindex gnus-visual
14277 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
14278 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
14279 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
14282 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
14283 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
14286 @item group-highlight
14287 Do highlights in the group buffer.
14288 @item summary-highlight
14289 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
14290 @item article-highlight
14291 Do highlights in the article buffer.
14293 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
14295 Create menus in the group buffer.
14297 Create menus in the summary buffers.
14299 Create menus in the article buffer.
14301 Create menus in the browse buffer.
14303 Create menus in the server buffer.
14305 Create menus in the score buffers.
14307 Create menus in all buffers.
14310 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
14311 buffers, you could say something like:
14314 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
14317 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
14320 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
14323 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
14324 in all Gnus buffers.
14326 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
14329 @item gnus-mouse-face
14330 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
14331 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
14332 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
14336 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
14340 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
14341 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
14342 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
14344 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
14345 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
14346 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
14348 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
14349 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
14350 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
14352 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
14353 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
14354 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
14356 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
14357 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
14358 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
14360 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
14361 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
14362 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
14373 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
14374 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
14375 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
14376 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
14377 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
14381 @vindex gnus-carpal
14382 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
14383 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
14384 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
14389 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14390 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
14391 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
14393 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
14394 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
14395 Face used on buttons.
14397 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
14398 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
14399 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
14401 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14402 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
14403 Buttons in the group buffer.
14405 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14406 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
14407 Buttons in the summary buffer.
14409 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14410 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
14411 Buttons in the server buffer.
14413 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14414 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
14415 Buttons in the browse buffer.
14418 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
14419 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
14420 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
14428 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
14429 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
14430 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
14431 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
14432 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
14434 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
14435 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
14436 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
14438 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
14439 been idle for thirty minutes:
14442 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
14445 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
14449 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
14452 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
14453 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
14454 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14456 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
14457 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
14458 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
14459 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
14461 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
14462 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
14463 @var{idle} minutes.
14465 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
14466 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
14469 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
14470 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
14471 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
14473 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
14474 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
14475 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
14476 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
14478 @vindex gnus-use-demon
14479 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
14480 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
14482 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
14483 your @file{.gnus} file:
14485 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
14487 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
14490 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
14491 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
14492 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
14493 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
14494 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
14495 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
14496 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
14497 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
14498 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
14499 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
14500 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
14502 @findex gnus-demon-init
14503 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
14504 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
14505 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
14506 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
14507 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
14509 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
14510 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
14511 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
14520 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
14521 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
14523 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
14524 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
14525 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
14526 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
14529 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
14530 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
14531 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
14532 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
14534 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
14535 this will make spam disappear.
14537 There are some variables to customize, of course:
14540 @item gnus-use-nocem
14541 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
14542 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
14545 @item gnus-nocem-groups
14546 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
14547 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
14548 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
14549 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
14551 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
14552 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
14553 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
14554 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
14555 "rbraver@@ohww.norman.ok.us" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
14556 "jem@@xpat.com" "snowhare@@xmission.com" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
14557 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
14559 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
14562 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
14563 @cindex Chris Lewis
14564 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
14565 usenet abuse than anybody else.
14568 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
14569 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
14570 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
14572 @item jem@@xpat.com;
14574 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
14577 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
14578 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
14579 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
14582 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
14583 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
14584 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
14585 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
14586 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
14587 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
14588 @var{(issuer conditions ...)} elements in the list. Each condition is
14589 either a string (which is a regexp that matches types you want to use)
14590 or a list on the form @code{(not STRING)}, where @var{string} is a
14591 regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
14593 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
14594 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
14597 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
14600 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
14601 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
14604 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
14607 The specs are applied left-to-right.
14610 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
14611 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
14613 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
14614 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
14615 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
14616 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
14618 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
14619 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
14622 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
14624 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
14632 This might be dangerous, though.
14634 @item gnus-nocem-directory
14635 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
14636 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
14637 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
14639 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14640 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
14641 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
14642 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
14643 might then see old spam.
14647 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
14648 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
14649 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
14650 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
14657 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
14658 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
14659 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
14661 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
14662 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
14663 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
14664 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
14665 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
14666 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
14667 @code{undo} function.
14669 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
14670 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
14671 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
14672 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
14673 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
14674 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
14675 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
14676 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
14677 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
14678 never be totally undoable.
14680 @findex gnus-undo-mode
14681 @vindex gnus-use-undo
14683 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
14684 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
14685 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
14686 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
14691 @section Moderation
14694 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
14695 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
14696 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
14699 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
14703 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
14706 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
14708 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
14713 You split your incoming mail by matching on
14714 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
14715 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
14718 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
14719 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
14722 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
14723 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
14727 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
14730 (setq gnus-moderated-list
14731 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
14735 @node XEmacs Enhancements
14736 @section XEmacs Enhancements
14739 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
14743 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
14744 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
14745 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
14746 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
14759 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
14760 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
14761 over your shoulder as you read news.
14764 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
14765 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
14766 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
14767 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
14768 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
14773 @subsubsection Picon Basics
14775 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
14784 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
14785 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
14786 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
14787 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
14788 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
14789 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
14790 @code{GIF} formats.
14793 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14794 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
14795 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
14796 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
14797 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
14799 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14800 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
14801 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
14802 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
14803 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
14804 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14807 @node Picon Requirements
14808 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
14810 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
14811 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
14814 Additionally, you must have @code{x} support compiled into XEmacs. To
14815 display color picons which are much nicer than the black & white one,
14816 you also need one of @code{xpm} or @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
14818 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14819 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
14820 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
14821 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
14822 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
14826 @subsubsection Easy Picons
14828 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
14829 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
14832 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
14833 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14834 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14835 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14836 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
14839 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
14840 containing the Picons databases.
14842 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
14845 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14846 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
14851 @subsubsection Hard Picons
14859 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
14860 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
14861 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
14862 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
14863 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
14868 @item gnus-picons-database
14869 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14870 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
14871 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
14872 subdirectories. This is only useful if
14873 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
14874 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
14876 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14877 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
14878 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
14879 engine is @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
14880 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
14881 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
14882 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14884 @item gnus-picons-display-where
14885 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14886 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
14887 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
14888 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
14889 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
14890 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
14891 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
14893 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14894 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
14895 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
14900 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
14901 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
14903 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
14904 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
14907 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
14908 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14910 @item gnus-article-display-picons
14911 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14912 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
14913 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
14914 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14916 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
14917 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14918 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
14919 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14923 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
14924 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
14927 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14931 @node Picon Useless Configuration
14932 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
14940 The following variables offer further control over how things are
14941 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
14942 don't need to worry about.
14946 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
14947 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
14948 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
14949 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
14951 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
14952 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
14953 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
14954 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
14956 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
14957 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
14958 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
14959 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
14960 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
14962 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14963 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14964 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
14965 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
14966 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
14967 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
14968 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
14970 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14971 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14972 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
14973 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
14975 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
14976 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
14977 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
14978 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
14979 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
14980 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
14981 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
14983 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
14984 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
14985 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
14986 Defaults to @code{nil}.
14988 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
14989 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
14990 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
14991 Defaults to @code{t}.
14993 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
14994 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
14995 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
14996 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
14998 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
14999 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
15000 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
15001 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
15003 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15004 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
15005 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
15006 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
15007 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
15008 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
15009 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
15010 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
15021 @subsection Smileys
15026 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/BigFace.ps,height=20cm}}
15031 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
15032 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
15034 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
15035 @file{.gnus.el} file:
15038 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
15041 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
15042 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
15043 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
15044 text and maps that to file names.
15046 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
15047 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
15048 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
15049 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
15050 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
15051 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
15053 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
15054 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
15056 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
15057 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
15058 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
15060 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
15061 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
15065 @item smiley-data-directory
15066 @vindex smiley-data-directory
15067 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
15069 @item smiley-flesh-color
15070 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
15071 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
15073 @item smiley-features-color
15074 @vindex smiley-features-color
15075 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15077 @item smiley-tongue-color
15078 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
15079 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
15081 @item smiley-circle-color
15082 @vindex smiley-circle-color
15083 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
15085 @item smiley-mouse-face
15086 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
15087 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
15093 @subsection Toolbar
15103 @item gnus-use-toolbar
15104 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
15105 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
15106 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
15107 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
15109 @item gnus-group-toolbar
15110 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
15111 The toolbar in the group buffer.
15113 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
15114 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
15115 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
15117 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15118 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
15119 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
15125 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
15128 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15129 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
15130 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
15131 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
15132 unusual directory structure.
15134 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15135 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
15136 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
15137 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
15139 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15140 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
15141 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
15142 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
15143 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
15144 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
15146 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15147 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
15148 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
15162 @node Fuzzy Matching
15163 @section Fuzzy Matching
15164 @cindex fuzzy matching
15166 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
15167 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
15169 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
15170 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
15171 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
15173 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
15174 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
15175 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
15176 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
15177 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
15180 @node Thwarting Email Spam
15181 @section Thwarting Email Spam
15185 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
15187 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
15188 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
15189 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
15190 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
15191 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
15192 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
15193 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
15194 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
15197 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
15198 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
15199 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
15200 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
15201 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
15202 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
15206 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
15207 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
15209 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
15210 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
15211 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
15212 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
15213 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
15214 part of the mail address.)
15217 (setq message-default-news-headers
15218 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
15221 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15222 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
15227 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
15228 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
15229 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
15235 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
15236 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
15237 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
15238 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
15240 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
15241 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
15242 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
15243 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
15244 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
15245 your fancy split rule in this way:
15250 (to "larsi" "misc")
15254 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
15255 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
15256 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
15257 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
15258 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
15260 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
15261 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
15262 at @* @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
15263 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
15264 cosmic balance somewhat.
15266 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
15267 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
15268 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
15269 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
15272 @node Various Various
15273 @section Various Various
15279 @item gnus-home-directory
15280 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
15281 defaults to @file{~/}.
15283 @item gnus-directory
15284 @vindex gnus-directory
15285 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
15286 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
15287 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
15289 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
15290 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
15291 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
15292 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
15294 @item gnus-default-directory
15295 @vindex gnus-default-directory
15296 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
15297 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
15298 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
15299 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
15300 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
15301 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
15304 @vindex gnus-verbose
15305 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
15306 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
15307 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
15308 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
15309 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
15311 @item gnus-verbose-backends
15312 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
15313 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
15314 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
15316 @item nnheader-max-head-length
15317 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
15318 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
15319 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
15320 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
15321 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
15322 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
15323 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
15324 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
15325 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
15327 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
15328 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
15329 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
15330 read when doing the operation described above.
15332 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15333 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15335 @cindex invalid characters in file names
15336 @cindex characters in file names
15337 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
15338 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
15339 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
15342 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
15346 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
15347 Windows (phooey) systems.
15349 @item gnus-hidden-properties
15350 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
15351 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
15352 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
15353 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
15355 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
15356 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
15357 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
15358 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
15359 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
15361 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
15362 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
15363 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
15372 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
15373 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
15375 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
15377 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
15383 Not because of victories @*
15386 but for the common sunshine,@*
15388 the largess of the spring.
15392 but for the day's work done@*
15393 as well as I was able;@*
15394 not for a seat upon the dais@*
15395 but at the common table.@*
15400 @chapter Appendices
15403 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
15404 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
15405 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
15406 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
15407 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
15408 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
15409 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
15417 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
15418 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
15420 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
15421 can point your (feh!) web browser to
15422 @file{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
15423 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
15424 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
15426 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
15427 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
15428 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
15429 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
15430 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
15431 appropriate name, don't you think?)
15433 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
15434 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
15435 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
15436 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
15438 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
15439 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
15440 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
15442 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
15443 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
15445 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
15446 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
15448 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37
15449 releases. If was released as ``Gnus 5.6 on March 8th 1998.
15451 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
15452 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
15453 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
15454 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
15455 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
15459 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
15460 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
15461 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
15462 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
15463 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
15464 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
15465 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
15472 What's the point of Gnus?
15474 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
15475 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
15476 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
15477 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
15478 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
15479 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
15480 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
15481 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
15482 keep track of millions of people who post?
15484 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
15485 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
15486 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
15487 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
15488 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
15489 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
15490 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
15491 every one of you to explore and invent.
15493 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
15494 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
15497 @node Compatibility
15498 @subsection Compatibility
15500 @cindex compatibility
15501 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
15502 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
15503 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
15508 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
15512 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
15515 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
15518 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
15519 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
15520 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
15521 important variables have their values copied into their global
15522 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
15523 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
15525 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
15526 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
15527 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
15528 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
15529 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
15533 @cindex highlighting
15534 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
15535 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
15536 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
15537 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
15538 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
15539 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
15542 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
15543 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
15544 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
15545 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
15547 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
15548 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
15549 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
15550 to stop doing it the old way.
15552 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
15554 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
15556 @cindex reporting bugs
15558 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
15559 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
15560 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
15562 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
15563 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
15564 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
15565 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
15570 @subsection Conformity
15572 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
15573 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
15580 There are no known breaches of this standard.
15584 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
15586 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
15587 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
15588 We do have some breaches to this one.
15593 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
15594 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
15597 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
15598 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
15599 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
15600 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
15601 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
15606 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
15607 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
15612 @subsection Emacsen
15618 Gnus should work on :
15623 Emacs 19.32 and up.
15626 XEmacs 19.14 and up.
15629 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.32 and up.
15633 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
15634 reliably, at least.
15636 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
15637 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
15638 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
15643 @subsection Contributors
15644 @cindex contributors
15646 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
15647 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
15648 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
15649 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
15650 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
15651 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
15652 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
15653 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
15654 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
15655 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
15657 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
15663 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
15666 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
15667 well as numerous other things).
15670 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
15673 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
15676 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
15677 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
15680 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
15683 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
15684 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
15687 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
15690 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
15693 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
15696 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
15699 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
15700 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
15703 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
15706 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
15709 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
15712 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
15716 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
15719 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
15722 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
15725 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
15726 well as autoconf support.
15730 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
15731 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
15733 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
15742 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
15746 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
15768 Massimo Campostrini,
15776 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
15782 Michael Welsh Duggan,
15785 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
15789 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
15795 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
15797 Michelangelo Grigni,
15800 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
15802 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
15804 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
15809 François Felix Ingrand,
15810 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
15812 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
15820 Peter Skov Knudsen,
15821 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
15822 Thor Kristoffersen,
15824 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
15841 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
15842 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
15849 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
15853 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
15855 John McClary Prevost,
15860 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
15865 Christian von Roques,
15867 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
15873 Philippe Schnoebelen,
15875 Randal L. Schwartz,
15903 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
15905 Shenghuo Zhu. @c Zhu
15907 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
15908 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
15909 (550kB and counting).
15911 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
15914 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
15915 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
15919 @subsection New Features
15920 @cindex new features
15923 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
15924 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
15925 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
15926 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6.
15929 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
15930 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
15931 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
15935 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
15937 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
15942 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
15943 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
15946 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
15947 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
15950 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
15953 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
15954 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
15955 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15958 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
15959 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
15960 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
15961 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
15964 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
15965 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15968 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
15969 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
15970 (@pxref{The Active File}).
15973 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
15974 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
15977 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
15978 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
15979 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
15982 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
15983 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
15984 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
15987 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
15988 the @file{.emacs} file.
15991 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
15992 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15995 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
15996 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
15999 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
16000 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16003 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
16004 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
16007 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
16008 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16011 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
16014 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
16015 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
16018 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
16019 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
16022 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
16023 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
16026 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
16029 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
16030 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16033 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
16037 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
16041 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
16042 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
16045 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
16051 @node September Gnus
16052 @subsubsection September Gnus
16056 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/september.ps,height=20cm}}
16060 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
16065 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
16066 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
16070 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
16071 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
16075 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
16079 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
16080 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
16083 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
16087 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
16090 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
16093 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
16096 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
16100 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
16101 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
16104 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
16108 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
16112 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
16116 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
16120 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
16123 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
16124 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
16127 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
16131 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
16132 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
16135 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
16138 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
16139 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
16140 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
16143 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
16147 The Gnus cache is much faster.
16150 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
16154 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
16155 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
16158 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
16159 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
16162 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
16163 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
16166 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
16167 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
16168 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
16171 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
16172 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
16175 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
16178 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16181 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16182 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
16186 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
16189 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
16192 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
16193 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
16196 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
16200 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
16203 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fseptember.ps,height=5cm}}
16208 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
16211 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
16215 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
16218 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
16222 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
16225 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
16228 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
16229 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
16232 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
16233 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
16237 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
16238 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
16241 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
16245 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
16246 buffer to allow easier treatment.
16249 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
16252 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
16256 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
16260 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
16261 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
16264 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
16268 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
16269 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
16272 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
16273 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16276 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
16280 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
16283 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16284 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
16288 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
16291 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
16297 @subsubsection Red Gnus
16299 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
16303 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=tmp/red.ps,height=20cm}}
16310 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
16313 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
16314 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
16317 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
16318 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
16322 Article washing status can be displayed in the
16323 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
16326 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
16329 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
16330 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
16333 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
16337 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
16338 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
16342 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
16343 Server Internals}).
16346 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
16350 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
16353 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
16354 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
16357 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
16358 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
16359 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
16362 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
16363 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16366 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
16367 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
16370 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
16374 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
16375 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16378 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
16379 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
16382 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
16386 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
16389 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
16393 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
16394 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16397 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
16398 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
16401 A new command for reading collections of documents
16402 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
16403 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
16406 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
16410 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
16411 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
16414 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
16415 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
16416 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
16419 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
16420 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
16424 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
16428 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
16432 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/fred.ps,width=3cm}}
16437 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
16441 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
16445 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
16446 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
16449 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
16452 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
16453 'gnus-article-emphasize)
16460 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
16462 New features in Gnus 5.6:
16467 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
16468 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
16469 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
16472 The @code{nndraft} backend has returned, but works differently than
16473 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
16474 group, which is created automatically.
16477 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
16481 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
16484 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
16485 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
16488 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
16492 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
16495 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
16496 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
16499 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
16502 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
16503 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
16506 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
16507 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
16510 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
16511 control over simplification.
16514 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
16517 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
16521 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
16524 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16527 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
16528 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
16529 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
16532 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
16533 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
16536 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
16540 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
16541 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
16544 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
16545 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
16548 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
16552 A history of where mails have been split is available.
16555 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
16558 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
16559 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
16562 A new function for citing in Message has been
16563 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
16566 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
16569 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
16573 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
16574 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
16577 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
16578 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
16581 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} backend.
16584 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
16589 @node Newest Features
16590 @subsection Newest Features
16593 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
16596 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
16598 (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that I've
16599 decided to actually implement it. It just means that I think it sounds
16602 (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)
16607 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
16610 Really do unbinhexing.
16613 I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of the
16614 latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.
16617 A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.
16620 http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/
16623 facep is not declared.
16626 Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
16627 isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.
16630 Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.
16635 <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
16636 <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
16637 <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
16638 <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
16639 http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
16640 <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
16641 http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/
16646 @samp{^-- } is made into - in LaTeX.
16649 gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.
16652 when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep hanging on?
16654 starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems. Does
16655 NEWGROUPS answer too fast?
16657 nndir doesn't read gzipped files.
16659 FAQ doesn't have an up node?
16661 when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box,
16662 the crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.
16664 `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.
16666 nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will
16667 be marked as unread.
16669 Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace
16671 when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.
16673 rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive
16674 to avoid exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.
16676 expunged articles are counted when computing scores.
16678 implement gnus-batch-brew-soup
16680 ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode -- `n' and
16681 stuff just skips past them. Read articles are the same.
16683 topics that contain just groups with ticked
16684 articles aren't displayed.
16686 nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.
16688 If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
16689 make the mail groups killed.
16691 no "no news is good news" when using topics.
16693 when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted
16694 and articles have to be removed.
16696 nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into several
16699 scoring on head immediate doesn't work.
16701 finding short score file names takes forever.
16703 canceling articles in foreign groups.
16705 nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.
16707 C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.
16709 move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.
16711 nnweb doesn't work properly.
16713 using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?
16715 when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a slave, the
16716 master will yank it first to one topic and then add it to another.
16720 warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?
16722 really unbinhex binhex files.
16724 take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
16725 bar and the Gnus bar.
16728 push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
16729 `(canonize-message-id id)'
16730 `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
16731 `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
16732 `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
16733 `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'
16738 nnml .overview directory with splits.
16742 postponed commands.
16744 the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its summary line.
16746 when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
16749 sort after gathering threads -- make false roots have the
16750 headers of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?
16752 nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents? Also
16753 inherit copy prompts and save files.
16755 command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode buffer.
16757 allow editing the group description from the group buffer
16758 for backends that support that.
16760 gnus-hide,show-all-topics
16762 groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each topic,
16763 and not just list all subtopics at the end.
16765 a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to connect
16766 threads -- `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?
16768 a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree buffer.
16770 a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.
16772 add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.
16774 server mode command: close/open all connections
16776 put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
16777 has been changed before using it.
16779 on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent group.
16781 hide (sub)threads with low score.
16783 when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.
16785 gnus-summary-limit-to-body
16787 a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
16788 on. Eg. -- `(("nnml:" . 1))'.
16790 easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
16791 contain groups that match a regexp.
16793 allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using
16796 If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from the
16799 fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info
16800 from subject lines.
16802 gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.
16804 nntp-ping-before-connect
16806 command to check whether NOV is evil. "list overview.fmt".
16808 when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score
16809 files very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.
16811 message annotations.
16813 topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.
16815 (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in minibuf")
16816 to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under XEmacs.
16818 allow group line format spec to say how many articles there
16823 support qmail maildir spools
16825 `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.
16827 stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays instead
16829 C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.
16831 go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
16832 next group instead of going to the group buffer.
16834 gnus-renumber-cache -- to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.
16836 record topic changes in the dribble buffer.
16838 `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
16839 finds and generate proper active ranges.
16841 nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
16842 whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.
16844 gnus-fetch-article -- start Gnus, enter group, display article
16846 gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.
16848 when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable groups,
16849 articles aren't properly marked as expirable.
16851 nneething should allow deletion/moving.
16853 TAB on the last button should go to the first button.
16855 if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
16856 and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the group(s) to
16859 command for listing all score files that have been applied.
16861 a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.
16863 `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' -- variable to override
16864 `C-c C-c' when posting.
16866 nnmail-group-spool-alist -- says where each group should use
16869 when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the article
16870 should be marker as expirable.
16872 article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".
16874 on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error. For instance,
16875 on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the nntp server.
16877 when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the parent.
16878 Also consult Date headers.
16880 a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer
16882 `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.
16884 duplicates -- command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
16885 Message-ID, delete the "original".
16887 when replying to several messages at once, put the "other" message-ids
16888 into a See-Also header.
16890 support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/
16892 support ProleText: <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>
16894 when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already subscribed
16895 should be listed as such and not as "K".
16897 generate font names dynamically.
16899 score file mode auto-alist.
16901 allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents. Implement
16902 methods for each format for adding an article to the document.
16904 `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate
16905 absolutely all headers there is.
16907 function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles
16908 and pipe them to the process.
16910 cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file. Update
16911 the file whenever we read the active file or the list
16912 of killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.
16914 function for starting to edit a file to put into
16915 the current mail group.
16917 score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.
16919 "ghettozie" -- score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
16920 to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted to.
16922 look at procmail splitting. The backends should create
16923 the groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.
16925 function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.
16927 when replying to several process-marked articles,
16928 have all the From end up in Cc headers? Variable to toggle.
16930 command to delete a crossposted mail article from all
16931 groups it has been mailed to.
16933 `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.
16935 hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.
16937 Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.
16939 `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept
16940 pseudo-"headers" like "body", "head" and "all"
16942 When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
16943 newlines) should be ignored.
16945 Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark
16946 groups in subtopics as well.
16948 Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing them.
16950 nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
16953 add edit and forward secondary marks.
16955 nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.
16957 allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.
16959 `B q' shouldn't select the current article.
16961 nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.
16963 allow fetching mail from several pop servers.
16965 Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
16966 or the formatted article.
16968 a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).
16970 I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
16971 should be a feature in Red Gnus.
16973 The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse click.
16975 more limiting functions -- date, etc.
16977 be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse matches.
16979 a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make Gnus expire
16980 even unread articles.
16982 a command to print the article buffer as postscript.
16984 variable to disable password fetching when opening by nntp-open-telnet.
16986 manual: more example servers -- nntp with rlogin, telnet
16988 checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.
16990 canceling articles in foreign groups.
16992 article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by
16995 Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go to the
16996 next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be found.
16998 Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere --
16999 in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.
17001 Topic movement commands -- like thread movement. Up, down, forward, next.
17003 a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.
17005 a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes
17006 from a particular server? Hm.
17008 `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' -- a function to fill
17009 the article buffer if there are any looong lines there.
17011 `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.
17013 a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file,
17014 and then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.
17016 a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that
17017 all kibozed articles should be entered into the cache.
17019 It should also probably be possible to delimit what
17020 `gnus-jog-cache' does -- for instance, work on just some groups, or on
17021 some levels, and entering just articles that have a score higher than
17024 nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing
17025 the entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.
17027 allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.
17029 a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?
17031 a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.
17033 server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups
17036 when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc headers
17039 a command for deciding what the total score of the current
17040 thread is. Also a way to highlight based on this.
17042 command to show and edit group scores
17044 a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
17047 command to generate nnml overview file for one group.
17049 `C-u C-u a' -- prompt for many crossposted groups.
17051 keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in this session).
17052 Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some marking in the group
17055 gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number -- build only sparse threads
17056 that are of that length.
17058 have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.
17060 cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.
17062 asynchronous posting under nntp.
17064 be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.
17066 a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select method.
17068 `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.
17070 if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
17071 a score lower than this number.
17073 split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and "method".
17075 buttonize ange-ftp file names.
17077 a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article
17078 so that each copy can be edited separately.
17080 nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.
17082 record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that
17083 it can be repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.
17085 nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for
17088 when the user does commands in the group buffer, check
17089 the modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
17090 ask-user-about-supersession-threat. Also warn when trying
17091 to save .newsrc.eld and it has changed.
17093 M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in
17096 command to remove all topic stuff.
17098 allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail
17099 and splitting the resulting digests.
17101 nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.
17103 command to nix out all nnoo state information.
17105 nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names
17106 matches an alist -- before saving.
17108 use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.
17110 variable to activate each group before entering them
17111 to get the (new) number of articles. `gnus-activate-before-entering'.
17113 command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even
17114 starting Gnus first if necessary.
17116 when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just
17117 ask the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.
17119 buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.
17121 `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing
17122 of several groups at once.
17124 command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that
17125 matches some regexp(s).
17127 nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded messages.
17129 it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.
17131 hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack it.
17133 `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.
17135 remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.
17137 `M-s' should highlight the matching text.
17139 when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if present.
17141 killing and yanking groups in topics should be better. If killing one copy
17142 of a group that exists in multiple topics, only that copy should
17143 be removed. Yanking should insert the copy, and yanking topics
17144 should be possible to be interspersed with the other yankings.
17146 command for enter a group just to read the cached articles. A way to say
17147 "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."
17149 `X u' should decode base64 articles.
17151 a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
17152 recently cited text.
17154 nnvirtual should be asynchronous.
17156 after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should
17159 there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
17160 server and just read the articles in the server
17162 allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default
17163 value of nnoo variables.
17165 a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.
17167 groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
17168 listed in each group info.
17170 a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
17173 a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions
17174 should only be applied to some groups.
17176 Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
17177 mail-copies-to: never.
17179 new group parameter -- `post-to-server' that says to post
17180 using the current server. Also a variable to do the same.
17182 the slave dribble files should autosave to the slave file names.
17184 a group parameter that says what articles to display on group entry, based
17187 a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters. (Whip instead
17190 Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.
17192 Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different? Also
17195 group user-defined meta-parameters.
17199 From: John Griffith <griffith@@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>
17201 I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and I was
17202 thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had archives
17203 you could also try to read the archive for that group. Part of the
17204 problem is that archives are spread all over the net, unlike FAQs.
17205 What would be best I suppose is to find the one closest to your site.
17207 In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at @*
17208 ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html
17215 From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@@hpc.uh.edu>
17216 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
17218 (gnus-group-add-parameter group
17219 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))
17221 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
17222 "Return the date the group was last read."
17223 (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
17228 tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO) til å lete
17229 opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld, kan du la den være en
17230 liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen som FOO, istedet. da kunne man
17231 hatt forskjellige serveres startup-filer forskjellige steder.
17235 LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
17236 LMI> answered and read, I guess.
17238 It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
17241 They could be used like this:
17245 `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
17246 `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
17247 `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.
17249 <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.
17251 `/ l bug & !fixed RET'
17254 would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
17257 One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
17258 affect the summary line format.
17262 Sender: abraham@@dina.kvl.dk
17264 I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
17265 would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:
17267 - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
17270 - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.
17272 - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.
17274 - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby summary.
17276 - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.
17278 - For other files, just find them normally.
17280 I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
17281 directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.
17284 Please send a mail to bwarsaw@@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw) and
17285 tell him what you are doing.
17288 Currently, I get prompted:
17292 decend into sci.something ?
17296 The problem above is that since there is really only one subsection of
17297 science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending sci.something? If
17298 there was a sci.somethingelse group or section, then it should prompt
17299 for sci? first the sci.something? then sci.somethingelse?...
17302 Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt. Kanskje en ny variabel?
17303 `gnus-use-few-score-files'? SÃ¥ kunne score-regler legges til den
17304 "mest" lokale score-fila. F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
17305 "no.all.SCORE", osv.
17308 What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of the following
17309 as a single spoiler warning and hide it all, replacing it with a "Next Page"
17315 more than n blank lines
17317 more than m identical lines
17318 (which should be replaced with button to show them)
17320 any whitespace surrounding any of the above
17324 Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' --
17325 `spaces', or something. (We could even default to that.) And then
17326 subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
17327 "same" subject for threading purposes.
17330 Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second form
17331 "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex) use the first
17332 form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to distinguish between
17333 those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist, insert-file-contents-literally.)
17336 Under XEmacs -- do funny article marks:
17339 soup - bowl of soup
17340 score below - dim light bulb
17341 score over - bright light bulb
17344 Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:
17349 show-list-of-articles-in-group
17350 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17351 if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
17352 if (articles-selected)
17353 start-reading-selected-articles;
17354 junk-unread-articles;
17359 else if (key-pressed = '.')
17360 if (consolidated-menus) # same as hide-thread in Gnus
17361 select-thread-under-cursor;
17363 select-article-under-cursor;
17367 if (key-pressed == SPACE)
17368 if (more-pages-in-article)
17370 else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
17377 My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
17378 One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I guess
17379 it would have been unacceptable if one was using many unrelated such
17382 A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D' prompt, be
17383 allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*', somewhat limiting
17384 the top-level directory only (in case directories would be matched by
17385 the wildcard expression).
17388 It would be nice if it also handled
17390 <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>
17392 which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.
17397 Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this works out
17398 really well. Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that would be on a
17399 gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at least group, summary, and
17400 article versions) variable.
17402 So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)
17404 A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS' menu in
17405 the main menubar. This approach works really well for Emacs-W3 and VM.
17409 nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
17412 gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary buffer
17413 active. Make it work when posting from the group buffer as well.
17414 (message-sent-hook).
17416 rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.
17419 * Enhancements to Gnus:
17423 * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)--enters Gnus and goes
17424 straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
17427 * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc--produces a buffer very similar to
17428 the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
17429 quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.
17432 add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder --
17433 go through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
17437 `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.
17440 a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
17444 when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do
17445 the nnmail duplicate checking.
17448 allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
17449 value of the signature file.
17452 In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so that it
17453 could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers. So, some sort of
17456 (setq message-tab-alist
17457 '((message-header-regexp message-expand-group)
17458 ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)" bbdb-complete-name)))
17460 then you could run the relevant function to complete the information in
17464 cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the time.
17467 a command to import a buffer into a group.
17470 nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.
17473 point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the
17474 beginning of the buffer when selecting new articles.
17477 a command to process mark all unread articles.
17480 `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' -- first
17481 do gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
17482 do more gathering by subject.
17485 gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order -- process mark articles in
17486 article numerical order.
17489 (gnus-thread-total-score
17490 (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id (gnus-summary-article-header))))
17494 sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.
17497 a command to fetch an arbitrary article -- without having to be
17498 in the summary buffer.
17501 a new nncvs backend. Each group would show an article, using
17502 version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.
17505 http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?
17506 This filter allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews
17507 database such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author,
17508 and/or newsgroup name.
17511 new Date header scoring type -- older, newer
17514 use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.
17517 a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.
17520 in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
17521 group info. The next time the group is selected, these articles
17522 will automatically get the process mark.
17525 Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
17526 default server if it fails on the current server? (controlled by a
17527 user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).
17530 make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for the
17534 `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something. It'll default
17535 to t and will select whatever article decided by `gnus-auto-select-first'.
17538 a new variable to control which selection commands should be unselecting.
17539 `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread', `prev-unread' are
17543 be able to select groups that have no articles in them
17544 to be able to post in them (using the current select method).
17547 be able to post via DejaNews.
17550 `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.
17553 allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks. Also
17554 allow them to be displayed separately.
17557 gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from
17558 the processes when doing a process marked pipe.
17561 a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on all
17562 articles that match a certain From header.
17565 a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to offer
17566 saving living summary buffers.
17569 a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
17570 the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.
17573 a battery of character translation functions to translate common
17574 Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.
17577 (defun article-fix-m$word ()
17578 "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
17581 (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
17582 (goto-char (point-min))
17583 (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
17584 (replace-match "`" t t))
17585 (goto-char (point-min))
17586 (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
17587 (replace-match "'" t t))
17588 (goto-char (point-min))
17589 (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
17590 (replace-match "\"" t t))
17591 (goto-char (point-min))
17592 (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
17593 (replace-match "\"" t t)))))
17598 (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
17600 (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
17601 (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
17602 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived. Quit Gnus anyways? ")
17603 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))
17607 allow message-default-headers to be a function.
17610 new Date score match types -- < > = (etc) that take floating point
17611 numbers and match on the age of the article.
17614 gnus-cacheable-groups
17618 > > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
17619 > > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
17620 > > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
17622 > > Hm. How do you start up Gnus? From the toolbar or with
17623 > > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
17625 > I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
17626 > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
17631 all commands that react to the process mark should push
17632 the current process mark set onto the stack.
17635 gnus-article-hide-pgp
17636 Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den dersom teksten matcher
17638 "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
17640 og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ----linja. Men -det-
17641 er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.
17644 `gnus-subscribe-sorted' -- insert new groups where they would have been
17645 sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.
17648 gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text props set
17652 use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the
17653 home-brewed stuff for better reliability.
17656 add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply -- spam, troll, etc.
17659 nndraft-request-group should tally autosave files.
17662 implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.
17665 gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight (long)
17669 (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)
17675 interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.
17678 command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there to the
17682 a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
17683 X characters in the body.
17686 handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.
17689 include the texi/dir file in the distribution.
17692 format spec to "tab" to a position.
17695 Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.
17698 command to display all dormant articles.
17701 gnus-auto-select-next makeover -- list of things it should do.
17704 a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has replied
17705 to something someone else has said.
17708 Read Netscape discussion groups:
17709 snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix
17712 One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to edit
17713 the displayed version.
17716 @kbd{T v} -- make all process-marked articles the children of the
17720 Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.
17723 How about making it possible to expire local articles? Will it be
17724 possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
17725 expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting (read
17729 New limit command---limit to articles that have a certain string
17730 in the head or body.
17733 Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.
17736 gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big articles.
17739 Editing an article should put the article to be edited
17740 in a special, unique buffer.
17743 A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.
17746 A Date scoring type that will match if the article
17747 is less than a certain number of days old.
17750 New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56
17753 Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.
17756 Rething the Agent active file thing. `M-g' doesn't update the active
17757 file, for instance.
17760 With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article
17761 in any other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the
17762 dummy root instead of the first article.
17765 Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to the
17766 topics for displaying.
17769 `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
17770 with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.
17773 gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.
17776 gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are
17777 many articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
17778 summary buffer for each article.
17781 Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.
17784 Solve the halting problem.
17793 @section The Manual
17797 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
17798 either @code{texi2dvi}
17800 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
17801 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
17803 to get what you hold in your hands now.
17805 The following conventions have been used:
17810 This is a @samp{string}
17813 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
17816 This is a @file{file}
17819 This is a @code{symbol}
17823 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
17827 (setq flargnoze "yes")
17830 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
17833 (setq flumphel 'yes)
17836 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
17837 ever get them confused.
17841 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
17842 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
17843 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
17844 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
17845 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
17846 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
17847 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
17855 @section Terminology
17857 @cindex terminology
17862 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
17863 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
17864 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
17865 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
17866 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
17870 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
17871 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
17872 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
17873 not posting, and replying is not following up.
17877 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
17881 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
17886 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
17887 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
17888 is all done by the backends.
17892 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
17893 default, way of getting news.
17897 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
17898 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
17903 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
17904 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
17908 A message that has been posted as news.
17911 @cindex mail message
17912 A message that has been mailed.
17916 A mail message or news article
17920 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
17925 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
17930 A line from the head of an article.
17934 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
17935 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
17939 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
17940 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
17941 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
17942 normal @sc{head} format.
17946 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
17947 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
17948 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
17949 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
17950 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
17951 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
17953 @item killed groups
17954 @cindex killed groups
17955 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
17956 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
17958 @item zombie groups
17959 @cindex zombie groups
17960 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
17963 @cindex active file
17964 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
17965 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
17966 is rather large, as you might surmise.
17969 @cindex bogus groups
17970 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
17971 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
17972 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
17975 @cindex activating groups
17976 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
17977 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
17978 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
17982 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
17984 @item select method
17985 @cindex select method
17986 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
17989 @item virtual server
17990 @cindex virtual server
17991 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
17992 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
17993 whole is a virtual server.
17997 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
17998 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
18001 @item ephemeral groups
18002 @cindex ephemeral groups
18003 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
18004 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
18005 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
18008 @cindex solid groups
18009 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
18010 group buffer are solid groups.
18012 @item sparse articles
18013 @cindex sparse articles
18014 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
18015 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
18019 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
18020 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
18024 @cindex thread root
18025 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
18026 articles in the thread.
18030 An article that has responses.
18034 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
18038 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
18039 specified by RFC1153.
18045 @node Customization
18046 @section Customization
18047 @cindex general customization
18049 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
18050 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
18051 for some quite common situations.
18054 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
18055 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
18056 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
18057 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
18061 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
18062 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
18064 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
18065 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
18066 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
18070 @item gnus-read-active-file
18071 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
18072 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
18073 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18074 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
18075 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
18077 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
18078 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
18079 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
18080 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
18084 @node Slow Terminal Connection
18085 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
18087 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
18088 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
18089 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
18093 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
18094 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
18095 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
18096 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
18097 horizontal and vertical recentering.
18099 @item gnus-visible-headers
18100 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
18101 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
18102 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
18103 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
18105 @item gnus-article-display-hook
18106 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
18108 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
18109 '(gnus-article-hide-headers
18110 gnus-article-hide-signature
18111 gnus-article-hide-citation))
18114 @item gnus-use-full-window
18115 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
18116 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
18117 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
18118 want to read them anyway.
18120 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
18121 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
18124 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
18125 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
18126 lines, which might save some time.
18130 @node Little Disk Space
18131 @subsection Little Disk Space
18134 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
18135 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
18139 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
18140 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
18141 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
18142 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
18145 @item gnus-save-killed-list
18146 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
18147 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
18148 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
18149 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
18155 @subsection Slow Machine
18156 @cindex slow machine
18158 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
18159 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
18161 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
18162 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
18164 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
18165 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
18166 summary buffer faster.
18168 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
18169 processing a bit faster.
18173 @node Troubleshooting
18174 @section Troubleshooting
18175 @cindex troubleshooting
18177 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
18185 Make sure your computer is switched on.
18188 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
18189 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
18193 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
18194 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
18195 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
18196 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
18199 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
18203 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
18204 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
18205 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
18206 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
18207 something like that.
18210 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
18213 @cindex reporting bugs
18215 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
18217 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
18218 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
18219 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
18220 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
18222 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
18223 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
18224 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
18225 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
18228 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
18229 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
18230 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
18231 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
18232 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
18233 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
18235 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
18236 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
18237 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
18240 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
18241 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
18243 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
18244 @cindex ding mailing list
18245 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
18246 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
18250 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
18251 @section A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
18253 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
18254 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
18255 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
18256 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
18259 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
18260 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
18261 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
18262 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
18263 and general methods of operation.
18266 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
18267 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
18268 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
18269 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
18270 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
18271 * Group Info:: The group info format.
18272 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
18273 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
18274 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
18278 @node Gnus Utility Functions
18279 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
18280 @cindex Gnus utility functions
18281 @cindex utility functions
18283 @cindex internal variables
18285 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
18286 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
18287 Below is a list of the most common ones.
18291 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
18292 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
18293 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
18295 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
18296 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
18297 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
18299 @item gnus-group-real-name
18300 @findex gnus-group-real-name
18301 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
18304 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
18305 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
18306 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
18307 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
18309 @item gnus-get-info
18310 @findex gnus-get-info
18311 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
18313 @item gnus-group-unread
18314 @findex gnus-group-unread
18315 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
18319 @findex gnus-active
18320 The active entry for @var{group}.
18322 @item gnus-set-active
18323 @findex gnus-set-active
18324 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
18326 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18327 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
18328 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
18331 @item gnus-continuum-version
18332 @findex gnus-continuum-version
18333 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
18334 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
18337 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
18338 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
18339 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
18341 @item gnus-news-group-p
18342 @findex gnus-news-group-p
18343 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
18345 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18346 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
18347 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
18349 @item gnus-server-to-method
18350 @findex gnus-server-to-method
18351 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
18353 @item gnus-server-equal
18354 @findex gnus-server-equal
18355 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
18357 @item gnus-group-native-p
18358 @findex gnus-group-native-p
18359 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
18361 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
18362 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
18363 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
18365 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
18366 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
18367 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
18369 @item group-group-find-parameter
18370 @findex group-group-find-parameter
18371 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
18372 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
18374 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
18375 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
18376 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
18378 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
18379 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
18380 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
18382 @item gnus-check-backend-function
18383 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
18384 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
18385 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
18388 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
18392 @item gnus-read-method
18393 @findex gnus-read-method
18394 Prompts the user for a select method.
18399 @node Backend Interface
18400 @subsection Backend Interface
18402 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
18403 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
18404 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
18405 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
18406 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
18407 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
18409 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
18410 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
18411 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
18412 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
18413 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
18414 been opened, the function should fail.
18416 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
18417 name. Take this example:
18421 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
18422 (nntp-port-number 4324))
18425 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
18426 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
18428 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
18429 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
18430 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
18432 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
18433 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
18434 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
18436 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
18437 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
18438 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
18439 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
18440 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
18441 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
18444 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
18445 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
18446 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
18447 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
18450 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
18453 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
18456 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
18457 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
18458 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
18459 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
18460 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
18461 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
18465 @node Required Backend Functions
18466 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
18470 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
18472 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
18473 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
18474 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
18475 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
18477 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
18478 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
18479 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
18480 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
18482 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
18483 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
18484 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
18485 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
18486 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
18487 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
18488 number, do maximum fetches.
18490 Here's an example HEAD:
18493 221 1056 Article retrieved.
18494 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
18495 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
18496 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
18497 Subject: Re: Something very droll
18498 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
18499 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
18501 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
18502 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
18503 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
18507 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
18508 these in the data buffer.
18510 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
18514 head = error / valid-head
18515 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
18516 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
18517 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
18518 header = <text> eol
18521 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
18522 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
18526 nov-buffer = *nov-line
18527 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
18528 field = <text except TAB>
18531 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
18535 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
18537 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
18538 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
18540 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
18541 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
18542 server. In fact, it should do so.
18544 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
18545 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
18548 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
18550 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
18551 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
18554 There should be no data returned.
18557 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
18559 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
18560 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
18561 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
18562 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
18564 There should be no data returned.
18567 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
18569 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
18570 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
18571 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
18572 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
18574 There should be no data returned.
18577 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
18579 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
18581 There should be no data returned.
18584 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
18586 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
18587 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
18588 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
18589 it would be nice if that were possible.
18591 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
18592 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
18593 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
18594 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
18595 into its article buffer.
18597 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
18598 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
18599 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
18600 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
18601 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
18602 on successful article retrieval.
18605 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
18607 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
18608 making @var{group} the current group.
18610 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
18613 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
18616 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
18619 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
18620 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
18621 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
18622 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
18623 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
18624 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
18625 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
18626 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
18629 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
18630 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
18631 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
18635 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
18637 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
18638 a no-op on most backends.
18640 There should be no data returned.
18643 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
18645 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
18648 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
18651 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
18652 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
18655 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
18656 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
18659 active-file = *active-line
18660 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
18662 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
18665 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
18666 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
18667 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
18670 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
18672 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
18673 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
18674 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
18675 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
18676 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
18677 clear if the posting could not be completed.
18679 There should be no result data from this function.
18684 @node Optional Backend Functions
18685 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
18689 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
18691 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
18692 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
18693 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
18695 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
18696 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
18697 former is in the same format as the data from
18698 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
18699 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
18702 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
18706 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
18708 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
18709 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
18710 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
18711 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
18712 should return the (altered) group info.
18714 There should be no result data from this function.
18717 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
18719 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
18720 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
18721 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
18722 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
18723 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
18724 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
18725 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
18726 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
18728 There should be no result data from this function.
18731 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
18733 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
18734 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
18735 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
18736 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
18737 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
18739 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
18740 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
18741 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
18744 There should be no result data from this function.
18747 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
18749 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
18750 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
18751 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
18752 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
18753 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
18754 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
18755 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
18757 There should be no result data from this function.
18760 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
18762 The result data from this function should be a description of
18766 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
18768 description = <text>
18771 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
18773 The result data from this function should be the description of all
18774 groups available on the server.
18777 description-buffer = *description-line
18781 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
18783 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
18784 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
18785 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
18788 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
18790 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
18792 There should be no return data.
18795 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
18797 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
18798 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
18799 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
18800 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
18801 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
18804 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
18807 There should be no result data returned.
18810 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
18813 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
18814 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
18816 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
18817 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
18818 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
18819 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
18820 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
18821 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
18823 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
18824 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
18827 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
18828 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
18830 There should be no data returned.
18833 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
18835 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
18836 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
18837 this function in short order.
18839 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
18840 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
18842 There should be no data returned.
18845 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
18847 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
18848 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
18850 There should be no data returned.
18853 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
18855 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
18856 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
18857 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
18859 There should be no data returned.
18862 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
18864 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
18865 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
18867 There should be no data returned.
18872 @node Error Messaging
18873 @subsubsection Error Messaging
18875 @findex nnheader-report
18876 @findex nnheader-get-report
18877 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
18878 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
18879 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
18880 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
18881 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
18882 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
18885 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
18887 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
18890 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
18891 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
18892 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
18893 takes one argument---the server symbol.
18895 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
18896 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
18897 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
18900 @node Writing New Backends
18901 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
18903 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
18904 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
18905 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
18906 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
18907 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
18910 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
18911 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
18912 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
18914 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
18915 package called @code{nnoo}.
18917 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
18918 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
18924 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
18925 parameters. For instance:
18928 (nnoo-declare nndir
18932 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
18933 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
18936 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
18937 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
18938 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
18940 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
18941 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
18942 a function in those backends.
18945 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
18946 "Where nndir will look for groups."
18947 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
18950 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
18951 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
18952 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
18954 @item nnoo-define-basics
18955 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
18959 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
18963 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
18964 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
18965 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
18967 @item nnoo-map-functions
18968 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
18969 functions from the parent backends.
18972 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
18973 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
18974 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
18977 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
18978 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
18979 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
18980 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
18983 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
18984 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
18985 haven't already been defined.
18991 nnmh-request-newgroups)
18995 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
18996 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
18997 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
19002 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
19005 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
19006 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
19010 (require 'nnheader)
19014 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
19016 (nnoo-declare nndir
19019 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
19020 "Where nndir will look for groups."
19021 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
19023 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
19024 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
19027 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
19028 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
19029 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
19031 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
19032 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
19034 ;;; Interface functions.
19036 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
19038 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
19039 (setq nndir-directory
19040 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
19042 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
19043 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
19044 (push `(nndir-current-group
19045 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19047 (push `(nndir-top-directory
19048 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
19050 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
19052 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
19053 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19054 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
19055 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
19056 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
19060 nnmh-status-message
19062 nnmh-request-newgroups))
19068 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19069 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
19071 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
19072 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
19073 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
19074 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
19076 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
19077 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
19082 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
19085 The abilities can be:
19089 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
19091 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
19093 This backend supports both mail and news.
19095 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
19098 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
19099 articles and groups.
19101 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
19102 true for almost all backends.
19103 @item prompt-address
19104 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
19105 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
19106 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
19110 @node Mail-like Backends
19111 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
19113 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
19114 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
19115 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
19116 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
19119 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
19120 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
19121 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
19124 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
19125 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
19128 This function takes four parameters.
19132 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
19135 @item exit-function
19136 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
19138 @item temp-directory
19139 Where the temporary files should be stored.
19142 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
19143 performed for one group only.
19146 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
19147 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
19148 find the article number assigned to this article.
19150 The function also uses the following variables:
19151 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
19152 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
19153 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
19154 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
19158 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
19159 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
19163 @node Score File Syntax
19164 @subsection Score File Syntax
19166 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
19167 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
19168 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
19170 Here's a typical score file:
19174 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
19181 BNF definition of a score file:
19184 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
19185 element = rule / atom
19186 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
19187 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
19188 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
19189 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
19191 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
19192 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
19193 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
19194 date-header = "date"
19195 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19196 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19197 score = "nil" / <integer>
19198 date = "nil" / <natural number>
19199 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
19200 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
19201 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
19202 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
19203 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19204 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19205 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
19206 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
19207 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
19208 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
19209 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
19210 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
19211 exclude-files / read-only / touched
19212 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
19213 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
19214 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
19215 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
19216 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
19217 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
19218 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
19219 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
19220 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
19221 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
19222 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
19223 eval = "eval" space <form>
19224 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
19227 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
19230 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
19231 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
19232 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
19233 one looong line, then that's ok.
19235 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
19236 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
19240 @subsection Headers
19242 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
19243 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
19244 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
19245 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
19247 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
19248 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
19249 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
19250 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
19251 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
19252 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
19253 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
19255 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
19256 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
19257 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these
19258 slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
19259 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
19261 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
19268 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
19269 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
19271 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
19272 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
19273 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
19274 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
19276 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
19280 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
19283 is transformed into
19286 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
19289 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
19290 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
19293 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
19296 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
19297 is slightly tricky:
19300 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
19306 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
19309 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
19315 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
19322 and is equal to the previous range.
19324 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
19325 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
19326 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
19330 range = simple-range / normal-range
19331 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
19332 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
19333 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
19334 number *[ " " contents ]
19337 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
19338 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
19339 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
19340 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
19341 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
19346 @subsection Group Info
19348 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
19349 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
19350 describes the group.
19352 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
19353 second is a more complex one:
19356 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
19358 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
19359 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
19361 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
19364 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
19365 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
19366 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
19367 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
19368 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
19369 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
19370 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
19371 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
19372 this section is about.
19374 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
19375 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
19376 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
19378 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
19381 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
19382 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
19383 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
19384 group = quote <string> quote
19385 ralevel = rank / level
19386 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
19387 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
19388 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
19390 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
19391 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
19392 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
19393 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
19396 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
19397 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
19400 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
19401 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
19404 @item gnus-info-group
19405 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
19406 @findex gnus-info-group
19407 @findex gnus-info-set-group
19408 Get/set the group name.
19410 @item gnus-info-rank
19411 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
19412 @findex gnus-info-rank
19413 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
19414 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
19416 @item gnus-info-level
19417 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
19418 @findex gnus-info-level
19419 @findex gnus-info-set-level
19420 Get/set the group level.
19422 @item gnus-info-score
19423 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
19424 @findex gnus-info-score
19425 @findex gnus-info-set-score
19426 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
19428 @item gnus-info-read
19429 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
19430 @findex gnus-info-read
19431 @findex gnus-info-set-read
19432 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
19434 @item gnus-info-marks
19435 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
19436 @findex gnus-info-marks
19437 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
19438 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
19440 @item gnus-info-method
19441 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
19442 @findex gnus-info-method
19443 @findex gnus-info-set-method
19444 Get/set the group select method.
19446 @item gnus-info-params
19447 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
19448 @findex gnus-info-params
19449 @findex gnus-info-set-params
19450 Get/set the group parameters.
19453 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
19454 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
19456 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
19457 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
19458 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
19459 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
19462 @node Extended Interactive
19463 @subsection Extended Interactive
19464 @cindex interactive
19465 @findex gnus-interactive
19467 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
19468 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
19469 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
19472 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
19473 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
19478 The best thing to do would have been to implement
19479 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
19480 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
19481 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
19482 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
19483 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
19484 @code{interactive}.
19486 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
19491 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
19492 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
19496 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
19497 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
19498 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
19501 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
19505 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
19509 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
19515 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
19516 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
19520 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
19521 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
19522 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
19524 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
19525 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
19526 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
19527 Gnus, that's very useful.
19529 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
19530 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
19531 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
19532 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
19533 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
19534 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
19535 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
19536 following function:
19539 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
19543 (,function ,@@args))
19547 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
19548 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
19549 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
19552 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
19553 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
19554 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
19556 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
19557 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
19558 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
19561 @node Various File Formats
19562 @subsection Various File Formats
19565 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
19566 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
19570 @node Active File Format
19571 @subsubsection Active File Format
19573 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
19574 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
19577 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
19580 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
19581 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
19582 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
19583 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
19584 no.general 1000 900 y
19587 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
19590 active = *group-line
19591 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
19592 group = <non-white-space string>
19594 high-number = <non-negative integer>
19595 low-number = <positive integer>
19596 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
19599 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
19600 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
19603 @node Newsgroups File Format
19604 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
19606 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
19607 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
19608 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
19611 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
19612 Here's the definition:
19616 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
19617 group = <non-white-space string>
19619 description = <string>
19624 @node Emacs for Heathens
19625 @section Emacs for Heathens
19627 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
19628 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
19629 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
19630 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
19631 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
19632 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
19633 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
19637 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
19638 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
19643 @subsection Keystrokes
19647 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
19650 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
19653 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
19654 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
19655 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
19656 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
19657 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
19658 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
19660 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
19661 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
19662 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
19663 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
19664 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
19665 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
19666 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
19668 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
19669 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
19670 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
19671 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
19672 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
19673 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
19674 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
19676 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
19677 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
19678 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
19679 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
19680 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
19686 @subsection Emacs Lisp
19688 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
19689 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
19690 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
19691 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
19693 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
19694 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
19695 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
19696 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
19697 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
19698 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
19699 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
19702 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
19703 write the following:
19706 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
19709 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
19710 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
19711 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
19714 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
19715 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
19716 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
19717 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
19718 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
19720 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
19721 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
19722 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
19726 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
19730 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
19733 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
19734 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
19737 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
19740 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
19741 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
19744 @include gnus-faq.texi