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4 @settitle Quassia Gnus 0.1 Manual
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255 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
262 \thispagestyle{empty}
264 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
266 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
267 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
268 are preserved on all copies.
270 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
271 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
272 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
273 permission notice identical to this one.
275 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
276 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
285 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
287 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
289 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
290 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
291 are preserved on all copies.
294 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
295 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
296 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
297 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
300 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
301 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
302 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
303 permission notice identical to this one.
305 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
306 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
312 @title Quassia Gnus 0.1 Manual
314 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
317 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
318 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
320 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
321 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
322 are preserved on all copies.
324 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
325 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
326 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
327 permission notice identical to this one.
329 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
330 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
339 @top The Gnus Newsreader
343 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
344 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
345 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
348 This manual corresponds to Quassia Gnus 0.1.
359 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
360 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
362 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
363 being accused of plagiarism:
365 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
366 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
367 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
368 even read news with it!
370 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
371 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
372 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
373 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
374 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
381 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
382 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
383 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
384 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
385 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
386 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
387 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
388 * Various:: General purpose settings.
389 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
390 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
391 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
392 * Key Index:: Key Index.
396 @chapter Starting Gnus
401 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
402 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
405 @findex gnus-other-frame
406 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
407 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
408 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
410 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
414 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
415 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
416 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
417 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
418 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
419 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
420 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
421 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
422 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
423 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
424 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
428 @node Finding the News
429 @section Finding the News
432 @vindex gnus-select-method
434 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
435 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
436 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
437 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
440 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
441 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
444 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
447 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
450 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
453 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
454 certainly be much faster.
456 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
458 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
459 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
460 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
461 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
462 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
463 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
465 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
466 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
467 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
468 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
470 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
471 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
472 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
473 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
474 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
475 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
477 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
479 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
480 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
481 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
482 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
483 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
484 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
486 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
488 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
489 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
490 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
491 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
492 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
493 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
496 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
497 would typically set this variable to
500 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
505 @section The First Time
506 @cindex first time usage
508 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
509 be subscribed by default.
511 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
512 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
513 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
514 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
517 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
518 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
519 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
521 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
522 help you with most common problems.
524 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
525 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
529 @node The Server is Down
530 @section The Server is Down
531 @cindex server errors
533 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
534 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
535 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
537 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
538 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
539 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
540 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
541 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
542 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
543 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
545 @findex gnus-no-server
546 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
548 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
549 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
550 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
551 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
552 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
553 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
558 @section Slave Gnusae
561 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
562 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
563 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
564 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
566 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
569 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
570 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
571 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
572 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
573 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
574 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
575 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
577 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
578 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
579 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
580 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
581 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
582 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
583 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
584 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
586 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
587 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
590 @node Fetching a Group
591 @section Fetching a Group
592 @cindex fetching a group
594 @findex gnus-fetch-group
595 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
596 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
597 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
598 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
599 It takes the group name as a parameter.
607 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
608 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
609 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
610 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
611 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
612 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
613 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
614 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
615 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
618 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
619 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
620 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
624 @node Checking New Groups
625 @subsection Checking New Groups
627 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
628 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
629 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
630 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
631 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
632 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
633 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
634 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
635 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
636 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
638 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
639 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
640 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
641 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
642 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
643 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
644 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
645 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
646 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
647 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
648 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
650 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
651 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
652 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
653 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
654 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
655 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
658 @node Subscription Methods
659 @subsection Subscription Methods
661 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
662 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
663 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
665 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
666 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
668 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
672 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
673 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
674 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
675 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
676 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
678 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
679 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
680 Subscribe all new groups randomly.
682 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
683 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
684 Subscribe all new groups alphabetically.
686 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
687 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
688 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
689 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
690 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
691 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
692 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
693 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
694 up. Or something like that.
696 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
697 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
698 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
699 you about @strong{all} new groups.
701 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
702 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
707 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
708 A closely related variable is
709 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
710 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
711 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
712 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
715 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
716 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
717 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
718 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
721 @node Filtering New Groups
722 @subsection Filtering New Groups
724 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
725 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
726 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
729 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
732 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
733 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
734 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
735 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
736 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
737 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
738 subscribing these groups.
739 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
740 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
742 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
743 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
744 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
745 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
746 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
747 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
748 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
749 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
751 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
752 Yet another variable that meddles here is
753 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
754 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
755 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
756 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
757 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
758 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
759 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
760 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
762 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
763 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
766 @node Changing Servers
767 @section Changing Servers
768 @cindex changing servers
770 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
771 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
772 very flaky and you want to use another.
774 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
775 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
779 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
780 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
781 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
782 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
785 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
786 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
787 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
788 functions more than absolutely necessary.
790 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
791 @findex gnus-change-server
792 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
793 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
794 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
795 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
796 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
798 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
799 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
800 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
801 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
802 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
804 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
805 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
806 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
807 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
808 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
809 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
813 @section Startup Files
814 @cindex startup files
819 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
820 information is traditionally stored in this file.
822 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
823 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
824 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
825 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
826 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
827 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
828 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
830 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
831 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
832 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
833 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file.
835 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
836 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
837 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
838 the file and save some space, as well as making exit from Gnus faster.
839 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
840 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
842 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
843 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
844 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
845 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
846 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
847 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
848 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
849 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
850 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
851 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
852 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
853 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
855 @vindex gnus-startup-file
856 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
857 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
858 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
860 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
861 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
862 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
863 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
864 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
865 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
866 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
867 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
868 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
869 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
872 (defun turn-off-backup ()
873 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
875 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
876 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
879 @vindex gnus-init-file
880 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
881 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
882 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
883 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
884 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
885 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
886 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
887 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
888 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
897 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
898 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
899 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
900 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
901 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
904 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
905 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
908 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
909 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
910 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
912 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
913 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
914 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
915 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
916 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
917 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
920 @node The Active File
921 @section The Active File
923 @cindex ignored groups
925 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
926 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
927 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
929 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
930 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
931 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
932 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
933 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
934 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
935 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
938 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
939 @c if you set it to anything else.
941 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
943 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
944 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
945 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
947 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
948 you actually subscribe to.
950 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
951 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
952 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
953 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
955 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
956 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
957 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
958 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
959 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
960 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
962 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
963 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
964 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
965 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
966 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
967 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
969 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
970 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
972 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
973 secondary select methods.
976 @node Startup Variables
977 @section Startup Variables
982 @vindex gnus-load-hook
983 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
984 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
985 times you start Gnus.
987 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
988 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
989 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
991 @item gnus-startup-hook
992 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
993 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
995 @item gnus-started-hook
996 @vindex gnus-started-hook
997 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1000 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1001 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1002 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1003 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1004 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1005 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1006 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1007 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1009 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1010 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1011 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1012 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1013 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1014 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1016 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1017 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1018 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1020 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1021 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1022 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1024 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1025 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1026 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1027 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1032 @node The Group Buffer
1033 @chapter The Group Buffer
1034 @cindex group buffer
1036 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1037 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1038 long as Gnus is active.
1042 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1043 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1044 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1045 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1046 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1047 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1048 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1049 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1055 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1056 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1057 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1058 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1059 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1060 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1061 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1062 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1063 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1064 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1065 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1066 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1067 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1068 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1069 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1070 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1071 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1075 @node Group Buffer Format
1076 @section Group Buffer Format
1079 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1080 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1081 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1085 @node Group Line Specification
1086 @subsection Group Line Specification
1087 @cindex group buffer format
1089 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1090 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1092 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1095 25: news.announce.newusers
1096 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1101 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1102 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1103 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1104 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1106 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1107 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1108 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1109 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1110 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1111 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1113 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1115 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1116 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1117 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1118 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1121 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1122 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1123 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1125 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1130 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1133 Whether the group is subscribed.
1136 Level of subscribedness.
1139 Number of unread articles.
1142 Number of dormant articles.
1145 Number of ticked articles.
1148 Number of read articles.
1151 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1152 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1155 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1158 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1167 Newsgroup description.
1170 @samp{m} if moderated.
1173 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1182 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1186 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1189 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1190 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1191 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1192 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1193 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1196 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1198 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1202 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1206 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1207 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1208 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1209 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1210 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1211 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1216 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1217 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1218 group, or a bogus native group.
1221 @node Group Modeline Specification
1222 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1223 @cindex group modeline
1225 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1226 The mode line can be changed by setting
1227 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). It
1228 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1232 The native news server.
1234 The native select method.
1238 @node Group Highlighting
1239 @subsection Group Highlighting
1240 @cindex highlighting
1241 @cindex group highlighting
1243 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1244 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1245 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1246 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1247 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1249 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1253 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1255 ,(custom-face-lookup "Red" nil nil t nil nil))
1256 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) .
1257 ,(custom-face-lookup "SeaGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1259 ,(custom-face-lookup "SpringGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1261 ,(custom-face-lookup "SteelBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1263 ,(custom-face-lookup "SkyBlue" nil nil t nil nil))))
1266 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1273 The number of unread articles in the group.
1277 Whether the group is a mail group.
1279 The level of the group.
1281 The score of the group.
1283 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1285 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1286 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1288 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1289 topic being inserted.
1292 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1293 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1294 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1296 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1297 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1298 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1299 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1300 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1303 @node Group Maneuvering
1304 @section Group Maneuvering
1305 @cindex group movement
1307 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1308 expected, hopefully.
1314 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1315 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1316 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1322 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1323 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1324 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1328 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1329 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1333 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1334 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1338 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1339 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1340 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1344 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1345 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1346 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1349 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1355 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1356 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1357 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1362 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1363 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1364 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1368 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1369 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1370 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1373 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1374 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1375 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1376 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1380 @node Selecting a Group
1381 @section Selecting a Group
1382 @cindex group selection
1387 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1388 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1389 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1390 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1391 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1392 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1393 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1394 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1395 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1396 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1400 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1401 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1402 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1403 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1404 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1408 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1409 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1410 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1411 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1412 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1413 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1414 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1415 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer.
1416 This might be useful if you want to toggle threading before entering the
1420 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1421 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1422 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1423 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1424 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1427 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1428 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1429 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1430 doing any processing of its contents
1431 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1432 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1433 manner will have no permanent effects.
1437 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1438 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1439 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1440 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1441 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1442 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1443 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1444 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1447 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1448 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1449 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1450 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1455 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1456 full summary buffer.
1459 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1462 Select the most high-scored article in the group when entering the
1466 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1467 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1468 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1472 @node Subscription Commands
1473 @section Subscription Commands
1474 @cindex subscription
1482 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1483 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1484 Toggle subscription to the current group
1485 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1491 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1492 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1493 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1494 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1500 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1501 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1502 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1508 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1509 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1512 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1513 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1514 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1515 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1516 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1522 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1523 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1527 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1528 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1531 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1532 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1533 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1534 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1535 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1536 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1537 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1538 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1539 @file{.newsrc} file.
1543 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1553 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1554 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1555 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1556 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1557 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1558 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1563 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1564 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1565 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1569 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1570 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1571 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1573 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1574 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1575 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1576 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1577 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1578 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1585 @section Group Levels
1589 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1590 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1591 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1592 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1593 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1595 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1601 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1602 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1603 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1604 prompted for a level.
1607 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1608 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1609 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1610 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1611 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1612 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1613 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1614 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1615 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1616 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1617 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1618 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1619 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1620 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1621 reasons of efficiency.
1623 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1624 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1626 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1627 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1628 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1630 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1631 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1632 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1633 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1634 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1635 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1636 relevant valid ranges.
1638 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1639 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1640 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1641 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1642 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1643 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1646 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1647 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1648 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1651 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1652 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1653 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1654 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1657 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1658 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1659 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1660 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1662 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1663 Gnus will normally just activate groups on level
1664 @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to activate
1665 unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable to
1666 5. The default is 6.
1670 @section Group Score
1673 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1674 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1675 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1678 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1679 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1680 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1681 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1682 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1683 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1684 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1686 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1687 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1688 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1689 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1690 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1691 action after each summary exit, you can add
1692 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1693 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1694 slow things down somewhat.
1697 @node Marking Groups
1698 @section Marking Groups
1699 @cindex marking groups
1701 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1702 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1703 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1704 bidding on those groups.
1706 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1707 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1708 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1716 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1717 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1723 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1724 Remove the mark from the current group
1725 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1729 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1730 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1734 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1735 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1739 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1740 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1744 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1745 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1746 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1749 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1751 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1752 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1753 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1754 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1755 the command to be executed.
1758 @node Foreign Groups
1759 @section Foreign Groups
1760 @cindex foreign groups
1762 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1763 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1764 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1765 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1772 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1773 @cindex making groups
1774 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1775 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1776 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1780 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1781 @cindex renaming groups
1782 Rename the current group to something else
1783 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1784 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1790 @findex gnus-group-customize
1791 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1795 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1796 @cindex renaming groups
1797 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1798 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1802 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1803 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1804 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1808 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1809 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1810 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1814 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1816 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1817 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1822 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1823 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1827 @cindex (ding) archive
1828 @cindex archive group
1829 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1830 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1831 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1832 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1833 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1834 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1835 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1839 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1841 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1842 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1843 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1844 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1848 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1850 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1851 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1852 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1856 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1857 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1859 Make a group based on some file or other
1860 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1861 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1862 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1863 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1864 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1865 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1866 @xref{Document Groups}.
1870 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1875 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1876 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1877 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1878 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1879 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1880 @xref{Web Searches}.
1883 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1884 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1885 This function will delete the current group
1886 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1887 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1888 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1889 absolutely sure of what you are doing.
1893 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1894 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1895 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1899 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1900 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1901 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1904 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1907 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1908 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1909 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1910 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1911 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers.
1914 @node Group Parameters
1915 @section Group Parameters
1916 @cindex group parameters
1918 The group parameters store information local to a particular group:
1923 If the group parameter list contains an element that looks like
1924 @code{(to-address . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used by
1925 the backend when doing followups and posts. This is primarily useful in
1926 mail groups that represent closed mailing lists---mailing lists where
1927 it's expected that everybody that writes to the mailing list is
1928 subscribed to it. Since using this parameter ensures that the mail only
1929 goes to the mailing list itself, it means that members won't receive two
1930 copies of your followups.
1932 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1933 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1934 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1935 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1936 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1937 list address instead.
1941 If the group parameter list has an element that looks like
1942 @code{(to-list . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used when
1943 doing a @kbd{a} in that group. It is totally ignored when doing a
1944 followup---except that if it is present in a news group, you'll get mail
1945 group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
1947 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
1948 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
1949 sending the message.
1953 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
1954 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
1955 of whether it has any unread articles.
1957 @item broken-reply-to
1958 @cindex broken-reply-to
1959 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
1960 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
1961 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
1962 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
1963 broken behavior. So there!
1967 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
1968 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
1972 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, Gnus will treat
1973 all responses as if they were responses to news articles. This can be
1974 useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a news group.
1978 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list and set to
1979 @code{t}, newly composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current
1980 group. If it is present and set to @code{none}, no @code{Gcc:} header
1981 will be generated, if it is present and a string, this string will be
1982 inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header (this symbol takes precedence over
1983 any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later).
1987 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
1988 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
1989 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
1992 @cindex total-expire
1993 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
1994 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
1995 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
1996 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2001 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2002 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2003 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2004 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2005 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2006 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2009 @cindex score file group parameter
2010 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2011 @file{file} into the current adaptive score file for the group in
2012 question. All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2015 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2016 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2017 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2018 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2021 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2022 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2023 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2024 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2027 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2028 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2032 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2035 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2040 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2041 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2042 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2045 @item @var{(variable form)}
2046 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2047 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2048 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2049 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2050 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2051 @code{eval}ed there.
2053 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2054 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2055 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2056 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2057 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2061 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group.
2063 @pxref{Topic Parameters}.
2065 Here's an example group parameter list:
2068 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2073 @node Listing Groups
2074 @section Listing Groups
2075 @cindex group listing
2077 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2085 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2086 List all groups that have unread articles
2087 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2088 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2089 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2090 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2097 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2098 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2099 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2100 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2101 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2102 unsubscribed groups).
2106 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2107 List all unread groups on a specific level
2108 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2109 with no unread articles.
2113 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2114 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2115 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2116 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2121 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2122 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2126 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2127 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2128 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2132 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2133 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2137 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2138 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2139 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2140 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2141 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2142 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2143 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2144 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2148 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2149 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2150 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2154 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2155 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2156 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2160 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2161 @cindex visible group parameter
2162 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2163 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2164 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2165 get the same effect.
2167 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2168 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2169 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2170 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2171 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2174 @node Sorting Groups
2175 @section Sorting Groups
2176 @cindex sorting groups
2178 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2179 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2180 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2181 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2182 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2183 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2188 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2189 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2190 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2192 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2193 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2194 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2196 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2197 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2198 Sort by group level.
2200 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2201 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2202 Sort by group score.
2204 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2205 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2206 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2207 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}.
2209 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2210 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2211 Sort by number of unread articles.
2213 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2214 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2215 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2220 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2221 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2225 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2226 some sorting criteria:
2230 @kindex G S a (Group)
2231 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2232 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2233 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2236 @kindex G S u (Group)
2237 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2238 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2239 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2242 @kindex G S l (Group)
2243 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2244 Sort the group buffer by group level
2245 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2248 @kindex G S v (Group)
2249 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2250 Sort the group buffer by group score
2251 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}).
2254 @kindex G S r (Group)
2255 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2256 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2257 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2260 @kindex G S m (Group)
2261 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2262 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2263 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2267 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
2269 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2273 @kindex G P a (Group)
2274 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2275 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2276 group name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2279 @kindex G P u (Group)
2280 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2281 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of
2282 unread articles (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2285 @kindex G P l (Group)
2286 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2287 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level
2288 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2291 @kindex G P v (Group)
2292 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2293 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score
2294 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}).
2297 @kindex G P r (Group)
2298 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2299 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank
2300 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}).
2303 @kindex G P m (Group)
2304 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2305 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2306 backend name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2312 @node Group Maintenance
2313 @section Group Maintenance
2314 @cindex bogus groups
2319 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2320 Find bogus groups and delete them
2321 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2325 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2326 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2327 If given a prefix, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2331 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2332 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2333 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2334 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2337 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2338 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2339 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2340 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2345 @node Browse Foreign Server
2346 @section Browse Foreign Server
2347 @cindex foreign servers
2348 @cindex browsing servers
2353 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2354 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2355 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2356 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2359 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2360 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2361 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2362 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2364 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2369 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2370 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2374 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2375 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2378 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2379 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2380 Enter the current group and display the first article
2381 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2384 @kindex RET (Browse)
2385 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2386 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2390 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2391 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2392 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2398 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2399 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2403 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2404 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2405 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2410 @section Exiting Gnus
2411 @cindex exiting Gnus
2413 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2418 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2419 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2420 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2421 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2425 @findex gnus-group-exit
2426 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2427 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2431 @findex gnus-group-quit
2432 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2433 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2436 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2437 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2438 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2439 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2440 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2445 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2446 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2447 trying to customize meta-variables.
2452 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2453 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2454 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2460 @section Group Topics
2463 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2464 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2465 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2466 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2467 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2468 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2472 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2473 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2484 2: alt.religion.emacs
2487 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2489 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2490 13: comp.sources.unix
2493 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2495 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2496 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2497 is a toggling command.)
2499 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2500 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2501 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2502 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2505 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2506 the hook for the group mode:
2509 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2513 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2514 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2515 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2516 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2517 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2521 @node Topic Variables
2522 @subsection Topic Variables
2523 @cindex topic variables
2525 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2526 really neat, I think.
2528 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2529 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2530 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2543 Number of groups in the topic.
2545 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2547 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2550 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2551 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2552 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2555 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2556 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2558 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2559 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2560 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2563 @node Topic Commands
2564 @subsection Topic Commands
2565 @cindex topic commands
2567 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2568 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2569 definitions slightly.
2575 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2576 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2577 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2581 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2582 Move the current group to some other topic
2583 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2584 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2588 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2589 Copy the current group to some other topic
2590 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2591 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2595 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2596 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2597 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2598 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2602 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2603 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2604 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2608 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2609 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2610 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2614 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2615 Toggle hiding empty topics
2616 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2620 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2621 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2622 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2625 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2626 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2627 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2628 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2632 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2634 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2635 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2636 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2637 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2638 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2639 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2642 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2643 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2644 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2645 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2646 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2650 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2651 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2652 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2656 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2657 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2658 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2663 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2664 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2667 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2668 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2669 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2673 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2674 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2675 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2679 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2680 @cindex group parameters
2681 @cindex topic parameters
2683 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2684 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2690 @subsection Topic Sorting
2691 @cindex topic sorting
2693 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2699 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2700 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2701 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2702 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2705 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2706 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2707 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2708 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2711 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2712 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2713 Sort the current topic by group level
2714 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2717 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2718 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2719 Sort the current topic by group score
2720 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}).
2723 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2724 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2725 Sort the current topic by group rank
2726 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2729 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2730 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2731 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2732 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2736 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2739 @node Topic Topology
2740 @subsection Topic Topology
2741 @cindex topic topology
2744 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2750 2: alt.religion.emacs
2753 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2755 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2756 13: comp.sources.unix
2759 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2760 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2761 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2766 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2767 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2771 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2772 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2773 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2774 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2775 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2776 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2778 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2779 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2780 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2783 @node Topic Parameters
2784 @subsection Topic Parameters
2785 @cindex topic parameters
2787 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2788 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2789 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2791 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2792 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2793 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2794 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2800 2: alt.religion.emacs
2804 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2806 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2807 13: comp.sources.unix
2811 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2812 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2813 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2814 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2815 @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2816 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2818 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2819 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2820 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2821 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2822 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2824 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2825 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2826 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2827 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2828 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2829 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2830 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2831 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2834 @node Misc Group Stuff
2835 @section Misc Group Stuff
2838 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2839 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2840 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2841 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2848 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2849 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2850 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2854 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2855 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). The current
2856 group name will be used as the default.
2860 @findex gnus-group-mail
2861 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2865 Variables for the group buffer:
2869 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2870 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2871 is called after the group buffer has been
2874 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2875 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2876 is called after the group buffer is
2877 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2880 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2881 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2882 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2883 whether they are empty or not.
2888 @node Scanning New Messages
2889 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2890 @cindex new messages
2891 @cindex scanning new news
2897 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2898 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
2899 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2900 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2901 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2902 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
2907 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2908 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2909 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
2910 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2911 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
2912 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
2913 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
2915 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
2916 @cindex activating groups
2918 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
2919 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
2924 @findex gnus-group-restart
2925 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
2926 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
2927 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
2931 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
2932 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
2934 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
2935 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
2939 @node Group Information
2940 @subsection Group Information
2941 @cindex group information
2942 @cindex information on groups
2949 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
2950 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
2953 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
2954 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
2955 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
2956 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
2957 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
2958 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
2959 for fetching the file.
2961 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
2962 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
2966 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
2968 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
2969 @cindex describing groups
2970 @cindex group description
2971 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
2972 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
2973 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
2977 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
2978 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
2979 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
2986 @findex gnus-version
2987 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
2991 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
2992 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
2995 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
2998 @findex gnus-info-find-node
2999 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3003 @node Group Timestamp
3004 @subsection Group Timestamp
3006 @cindex group timestamps
3008 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3009 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3010 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3013 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3016 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3018 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3019 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3022 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3023 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3026 This will result in lines looking like:
3029 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3030 0: custom 19961002T012713
3033 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3034 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3038 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3039 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3044 @subsection File Commands
3045 @cindex file commands
3051 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3052 @vindex gnus-init-file
3053 @cindex reading init file
3054 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3055 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3059 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3060 @cindex saving .newsrc
3061 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3062 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3063 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3066 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3067 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3068 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3073 @node The Summary Buffer
3074 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3075 @cindex summary buffer
3077 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3078 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3080 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3081 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3083 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3086 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3087 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3088 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3089 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3090 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3091 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3092 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3093 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3094 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3095 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3096 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3097 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3098 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3099 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3100 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3101 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3102 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3103 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3104 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3105 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3106 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3107 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3108 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3109 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3110 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3111 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3112 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3116 @node Summary Buffer Format
3117 @section Summary Buffer Format
3118 @cindex summary buffer format
3122 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3123 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3124 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3130 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3131 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3132 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3135 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3136 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3137 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3138 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3139 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3140 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3141 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3142 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3143 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3144 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3145 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead.
3147 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3148 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3149 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3150 with those specs that require it. The default is @samp{}.
3153 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3154 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3156 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3157 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3158 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3159 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3160 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3162 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3164 The following format specification characters are understood:
3172 Subject if the article is the root or the previous article had a
3173 different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3174 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @samp{}.)
3176 Full @code{From} header.
3178 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3180 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3181 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3182 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3183 may be more thorough.
3185 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3188 Number of lines in the article.
3190 Number of characters in the article.
3192 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3194 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3195 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3197 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3198 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3200 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3201 for adopted articles.
3203 One space for each thread level.
3205 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3213 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3214 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3215 default level. If the difference between
3216 @code{gnus-summary-default-level} and the score is less than
3217 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3225 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3227 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3233 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3234 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3236 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3237 article has any children.
3243 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3244 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3245 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3246 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3247 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3248 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3251 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3252 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3253 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3254 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3255 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3256 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3258 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3259 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3261 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3264 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3265 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3267 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3268 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar. Set
3269 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you like. The default
3270 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3272 Here are the elements you can play with:
3278 Unprefixed group name.
3280 Current article number.
3284 Number of unread articles in this group.
3286 Number of unselected articles in this group.
3288 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3289 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3290 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3291 and no unselected ones.
3293 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3294 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3296 Subject of the current article.
3300 Name of the current score file.
3302 Number of dormant articles.
3304 Number of ticked articles.
3306 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3308 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3312 @node Summary Highlighting
3313 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3317 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3318 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3319 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3320 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3321 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3323 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3324 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3325 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3326 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3328 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3329 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3330 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3331 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3333 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3334 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3335 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3336 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3337 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3338 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3340 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3341 ((> score default) . bold))
3343 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3344 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3348 @node Summary Maneuvering
3349 @section Summary Maneuvering
3350 @cindex summary movement
3352 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3353 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3355 None of these commands select articles.
3360 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3361 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3362 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3363 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3364 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3368 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3369 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3370 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3371 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3372 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3377 @kindex G j (Summary)
3378 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3379 Ask for an article number and then go to that article
3380 (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3383 @kindex G g (Summary)
3384 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3385 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3386 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3389 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3390 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3391 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3392 to the group buffer.
3394 Variables related to summary movement:
3398 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3399 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3400 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3401 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3402 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3403 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3404 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3405 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3406 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3407 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3408 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3409 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3410 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3411 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3413 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3414 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3415 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3416 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3417 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3418 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) This variable is not
3419 particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3421 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3422 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3423 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3424 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3425 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3427 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3428 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3429 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3430 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3431 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3432 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3433 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3434 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3440 @node Choosing Articles
3441 @section Choosing Articles
3442 @cindex selecting articles
3445 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3446 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3450 @node Choosing Commands
3451 @subsection Choosing Commands
3453 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3454 and they all select and display an article.
3458 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3459 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3460 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3461 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3466 @kindex G n (Summary)
3467 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3468 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3469 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3474 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3475 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3476 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3481 @kindex G N (Summary)
3482 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3483 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3488 @kindex G P (Summary)
3489 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3490 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3493 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3494 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3495 Go to the next article with the same subject
3496 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3499 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3500 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3501 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3502 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3506 @kindex G f (Summary)
3508 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3509 Go to the first unread article
3510 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3514 @kindex G b (Summary)
3516 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3517 Go to the article with the highest score
3518 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3523 @kindex G l (Summary)
3524 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3525 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3528 @kindex G o (Summary)
3529 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3530 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3531 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3532 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3533 history as you like.
3537 @node Choosing Variables
3538 @subsection Choosing Variables
3540 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3543 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3544 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3545 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3546 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3547 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3548 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3550 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3551 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3552 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3553 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3555 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3556 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3557 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3558 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3559 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3560 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3561 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3562 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3563 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3564 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3565 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3566 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3567 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3568 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3573 @node Paging the Article
3574 @section Scrolling the Article
3575 @cindex article scrolling
3580 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3581 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3582 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3583 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3584 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3587 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3588 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3589 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3592 @kindex RET (Summary)
3593 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3594 Scroll the current article one line forward
3595 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3599 @kindex A g (Summary)
3601 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3602 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3603 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3604 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3605 the way it came from the server.
3610 @kindex A < (Summary)
3611 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3612 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3613 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3618 @kindex A > (Summary)
3619 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3620 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3624 @kindex A s (Summary)
3626 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3627 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3628 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3633 @node Reply Followup and Post
3634 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3637 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3638 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3642 @node Summary Mail Commands
3643 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3645 @cindex composing mail
3647 Commands for composing a mail message:
3653 @kindex S r (Summary)
3655 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3656 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3657 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3658 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3659 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3664 @kindex S R (Summary)
3665 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3666 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3667 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3668 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3669 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3672 @kindex S w (Summary)
3673 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3674 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3675 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3676 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3677 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3680 @kindex S W (Summary)
3681 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3682 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3683 message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3684 the process/prefix convention.
3687 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3688 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3689 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3690 Forward the current article to some other person
3691 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3692 headers of the forwarded article.
3697 @kindex S m (Summary)
3698 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3699 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3700 Send a mail to some other person
3701 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3704 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3705 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3706 @cindex bouncing mail
3707 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3708 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3709 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3710 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3711 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3712 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3713 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3714 very well fail, though.
3717 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3718 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3719 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3720 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3721 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3722 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3723 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3724 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3725 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3726 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3728 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3729 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3730 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3731 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3732 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3734 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3735 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3738 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3739 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3740 Digest the current series and forward the result using mail
3741 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3742 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3745 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3746 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3747 @cindex crossposting
3748 @cindex excessive crossposting
3749 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3750 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3752 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3753 This command is provided as a way to fight back agains the current
3754 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3755 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3756 command understands the process/prefix convention
3757 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3762 @node Summary Post Commands
3763 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3765 @cindex composing news
3767 Commands for posting a news article:
3773 @kindex S p (Summary)
3774 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3775 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
3776 Post an article to the current group
3777 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3782 @kindex S f (Summary)
3783 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3784 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
3785 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3789 @kindex S F (Summary)
3791 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
3792 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3793 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3794 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3795 process/prefix convention.
3798 @kindex S n (Summary)
3799 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3800 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3801 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3804 @kindex S n (Summary)
3805 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3806 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3807 message through mail and include the original message
3808 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3809 the process/prefix convention.
3812 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3813 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3814 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3815 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3816 headers of the forwarded article.
3819 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3820 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3822 @cindex making digests
3823 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3824 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3825 process/prefix convention.
3828 @kindex S u (Summary)
3829 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3830 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
3831 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3832 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3836 @node Canceling and Superseding
3837 @section Canceling Articles
3838 @cindex canceling articles
3839 @cindex superseding articles
3841 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3842 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3844 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3846 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3848 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
3849 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3850 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3851 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3852 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3854 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3855 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3858 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3859 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3860 your original article.
3862 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3864 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3865 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3866 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3869 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3870 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3871 have posted almost the same article twice.
3873 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3874 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3875 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3876 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
3877 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3878 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3879 header by substituting one of those words for the word
3880 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
3881 you would do normally. The previous article will be
3882 canceled/superseded.
3884 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
3887 @node Marking Articles
3888 @section Marking Articles
3889 @cindex article marking
3890 @cindex article ticking
3893 There are several marks you can set on an article.
3895 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
3896 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
3897 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
3899 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
3902 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
3903 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
3904 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
3908 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
3912 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
3913 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
3917 @node Unread Articles
3918 @subsection Unread Articles
3920 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
3925 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
3926 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
3928 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
3929 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
3930 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
3931 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
3932 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
3936 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3937 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
3939 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
3940 are followups to it.
3943 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
3944 Markes as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
3946 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
3951 @subsection Read Articles
3952 @cindex expirable mark
3954 All the following marks mark articles as read.
3959 @vindex gnus-del-mark
3960 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
3961 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
3964 @vindex gnus-read-mark
3965 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
3968 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
3969 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
3970 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
3973 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
3974 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
3977 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
3978 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
3981 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
3982 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
3985 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
3986 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
3989 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
3990 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
3993 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
3994 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
3997 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
3998 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4002 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4003 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4004 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4008 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4009 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4011 One more special mark, though:
4015 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4016 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4018 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4019 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4020 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4021 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4027 @subsection Other Marks
4028 @cindex process mark
4031 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4037 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4038 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4039 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4040 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4041 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}
4044 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4045 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4046 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4047 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4050 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4051 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an
4052 @samp{*} in the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}).
4055 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4056 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4057 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4058 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4061 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4062 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4063 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4064 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4065 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4068 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4069 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4070 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4071 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4072 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4073 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4077 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4078 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4079 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4081 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4082 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4083 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4087 @subsection Setting Marks
4088 @cindex setting marks
4090 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4096 @kindex M t (Summary)
4097 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4098 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4103 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4104 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4105 Mark the current article as dormant
4106 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}).
4110 @kindex M d (Summary)
4112 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4113 Mark the current article as read
4114 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4118 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4119 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4120 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4125 @kindex M k (Summary)
4126 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4127 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4128 and then select the next unread article
4129 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4133 @kindex M K (Summary)
4134 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4135 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4136 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4137 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4140 @kindex M C (Summary)
4141 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4142 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4143 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4146 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4147 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4148 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4149 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4152 @kindex M H (Summary)
4153 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4154 Catchup the current group to point
4155 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4158 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4159 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4160 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4161 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4164 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4165 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4166 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4167 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4171 @kindex M c (Summary)
4172 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4173 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4174 @cindex mark as unread
4175 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4176 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}).
4180 @kindex M e (Summary)
4182 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4183 Mark the current article as expirable
4184 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4187 @kindex M b (Summary)
4188 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4189 Set a bookmark in the current article
4190 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4193 @kindex M B (Summary)
4194 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4195 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4196 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4199 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4200 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4201 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4202 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4205 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4206 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4207 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4208 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4211 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4212 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4213 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4214 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4215 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4218 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4219 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4220 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4221 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4222 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4223 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4224 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4225 The default is @code{t}.
4228 @node Setting Process Marks
4229 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4230 @cindex setting process marks
4237 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4238 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4239 Mark the current article with the process mark
4240 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4241 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4245 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4246 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4247 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4248 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4251 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4252 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4253 Remove the process mark from all articles
4254 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4257 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4258 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4259 Invert the list of process marked articles
4260 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4263 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4264 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4265 Mark articles by a regular expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4268 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4269 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4270 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4273 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4274 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4275 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4276 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4279 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4280 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4281 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4282 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4285 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4286 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4287 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4288 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4291 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4292 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4293 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4296 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4297 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4298 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4299 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4302 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4303 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4304 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4307 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4308 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4309 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4310 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4313 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4314 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4315 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4316 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4319 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4320 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4321 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4322 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4325 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4326 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4327 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4328 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4337 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4338 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4339 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4346 @kindex / / (Summary)
4347 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4348 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4349 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4352 @kindex / a (Summary)
4353 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4354 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4355 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4359 @kindex / u (Summary)
4361 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4362 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4363 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4364 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4365 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4368 @kindex / m (Summary)
4369 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4370 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have not been marked
4371 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4374 @kindex / t (Summary)
4375 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4376 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4377 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4378 articles younger than that number of days.
4381 @kindex / n (Summary)
4382 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4383 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4384 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4385 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4388 @kindex / w (Summary)
4389 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4390 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4391 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4395 @kindex / v (Summary)
4396 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4397 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4398 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4402 @kindex M S (Summary)
4403 @kindex / E (Summary)
4404 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4405 Display all expunged articles
4406 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4409 @kindex / D (Summary)
4410 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4411 Display all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4414 @kindex / d (Summary)
4415 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4416 Hide all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4419 @kindex / c (Summary)
4420 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4421 Hide all dormant articles that have no children
4422 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4425 @kindex / C (Summary)
4426 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4427 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4428 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4429 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4437 @cindex article threading
4439 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4440 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4441 hierarchical fashion.
4444 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4445 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4449 @node Customizing Threading
4450 @subsection Customizing Threading
4451 @cindex customizing threading
4457 @item gnus-show-threads
4458 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4459 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4460 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4461 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4462 slower and more awkward.
4464 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4465 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4466 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4467 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4468 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4469 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4470 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4471 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4472 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4473 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4474 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4475 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4477 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4478 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4479 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4480 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4481 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4482 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4483 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4484 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4485 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4486 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4487 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4488 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4489 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4490 @code{nil} by default.
4492 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4493 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4494 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4495 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4496 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4497 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4498 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4499 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4500 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4501 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4502 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4504 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4505 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4506 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4509 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4510 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4511 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4512 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4513 simplification is used.
4515 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4516 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4517 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4518 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4520 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4522 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4528 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4529 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4530 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4531 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4536 (mapconcat 'identity
4537 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4539 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4542 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4545 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4546 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4547 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4548 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4549 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4550 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4551 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4552 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4554 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4555 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4556 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4557 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4558 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4559 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4560 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4561 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4562 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4566 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4567 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4568 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4569 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4571 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4572 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4573 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4576 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4580 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4581 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4584 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4585 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4586 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4587 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4588 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4589 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4591 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4592 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4593 There are four possible values:
4597 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4598 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4599 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4600 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4601 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4606 @cindex adopting articles
4611 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4612 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4613 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4614 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4617 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4618 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4619 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4620 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4621 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4622 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4623 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4626 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4627 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4628 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4632 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4633 display them after one another.
4636 Don't gather loose threads.
4639 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4640 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4641 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4644 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4645 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4646 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4647 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
4648 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
4649 threads are expunged.
4651 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4652 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4653 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4656 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4657 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4658 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4659 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4660 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4663 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4664 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4665 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4668 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
4669 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
4670 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
4671 @code{(gnus-decode-rfc1522)}, which means that QPized headers will be
4672 slightly decoded in a hackish way. This is likely to change in the
4673 future when Gnus becomes @sc{MIME}ified.
4678 @node Thread Commands
4679 @subsection Thread Commands
4680 @cindex thread commands
4686 @kindex T k (Summary)
4687 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4688 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4689 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4690 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4691 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4696 @kindex T l (Summary)
4697 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4698 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4699 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4700 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4703 @kindex T i (Summary)
4704 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4705 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4706 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4709 @kindex T # (Summary)
4710 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4711 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4712 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4715 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4716 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4717 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4718 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4721 @kindex T T (Summary)
4722 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4723 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4726 @kindex T s (Summary)
4727 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4728 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4729 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4732 @kindex T h (Summary)
4733 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4734 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4737 @kindex T S (Summary)
4738 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4739 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4742 @kindex T H (Summary)
4743 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
4744 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
4747 @kindex T t (Summary)
4748 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
4749 Re-thread the current article's thread
4750 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
4751 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
4754 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
4755 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
4756 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
4757 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
4761 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
4762 understand the numeric prefix.
4767 @kindex T n (Summary)
4768 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
4769 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
4772 @kindex T p (Summary)
4773 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
4774 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
4777 @kindex T d (Summary)
4778 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
4779 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
4782 @kindex T u (Summary)
4783 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
4784 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
4787 @kindex T o (Summary)
4788 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
4789 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
4792 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
4793 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
4794 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
4795 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
4796 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
4797 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
4798 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
4799 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
4800 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
4801 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
4802 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
4803 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
4810 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
4811 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
4812 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
4813 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4814 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
4815 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4816 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
4817 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
4818 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
4819 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
4820 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
4821 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
4822 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
4823 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
4825 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
4826 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
4827 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
4828 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
4829 in the list. You should probably always include
4830 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
4831 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
4832 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
4833 ascending article order.
4835 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
4836 number, you could do something like:
4839 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4840 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4841 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4842 gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score))
4845 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
4846 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
4847 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
4848 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
4849 which the articles arrived.
4851 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
4855 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4857 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t2 t1)))
4858 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
4861 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
4862 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
4863 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
4864 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
4867 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
4868 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
4869 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
4870 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
4871 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
4872 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
4873 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
4874 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
4875 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
4876 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
4877 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
4878 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
4879 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
4881 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
4885 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
4886 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
4887 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
4892 @node Asynchronous Fetching
4893 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
4894 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
4895 @cindex article pre-fetch
4898 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
4899 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
4900 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
4901 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
4902 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
4904 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
4905 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
4907 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
4908 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
4909 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
4910 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
4911 connection is blocked.
4913 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
4914 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
4915 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
4916 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
4918 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
4919 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
4920 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
4921 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
4924 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
4927 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
4928 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
4929 happen automatically.
4931 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
4932 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
4933 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
4934 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
4935 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
4936 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
4937 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
4939 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
4940 @findex gnus-async-read-p
4941 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
4942 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
4943 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
4944 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
4945 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
4946 data structure as the only parameter.
4948 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
4951 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
4952 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
4953 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
4954 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
4957 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
4960 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
4961 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
4962 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
4964 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
4965 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
4966 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
4967 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
4971 Remove articles when they are read.
4974 Remove articles when exiting the group.
4977 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
4979 @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
4980 If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
4981 from the next group.
4984 @node Article Caching
4985 @section Article Caching
4986 @cindex article caching
4989 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
4990 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
4991 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
4992 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
4993 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
4995 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
4997 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
4998 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
4999 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5000 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5001 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5002 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5003 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5004 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5006 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5007 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5008 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5009 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5010 as dormant, and don't worry.
5012 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5014 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5015 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5016 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5017 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5018 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5019 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5020 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5021 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5022 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5023 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5025 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5026 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5027 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5028 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, and store them in
5029 the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this command if 1)
5030 your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really, really slow
5031 and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk. Seriously.
5033 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5034 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
5035 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5036 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5037 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
5038 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
5039 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
5042 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5043 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5044 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5045 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5046 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5047 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5048 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5049 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5050 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5054 @node Persistent Articles
5055 @section Persistent Articles
5056 @cindex persistent articles
5058 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5059 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5060 useful in my opinion.
5062 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5063 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5064 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5065 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5066 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5067 the expiry going on at the news server.
5069 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5070 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5071 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5077 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5078 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5081 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5082 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5083 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5084 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5088 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5090 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5091 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5092 interested in persistent articles:
5095 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5099 @node Article Backlog
5100 @section Article Backlog
5102 @cindex article backlog
5104 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5105 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5106 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5107 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5108 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5109 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5110 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5111 increase memory usage some.
5113 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5114 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5115 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5116 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5117 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5118 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5119 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5121 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5124 @node Saving Articles
5125 @section Saving Articles
5126 @cindex saving articles
5128 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5129 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5130 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5131 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5132 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5134 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5135 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5136 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5138 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5139 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5140 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5141 deleted before saving.
5147 @kindex O o (Summary)
5149 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5150 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5151 Save the current article using the default article saver
5152 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5155 @kindex O m (Summary)
5156 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5157 Save the current article in mail format
5158 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5161 @kindex O r (Summary)
5162 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5163 Save the current article in rmail format
5164 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5167 @kindex O f (Summary)
5168 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5169 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5170 Save the current article in plain file format
5171 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5174 @kindex O F (Summary)
5175 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5176 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5177 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5180 @kindex O b (Summary)
5181 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5182 Save the current article body in plain file format
5183 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5186 @kindex O h (Summary)
5187 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5188 Save the current article in mh folder format
5189 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5192 @kindex O v (Summary)
5193 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5194 Save the current article in a VM folder
5195 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5198 @kindex O p (Summary)
5199 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5200 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5201 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5204 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5205 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5206 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5207 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5208 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5209 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5210 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5211 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5212 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5213 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5214 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5215 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5219 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5220 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5221 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
5222 functions below, or you can create your own.
5226 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5227 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5228 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5229 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5230 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5231 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5232 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5234 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5235 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5236 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5237 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5238 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5239 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5241 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5242 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5243 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5244 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5245 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5246 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5247 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5249 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5250 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5251 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5252 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5253 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5255 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5256 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5257 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5258 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5259 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5262 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5263 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5264 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5265 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5266 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5268 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5269 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5270 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5271 reader to use this setting.
5274 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5275 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5276 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5277 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5280 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5281 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5282 available functions that generate names:
5286 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5287 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5288 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5290 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5291 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5292 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5294 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5295 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5296 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5298 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5299 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5300 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5303 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5304 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5305 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5306 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5307 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5311 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5312 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5313 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5314 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5317 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5318 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5319 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5320 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5321 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5322 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5323 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5324 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5325 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5327 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5328 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5329 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5330 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5332 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5333 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5334 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5337 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5338 lots of mail groups called things like
5339 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5340 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5341 following will do just that:
5344 (defun my-save-name (group)
5345 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5346 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5348 (setq gnus-split-methods
5349 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5354 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5355 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5356 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5357 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5358 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5359 all the files in the toplevel directory
5360 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5361 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5362 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5363 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5365 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5366 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5367 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5368 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5369 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5372 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5376 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5377 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5380 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5381 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5382 the toplevel directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5383 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5386 @node Decoding Articles
5387 @section Decoding Articles
5388 @cindex decoding articles
5390 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5391 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5394 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5395 * Shared Articles:: Unshar articles.
5396 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5397 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5398 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5399 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5402 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5403 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5404 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5405 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5406 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5408 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5409 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5410 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5412 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5413 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5414 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5416 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5417 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5418 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5421 @node Uuencoded Articles
5422 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5424 @cindex uuencoded articles
5429 @kindex X u (Summary)
5430 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5431 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5432 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5435 @kindex X U (Summary)
5436 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5437 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5438 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5441 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5442 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5443 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5446 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5447 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5448 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5449 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5453 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5454 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5455 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5456 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5457 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5459 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5460 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5461 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5462 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5465 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5466 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5467 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5468 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5469 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5470 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5474 @node Shared Articles
5475 @subsection Shared Articles
5477 @cindex shared articles
5482 @kindex X s (Summary)
5483 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5484 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5487 @kindex X S (Summary)
5488 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5489 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5492 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5493 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5494 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5497 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5498 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5499 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5500 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5504 @node PostScript Files
5505 @subsection PostScript Files
5511 @kindex X p (Summary)
5512 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5513 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5516 @kindex X P (Summary)
5517 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5518 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5519 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5522 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5523 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5524 View the current PostScript series
5525 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5528 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5529 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5530 View and save the current PostScript series
5531 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5536 @subsection Other Files
5540 @kindex X o (Summary)
5541 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5542 Save the current series
5543 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5546 @kindex X b (Summary)
5547 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5548 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5549 doesn't really work yet.
5553 @node Decoding Variables
5554 @subsection Decoding Variables
5556 Adjective, not verb.
5559 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5560 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5561 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5565 @node Rule Variables
5566 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5567 @cindex rule variables
5569 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5570 variables are of the form
5573 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5580 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5581 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5583 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5584 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5587 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5588 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5591 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5592 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5593 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5594 user and default view rules.
5596 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5597 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5598 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5603 @node Other Decode Variables
5604 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5607 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5609 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5610 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
5611 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5612 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5613 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5617 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5618 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5621 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5622 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5623 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5626 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5627 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5628 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5629 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5630 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5633 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5634 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5635 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5637 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5638 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5639 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5640 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5641 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5644 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5645 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5646 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5648 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5649 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5650 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5651 looking for files to display.
5653 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5654 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5655 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5658 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5659 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5660 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5663 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5664 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5665 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5668 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5669 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5670 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5673 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5674 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5675 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
5676 decoded articles as unread.
5678 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5679 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5680 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5681 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5683 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5684 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5686 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5687 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5688 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5689 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5691 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5692 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5693 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5694 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5695 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5696 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5697 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5698 simply dropped them.
5703 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5704 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5708 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5709 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5710 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5711 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5712 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
5713 for you when you post the article.
5715 @item gnus-uu-post-length
5716 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
5717 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
5718 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
5720 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
5721 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
5722 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
5723 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
5724 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
5725 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
5726 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
5728 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5729 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5730 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
5731 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
5732 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
5733 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
5734 Default is @code{t}.
5740 @subsection Viewing Files
5741 @cindex viewing files
5742 @cindex pseudo-articles
5744 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
5745 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
5746 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
5747 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
5748 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
5749 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
5750 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
5752 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
5753 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
5754 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
5755 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
5757 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
5758 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
5759 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
5761 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
5762 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
5763 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
5764 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
5765 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
5767 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
5768 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
5769 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
5770 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
5771 a list of parameters to that command.
5773 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
5774 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
5775 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
5777 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
5778 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
5779 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
5782 @node Article Treatment
5783 @section Article Treatment
5785 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
5786 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
5787 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
5788 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
5789 these articles easier.
5792 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
5793 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look niced.
5794 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
5795 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
5796 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
5797 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
5798 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
5802 @node Article Highlighting
5803 @subsection Article Highlighting
5806 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
5807 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
5812 @kindex W H a (Summary)
5813 @findex gnus-article-highlight
5814 Highlight the current article (@code{gnus-article-highlight}).
5817 @kindex W H h (Summary)
5818 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
5819 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
5820 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
5821 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
5822 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
5823 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
5824 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name and
5825 @var{content} is the face for highlighting the header value. The first
5826 match made will be used. Note that @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^}
5827 prepended---Gnus will add one.
5830 @kindex W H c (Summary)
5831 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
5832 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
5834 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
5837 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
5839 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
5840 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
5841 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
5843 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
5844 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
5845 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
5847 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
5848 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
5849 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
5851 @item gnus-cite-face-list
5852 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
5853 List of faces used for highlighting citations. When there are citations
5854 from multiple articles in the same message, Gnus will try to give each
5855 citation from each article its own face. This should make it easier to
5858 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
5859 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
5860 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
5862 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
5863 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
5864 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
5866 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
5867 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
5868 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
5869 that it's a citation.
5871 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
5872 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
5873 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
5875 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
5876 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
5877 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
5879 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
5880 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
5881 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
5882 cited text belonging to the attribution.
5888 @kindex W H s (Summary)
5889 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
5890 @vindex gnus-signature-face
5891 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
5892 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
5893 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
5894 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
5895 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
5901 @node Article Fontisizing
5902 @subsection Article Fontisizing
5904 @cindex article emphasis
5906 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
5907 @kindex W e (Summary)
5908 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
5909 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
5910 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
5911 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
5913 @vindex gnus-article-emphasis
5914 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
5915 @code{gnus-article-emphasis} variable. This is an alist where the first
5916 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
5917 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
5918 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
5919 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
5920 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
5924 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
5925 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
5926 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
5929 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
5930 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
5931 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
5932 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
5933 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
5934 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
5935 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
5936 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
5937 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
5938 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
5939 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
5940 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
5941 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
5943 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
5944 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
5945 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
5949 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
5953 @node Article Hiding
5954 @subsection Article Hiding
5955 @cindex article hiding
5957 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
5958 too much cruft in most articles.
5963 @kindex W W a (Summary)
5964 @findex gnus-article-hide
5965 Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}).
5968 @kindex W W h (Summary)
5969 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
5970 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
5974 @kindex W W b (Summary)
5975 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
5976 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
5977 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
5980 @kindex W W s (Summary)
5981 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
5982 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
5986 @kindex W W p (Summary)
5987 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
5988 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
5989 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
5990 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
5991 signature has been hidden.
5994 @kindex W W P (Summary)
5995 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
5996 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
5997 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6000 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6001 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6002 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6003 customizing the hiding:
6007 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6008 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6009 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6010 50), hide the cited text.
6012 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6013 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6014 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6017 @item gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6018 @vindex gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6019 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6020 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6021 by this format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6026 Start point of the hidden text.
6028 End point of the hidden text.
6030 Length of the hidden text.
6033 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6034 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6035 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6040 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6041 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6042 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6043 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6044 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6045 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6049 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6050 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6051 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6053 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6054 citation customization.
6057 @node Article Washing
6058 @subsection Article Washing
6060 @cindex article washing
6062 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6063 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6065 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6066 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6072 @kindex W l (Summary)
6073 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6074 Remove page breaks from the current article
6075 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}).
6078 @kindex W r (Summary)
6079 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6080 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6081 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6082 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6085 @kindex W t (Summary)
6086 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6087 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6088 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6091 @kindex W v (Summary)
6092 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6093 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6094 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6097 @kindex W m (Summary)
6098 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6099 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
6100 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6103 @kindex W o (Summary)
6104 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6105 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6108 @kindex W w (Summary)
6109 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6110 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6111 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6112 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6114 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6118 @kindex W c (Summary)
6119 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6120 Remove CR (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6123 @kindex W q (Summary)
6124 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6125 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6128 @kindex W f (Summary)
6130 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6131 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6132 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6133 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6136 \gnusxface{tmp/xface-karlheg.ps}
6137 \gnusxface{tmp/xface-kyle.ps}
6138 \gnusxface{tmp/xface-smb.ps}
6141 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6142 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6143 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6144 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6145 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6146 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6147 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6148 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6149 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6150 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6151 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6152 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6153 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6154 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6158 @kindex W b (Summary)
6159 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6160 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6163 @kindex W B (Summary)
6164 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6165 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6166 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6169 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6170 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6171 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6172 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6175 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6177 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6178 lines with a single empty line.
6179 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6182 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6183 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6184 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6185 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6188 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6189 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6190 Do all the three commands above
6191 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6194 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6195 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6196 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6197 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6202 @node Article Buttons
6203 @subsection Article Buttons
6206 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6207 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6208 with the minimum of fuzz.
6210 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6211 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6212 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6217 @item gnus-button-alist
6218 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6219 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6222 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6228 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6229 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6230 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6233 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6234 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6235 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6238 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6239 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6240 avoid false matches.
6243 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6246 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6247 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6251 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6254 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6257 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6258 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6259 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6260 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6261 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6264 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6267 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6269 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6270 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6271 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6272 default values of the variables above.
6274 @item gnus-article-button-face
6275 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6276 Face used on buttons.
6278 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6279 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6280 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6286 @subsection Article Date
6288 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6289 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6290 when the article was sent.
6295 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6296 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6297 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6298 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6301 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6302 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6303 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6306 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6307 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6308 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6309 @findex format-time-string
6310 Display the date using a user-defined format
6311 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6312 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6313 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6314 for a list of possible format specs.
6317 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6318 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6319 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6320 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}).
6323 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6324 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6325 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6326 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6327 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6328 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6329 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6334 @node Article Signature
6335 @subsection Article Signature
6337 @cindex article signature
6339 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6340 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6341 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6342 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6343 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6344 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6345 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6346 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6347 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6350 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6351 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6352 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6353 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6354 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6355 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6356 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6357 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6360 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6363 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6364 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6369 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6372 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6375 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6376 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6378 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6379 in question is not a signature.
6382 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6386 @node Article Commands
6387 @section Article Commands
6394 @kindex A P (Summary)
6395 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6396 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6397 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6398 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6399 run just before printing the buffer.
6404 @node Summary Sorting
6405 @section Summary Sorting
6406 @cindex summary sorting
6408 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6409 can't really see why you'd want that.
6414 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6415 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6416 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
6419 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
6420 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
6421 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
6424 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
6425 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
6426 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
6429 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
6430 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
6431 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
6434 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
6435 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
6436 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
6439 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
6440 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
6441 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
6444 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
6445 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
6446 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
6447 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
6448 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
6452 @node Finding the Parent
6453 @section Finding the Parent
6454 @cindex parent articles
6455 @cindex referring articles
6457 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
6459 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
6460 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
6461 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
6462 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
6463 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
6464 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
6465 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
6466 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
6468 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
6469 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
6470 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
6471 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
6472 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
6475 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
6476 @kindex A R (Summary)
6477 You can have Gnus fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References}
6478 header of the article by pushing @kbd{A R}
6479 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
6481 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
6482 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
6484 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
6485 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
6486 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
6487 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
6488 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
6489 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
6490 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
6492 The current select method will be used when fetching by
6493 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
6494 by giving this command a prefix.
6496 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
6497 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
6498 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
6499 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
6500 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
6501 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
6504 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
6505 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
6506 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
6507 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
6508 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
6509 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
6512 @node Alternative Approaches
6513 @section Alternative Approaches
6515 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
6516 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
6519 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
6520 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
6525 @subsection Pick and Read
6526 @cindex pick and read
6528 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
6529 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
6530 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
6531 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
6533 @findex gnus-pick-mode
6534 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
6535 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
6536 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
6537 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
6538 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
6540 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
6545 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6546 Pick the article on the current line
6547 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}). If given a numerical prefix,
6548 go to that article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
6549 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
6552 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
6553 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
6554 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
6555 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
6559 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6560 Unpick the article (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6564 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6565 Unpick all articles (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6569 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6570 Pick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6574 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6575 Unpick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6579 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6580 Pick the region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6584 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6585 Unpick the region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6589 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6590 Pick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6594 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6595 Unpick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6599 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6600 Pick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6604 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-buffer
6605 Unpick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-buffer}).
6609 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
6610 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
6611 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
6612 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
6613 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
6614 will still be visible when you are reading.
6618 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
6621 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
6624 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
6625 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
6627 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
6628 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
6629 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
6631 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
6632 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
6633 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
6634 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
6635 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
6636 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
6637 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
6641 @subsection Binary Groups
6642 @cindex binary groups
6644 @findex gnus-binary-mode
6645 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
6646 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
6647 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
6648 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
6649 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
6650 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
6653 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
6654 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
6655 command, when you have turned on this mode
6656 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
6658 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
6659 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
6663 @section Tree Display
6666 @vindex gnus-use-trees
6667 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
6668 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
6669 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
6672 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
6675 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
6676 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
6677 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
6679 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6680 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6681 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers. The default
6682 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}. For a list of valid specs, @pxref{Summary
6685 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
6686 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
6687 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
6688 default is @code{modeline}.
6690 @item gnus-tree-line-format
6691 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
6692 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
6693 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
6694 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
6695 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
6696 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
6702 The name of the poster.
6704 The @code{From} header.
6706 The number of the article.
6708 The opening bracket.
6710 The closing bracket.
6715 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6717 Variables related to the display are:
6720 @item gnus-tree-brackets
6721 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
6722 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
6723 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
6724 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
6725 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}))}.
6727 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6728 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6729 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
6730 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
6734 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
6735 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
6736 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
6737 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
6738 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
6739 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
6740 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
6741 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
6742 other windows displayed next to it.
6744 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
6745 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
6746 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
6747 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
6748 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
6749 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
6750 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
6754 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
6757 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
6767 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
6771 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
6772 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
6774 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
6776 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
6781 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
6782 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
6783 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
6786 (setq gnus-use-trees t
6787 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
6788 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
6789 (gnus-add-configuration
6793 (summary 0.75 point)
6798 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
6801 @node Mail Group Commands
6802 @section Mail Group Commands
6803 @cindex mail group commands
6805 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
6806 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
6808 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
6809 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6814 @kindex B e (Summary)
6815 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
6816 Expire all expirable articles in the group
6817 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
6820 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
6821 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
6822 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
6823 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
6824 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
6825 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
6828 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
6829 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
6830 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
6831 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
6832 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
6833 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
6836 @kindex B m (Summary)
6838 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
6839 Move the article from one mail group to another
6840 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
6843 @kindex B c (Summary)
6845 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
6846 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
6847 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
6848 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
6851 @kindex B C (Summary)
6852 @cindex crosspost mail
6853 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
6854 Crosspost the current article to some other group
6855 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
6856 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
6857 be properly updated.
6860 @kindex B i (Summary)
6861 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
6862 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
6863 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
6864 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
6867 @kindex B r (Summary)
6868 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
6869 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
6870 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
6871 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
6872 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
6876 @kindex B w (Summary)
6878 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
6879 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
6880 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
6881 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
6882 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}).
6885 @kindex B q (Summary)
6886 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
6887 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
6888 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
6889 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
6892 @kindex B p (Summary)
6893 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
6894 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
6895 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
6896 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
6897 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
6898 article from your news server (or rather, from
6899 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
6900 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
6901 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
6902 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
6903 just not have arrived yet.
6907 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
6908 @cindex moving articles
6909 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
6910 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
6911 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
6912 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
6913 suggestions you find reasonable.
6916 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
6917 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
6918 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
6919 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
6923 @node Various Summary Stuff
6924 @section Various Summary Stuff
6927 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
6928 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
6929 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
6930 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
6934 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
6935 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
6936 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
6938 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
6939 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
6940 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
6941 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
6942 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
6943 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
6946 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
6947 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
6948 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
6949 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
6950 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
6952 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
6953 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
6954 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
6955 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
6956 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
6957 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
6958 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
6959 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
6960 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
6961 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
6966 @node Summary Group Information
6967 @subsection Summary Group Information
6972 @kindex H f (Summary)
6973 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
6974 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
6975 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
6976 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
6977 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
6978 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
6979 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
6980 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
6981 be used for fetching the file.
6984 @kindex H d (Summary)
6985 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
6986 Give a brief description of the current group
6987 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
6988 rereading the description from the server.
6991 @kindex H h (Summary)
6992 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
6993 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
6994 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
6997 @kindex H i (Summary)
6998 @findex gnus-info-find-node
6999 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7003 @node Searching for Articles
7004 @subsection Searching for Articles
7009 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7010 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7011 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7012 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7015 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7016 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7017 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7018 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7022 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7023 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7024 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7025 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7029 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7030 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7031 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7032 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7035 @node Summary Generation Commands
7036 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7041 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7042 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7043 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7046 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7047 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7048 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7049 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7054 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7055 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7060 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7061 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7062 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7063 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7064 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7065 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7066 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7067 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7068 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7072 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7073 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7074 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7075 several documents into one biiig group
7076 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7077 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7078 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7079 command understands the process/prefix convention
7080 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7083 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7084 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7085 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7086 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7087 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7088 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7092 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7093 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7094 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7099 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7100 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7101 @cindex summary exit
7102 @cindex exiting groups
7104 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7105 group and return you to the group buffer.
7111 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7113 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7114 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7115 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7116 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7117 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7118 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7119 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7120 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7121 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7122 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7123 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7127 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7129 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7130 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7131 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7135 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7137 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7138 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7139 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7140 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7143 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7144 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7145 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7146 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7149 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7150 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7151 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7152 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7155 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7156 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7157 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7158 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7159 all articles, both read and unread.
7163 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7164 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7165 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7166 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7167 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7168 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7169 articles, both read and unread.
7172 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7173 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7174 Exit the group and go to the next group
7175 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7178 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7179 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7180 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7181 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7184 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7185 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7186 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7187 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7188 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7189 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7192 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7193 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7196 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7197 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7198 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7199 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7200 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7201 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7202 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7203 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7204 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7205 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7206 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7207 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7209 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7211 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7212 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7213 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7214 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7215 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7216 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7217 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7218 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7219 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7222 @node Crosspost Handling
7223 @section Crosspost Handling
7227 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7228 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7229 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7230 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7231 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7232 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7235 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7236 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7237 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7238 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7239 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7241 @cindex cross-posting
7244 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7245 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7246 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7247 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7248 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7249 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7250 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7251 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7252 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7253 the cross reference mechanism.
7255 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7256 @cindex overview.fmt
7257 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7258 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7259 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7260 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7261 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7262 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7265 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7266 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7267 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7272 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7275 @node Duplicate Suppression
7276 @section Duplicate Suppression
7278 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7279 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7280 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7281 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7286 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7287 is evil and not very common.
7290 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7291 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7294 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7295 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7298 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7301 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7302 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7304 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7305 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7306 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7307 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7308 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7309 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7310 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7313 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7314 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7315 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7316 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7317 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7321 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7322 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7323 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7325 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7326 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7327 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7328 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7329 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7330 session are suppressed.
7332 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7333 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7334 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7335 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7337 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7338 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7339 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7340 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7343 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7344 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7345 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7346 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7347 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7348 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7349 to you to figure out, I think.
7352 @node The Article Buffer
7353 @chapter The Article Buffer
7354 @cindex article buffer
7356 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7357 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7358 tell Gnus otherwise.
7361 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7362 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7363 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7364 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7365 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7369 @node Hiding Headers
7370 @section Hiding Headers
7371 @cindex hiding headers
7372 @cindex deleting headers
7374 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7375 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7377 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7378 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7379 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7380 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7381 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7382 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7383 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7384 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7385 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7387 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7391 @item gnus-visible-headers
7392 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7393 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7394 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7395 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7397 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7398 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7401 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
7404 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7407 @item gnus-ignored-headers
7408 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
7409 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
7410 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
7411 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
7412 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
7414 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
7415 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
7418 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
7421 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7424 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
7425 variable will have no effect.
7429 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
7430 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
7431 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
7432 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
7433 the headers are to be displayed.
7435 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
7436 and then the subject, you might say something like:
7439 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
7442 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
7443 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
7445 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7446 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7447 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
7448 You can hide further boring headers by entering
7449 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
7450 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
7451 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
7452 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
7453 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
7455 These conditions are:
7458 Remove all empty headers.
7460 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
7463 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
7464 @code{Newsgroups} header.
7466 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
7469 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
7473 To include the four first elements, you could say something like;
7476 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
7477 '(empty newsgroups followup-to reply-to))
7480 This is also the default value for this variable.
7484 @section Using @sc{mime}
7487 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
7488 while people stand around yawning.
7490 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
7491 while all newsreaders die of fear.
7493 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
7494 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
7495 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
7497 @vindex gnus-show-mime
7498 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
7499 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
7500 @findex metamail-buffer
7501 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
7502 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
7503 default. Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
7504 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
7505 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
7506 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
7507 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
7508 buffer. These can't be avoided.
7510 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
7511 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
7512 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
7513 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
7514 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
7515 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
7516 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
7517 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
7518 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
7520 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
7523 @node Customizing Articles
7524 @section Customizing Articles
7525 @cindex article customization
7527 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7528 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
7529 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
7530 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
7532 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7533 By default this hook just contains @code{gnus-article-hide-headers},
7534 @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}, and
7535 @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight}, but there are thousands, nay
7536 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
7537 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
7538 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
7539 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
7540 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
7542 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
7543 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
7544 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
7545 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
7546 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
7549 @node Article Keymap
7550 @section Article Keymap
7552 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
7553 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
7554 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
7555 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
7558 A few additional keystrokes are available:
7563 @kindex SPACE (Article)
7564 @findex gnus-article-next-page
7565 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
7568 @kindex DEL (Article)
7569 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
7570 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
7573 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
7574 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
7575 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
7576 @kbd{r}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
7577 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
7580 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
7581 @findex gnus-article-mail
7582 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
7583 given a prefix, include the mail.
7587 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
7588 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
7589 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
7593 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
7594 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
7595 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
7598 @kindex TAB (Article)
7599 @findex gnus-article-next-button
7600 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
7601 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
7604 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
7605 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
7606 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
7612 @section Misc Article
7616 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
7617 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
7618 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
7619 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
7622 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
7623 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
7624 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
7625 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
7626 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
7627 the contents of the article buffer.
7629 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7630 @item gnus-article-display-hook
7631 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
7632 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
7633 hiding headers, and the like.
7635 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
7636 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
7637 Hook called in article mode buffers.
7639 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7640 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7641 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
7642 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
7644 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
7645 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
7646 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
7647 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. It accepts the same
7648 format specifications as that variable, with one extension:
7652 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
7653 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
7657 @vindex gnus-break-pages
7659 @item gnus-break-pages
7660 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
7661 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
7662 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
7663 paging will not be done.
7665 @item gnus-page-delimiter
7666 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
7667 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
7672 @node Composing Messages
7673 @chapter Composing Messages
7678 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
7679 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
7680 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
7681 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
7682 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
7683 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
7684 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
7687 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
7688 * Post:: Posting and following up.
7689 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
7690 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
7691 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
7692 @c * Posting Styles:: An easier way to configure some key elements.
7693 @c * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
7694 @c * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
7697 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
7698 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
7704 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
7707 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
7708 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
7709 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
7710 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
7712 @item gnus-add-to-list
7713 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
7714 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
7715 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
7723 Variables for composing news articles:
7726 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7727 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7728 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
7729 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
7730 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
7731 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
7732 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
7733 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
7734 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
7737 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7738 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7739 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
7740 file. It is 1000 by default.
7745 @node Posting Server
7746 @section Posting Server
7748 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
7749 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
7751 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
7753 @vindex gnus-post-method
7755 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
7756 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
7757 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
7758 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
7759 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
7762 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
7765 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
7766 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
7767 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
7768 the ``current'' server for posting.
7770 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
7771 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
7773 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
7774 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
7779 @section Mail and Post
7781 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
7785 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
7786 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
7787 @cindex mailing lists
7789 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
7790 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
7791 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
7792 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
7793 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
7794 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
7795 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
7796 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
7797 still a pain, though.
7801 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
7802 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
7803 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
7806 @findex ispell-message
7808 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
7812 @node Archived Messages
7813 @section Archived Messages
7814 @cindex archived messages
7815 @cindex sent messages
7817 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
7818 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
7819 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
7820 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
7823 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
7824 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
7825 use to store sent messages. The default is:
7829 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive/"))
7832 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
7833 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
7834 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
7835 directory chosen, you could say something like:
7838 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
7839 '(nnfolder "archive"
7840 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
7841 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
7842 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
7845 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
7847 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
7848 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
7849 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
7851 This variable can be used to do the following:
7855 Messages will be saved in that group.
7856 @item a list of strings
7857 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
7858 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
7859 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
7861 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
7866 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
7868 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
7871 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
7873 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
7876 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
7878 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7879 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
7880 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
7881 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
7886 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7887 '((if (message-news-p)
7892 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
7893 messages in one file per month:
7896 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7897 '((if (message-news-p)
7899 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
7900 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
7903 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
7904 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
7906 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
7907 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
7908 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
7909 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
7910 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
7911 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
7912 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
7913 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
7914 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
7915 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
7917 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
7918 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
7919 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
7920 this will disable archiving.
7923 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
7924 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
7925 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
7926 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
7927 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
7930 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
7931 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
7932 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
7935 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
7936 but the latter is the preferred method.
7940 @c @node Posting Styles
7941 @c @section Posting Styles
7942 @c @cindex posting styles
7945 @c All them variables, they make my head swim.
7947 @c So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
7948 @c on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
7949 @c and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
7952 @c @vindex gnus-posting-styles
7953 @c One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
7954 @c variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
7955 @c came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
7956 @c a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
7961 @c (signature . "Peace and happiness")
7962 @c (organization . "What me?"))
7964 @c (signature . "Death to everybody"))
7965 @c ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
7966 @c (organization . "Emacs is it")))
7969 @c As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
7970 @c @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
7971 @c ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
7972 @c over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
7973 @c applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
7974 @c the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
7975 @c @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
7976 @c signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
7978 @c The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
7979 @c string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
7980 @c If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
7981 @c arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
7982 @c referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
7983 @c any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
7986 @c Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
7987 @c attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
7988 @c can be one of @code{signature}, @code{organization} or @code{from}. The
7989 @c attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
7990 @c a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
7993 @c The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
7994 @c return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
7995 @c list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
7997 @c So here's a new example:
8000 @c (setq gnus-posting-styles
8002 @c (signature . "~/.signature")
8003 @c (from . "user@@foo (user)")
8004 @c ("X-Home-Page" . (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8005 @c (organization . "People's Front Against MWM"))
8007 @c (signature . my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8008 @c ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8009 @c (signature . my-quote-randomizer))
8010 @c (posting-from-work-p
8011 @c (signature . "~/.work-signature")
8012 @c (from . "user@@bar.foo (user)")
8013 @c (organization . "Important Work, Inc"))
8015 @c (signature . "~/.mail-signature"))))
8022 @c If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8023 @c you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8024 @c craazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save the
8025 @c message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some other
8026 @c day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8028 @c Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8029 @c some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8030 @c automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8031 @c If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8032 @c article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8036 @c @vindex gnus-draft-group-directory
8037 @c The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8038 @c @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8039 @c @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{gnus-draft-group-directory}
8040 @c controls both the name of the group and the location---the leaf element
8041 @c in the path will be used as the name of the group. What makes this
8042 @c group special is that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any
8043 @c articles as read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8045 @c If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8048 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8049 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8050 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8051 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8052 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8053 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8054 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8055 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8056 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8057 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8058 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8059 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8060 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8061 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8063 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8064 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8065 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8067 @c @findex gnus-summary-send-draft
8068 @c @kindex S D c (Summary)
8069 @c When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8070 @c draft group and push @kbd{S D c} (@code{gnus-summary-send-draft}) to do
8071 @c that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8073 @c Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8076 @c @findex gnus-summary-send-all-drafts
8077 @c If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8078 @c doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{S D a} command
8079 @c (@code{gnus-summary-send-all-drafts}). This command understands the
8080 @c process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8083 @c @node Rejected Articles
8084 @c @section Rejected Articles
8085 @c @cindex rejected articles
8087 @c Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8088 @c doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8089 @c @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8090 @c Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8092 @c These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8093 @c (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8094 @c fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8095 @c you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8096 @c articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8098 @c The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8099 @c (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8100 @c typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8103 @node Select Methods
8104 @chapter Select Methods
8105 @cindex foreign groups
8106 @cindex select methods
8108 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8109 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8110 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8111 personal mail group.
8113 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8114 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8115 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8116 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8117 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8118 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8120 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8121 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8123 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8126 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8127 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8128 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8129 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8130 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8132 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8135 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8136 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8137 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8138 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8139 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8143 @node The Server Buffer
8144 @section The Server Buffer
8146 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8147 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8148 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8149 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8150 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8151 backend represents a virtual server.
8153 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8154 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8155 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8156 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8158 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8159 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8160 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8161 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8162 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8163 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8164 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8166 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8167 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8170 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8171 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8172 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8173 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8174 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8175 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8176 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8179 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8180 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8183 @node Server Buffer Format
8184 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8185 @cindex server buffer format
8187 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8188 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8189 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8190 variable, with some simple extensions:
8195 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8198 The name of this server.
8201 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8204 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8207 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8208 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8209 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable. The following specs are
8220 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8223 @node Server Commands
8224 @subsection Server Commands
8225 @cindex server commands
8231 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8232 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8236 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8237 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8240 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8241 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8242 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8246 @findex gnus-server-exit
8247 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8251 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8252 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8256 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8257 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8261 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8262 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8266 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8267 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8271 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8272 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8273 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8278 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8279 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8280 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8281 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8286 @node Example Methods
8287 @subsection Example Methods
8289 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8292 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
8295 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8301 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8302 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8305 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
8306 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8308 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8309 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
8313 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8316 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8317 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
8319 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8320 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8321 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8325 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
8328 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
8331 Here's the method for a public spool:
8335 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
8336 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
8339 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
8340 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
8341 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
8342 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
8343 should probably look something like this:
8347 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
8348 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8349 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8350 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8351 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
8356 @node Creating a Virtual Server
8357 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
8359 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
8360 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
8362 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
8363 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
8364 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
8366 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
8368 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
8369 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
8370 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
8371 will contain the following:
8381 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
8382 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
8383 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
8386 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
8387 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
8388 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
8391 @node Server Variables
8392 @subsection Server Variables
8394 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
8395 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
8396 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
8397 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
8398 won't change the "derived" variables.
8400 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
8401 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
8402 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
8403 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
8404 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
8405 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
8406 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
8407 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
8408 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
8412 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
8413 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
8414 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
8418 @node Servers and Methods
8419 @subsection Servers and Methods
8421 Wherever you would normally use a select method
8422 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
8423 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
8424 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
8428 @node Unavailable Servers
8429 @subsection Unavailable Servers
8431 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
8432 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
8433 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
8434 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
8435 actually the case or not.
8437 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
8438 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
8439 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
8440 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
8441 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
8442 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
8443 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
8444 it will regard that server as ``down''.
8446 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
8447 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
8449 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
8450 with the following commands:
8456 @findex gnus-server-open-server
8457 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
8458 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
8462 @findex gnus-server-close-server
8463 Close the connection (if any) to the server
8464 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
8468 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
8469 Mark the current server as unreachable
8470 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
8473 @kindex M-o (Server)
8474 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
8475 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
8476 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
8479 @kindex M-c (Server)
8480 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
8481 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
8482 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
8486 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
8487 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
8488 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
8494 @section Getting News
8495 @cindex reading news
8496 @cindex news backends
8498 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
8499 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
8500 or it can read from a local spool.
8503 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
8504 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
8509 @subsection @sc{nntp}
8512 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
8513 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
8514 server as the, uhm, address.
8516 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
8517 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
8518 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
8519 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8521 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
8522 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
8523 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
8525 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
8530 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
8531 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
8532 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
8534 @cindex authentification
8535 @cindex nntp authentification
8536 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8537 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
8538 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
8539 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
8540 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
8541 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
8542 present in this hook.
8544 @item nntp-authinfo-function
8545 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
8546 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
8547 server. Available functions include:
8550 @item nntp-send-authinfo
8551 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8552 This function will use your current login name as the user name and will
8553 prompt you for the password. This is the default.
8555 @item nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8556 @findex nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8557 This function will prompt you for both user name and password.
8559 @item nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8560 @findex nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8561 This function will use your current login name as the user name and will
8562 read the @sc{nntp} password from @file{~/.nntp-authinfo}.
8565 @item nntp-server-action-alist
8566 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
8567 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
8568 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
8569 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
8572 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
8576 You probably don't want to do that, though.
8578 The default value is
8581 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
8582 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
8585 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
8586 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
8588 @item nntp-maximum-request
8589 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
8590 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
8591 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
8592 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
8593 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
8594 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
8595 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
8597 @item nntp-connection-timeout
8598 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
8599 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
8600 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
8601 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
8602 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
8603 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
8604 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
8605 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
8606 no timeouts are done.
8608 @item nntp-command-timeout
8609 @vindex nntp-command-timeout
8610 @cindex PPP connections
8611 @cindex dynamic IP addresses
8612 If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
8613 address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
8614 changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
8615 waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
8616 unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
8617 then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
8618 number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
8619 the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
8620 likely number is 30 seconds.
8622 @item nntp-retry-on-break
8623 @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
8624 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
8625 hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
8628 @item nntp-server-hook
8629 @vindex nntp-server-hook
8630 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
8633 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
8634 @findex nntp-open-telnet
8635 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
8636 @item nntp-open-connection-function
8637 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
8638 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Three pre-made
8639 functions are @code{nntp-open-network-stream}, which is the default, and
8640 simply connects to some port or other on the remote system. The other
8641 two are @code{nntp-open-rlogin}, which does an @samp{rlogin} on the
8642 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
8643 available there, and @code{nntp-open-telnet}, which does a @samp{telnet}
8644 to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet} to get to the
8647 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
8651 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
8652 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
8653 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
8655 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
8656 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
8657 User name on the remote system.
8661 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
8664 @item nntp-telnet-command
8665 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
8666 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
8668 @item nntp-telnet-switches
8669 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
8670 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
8672 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
8673 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
8674 User name for log in on the remote system.
8676 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
8677 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
8678 Password to use when logging in.
8680 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
8681 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
8682 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
8687 @item nntp-end-of-line
8688 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
8689 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
8690 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
8691 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
8693 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
8694 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
8695 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
8699 @vindex nntp-address
8700 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
8702 @item nntp-port-number
8703 @vindex nntp-port-number
8704 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
8707 @item nntp-buggy-select
8708 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
8709 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
8711 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
8712 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
8713 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
8714 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
8717 @item nntp-xover-commands
8718 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
8721 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
8722 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
8726 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
8727 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
8728 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
8729 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
8730 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
8731 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
8732 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
8733 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
8734 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
8735 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
8736 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
8738 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
8739 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
8740 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
8742 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
8743 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
8744 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
8745 server closes connection.
8751 @subsection News Spool
8755 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
8756 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
8757 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
8760 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @samp{} (or
8761 anything else) as the address.
8763 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
8764 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
8765 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
8766 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
8770 @item nnspool-inews-program
8771 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
8772 Program used to post an article.
8774 @item nnspool-inews-switches
8775 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
8776 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
8778 @item nnspool-spool-directory
8779 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
8780 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
8781 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
8783 @item nnspool-nov-directory
8784 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
8785 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
8786 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
8788 @item nnspool-lib-dir
8789 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
8790 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
8792 @item nnspool-active-file
8793 @vindex nnspool-active-file
8794 The path to the active file.
8796 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
8797 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
8798 The path to the group descriptions file.
8800 @item nnspool-history-file
8801 @vindex nnspool-history-file
8802 The path to the news history file.
8804 @item nnspool-active-times-file
8805 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
8806 The path to the active date file.
8808 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
8809 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
8810 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
8813 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
8814 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
8816 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
8817 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
8818 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
8824 @section Getting Mail
8825 @cindex reading mail
8828 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
8832 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
8833 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
8834 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
8835 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
8836 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
8837 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
8838 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
8839 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
8840 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
8841 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
8842 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
8846 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
8847 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
8849 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
8850 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
8851 and things will happen automatically.
8853 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
8854 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
8857 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
8858 '((nnml "private")))
8861 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
8862 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
8863 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
8864 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
8865 like any other group.
8867 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
8870 (setq nnmail-split-methods
8871 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
8872 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
8876 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
8877 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
8878 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
8881 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
8882 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
8883 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
8886 @node Splitting Mail
8887 @subsection Splitting Mail
8888 @cindex splitting mail
8889 @cindex mail splitting
8891 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
8892 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
8893 to be split into groups.
8896 (setq nnmail-split-methods
8897 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
8898 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
8902 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
8903 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
8904 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
8905 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
8906 determine if it belongs in this mail group.
8908 If the first element is the special symbol @code{junk}, then messages
8909 that match the regexp will disappear into the aether. Use with
8912 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
8913 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
8914 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
8915 mail belongs in that group.
8917 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
8918 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
8919 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
8920 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
8921 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
8922 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
8924 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
8925 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
8926 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
8927 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
8928 thinks should carry this mail message.
8930 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
8931 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
8932 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
8933 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
8935 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
8936 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
8937 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
8938 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
8939 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
8941 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
8944 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
8945 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
8946 links. If that's the case for you, set
8947 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
8948 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
8950 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
8951 @kindex nnmail-split-history
8952 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
8953 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
8955 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
8956 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
8957 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
8958 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
8959 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
8960 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
8961 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
8962 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
8966 @node Mail Backend Variables
8967 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
8969 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
8973 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
8974 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
8975 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
8976 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
8978 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
8979 @item nnmail-spool-file
8983 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
8984 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
8985 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
8986 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
8987 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
8988 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
8989 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
8990 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
8991 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
8992 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
8993 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
8994 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
8995 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
8996 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
8997 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
8999 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9001 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9002 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9005 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9006 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9007 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9008 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9009 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9010 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9012 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9013 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9014 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9015 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9016 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9017 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9018 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9021 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9022 @item nnmail-crash-box
9023 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9024 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9025 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9028 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9029 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9030 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
9031 used for, well, anything, really.
9033 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9034 @item nnmail-split-hook
9035 @findex article-decode-rfc1522
9036 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9037 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9038 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9039 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9040 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9041 in the buffer will show up in any files. @code{gnus-article-decode-rfc1522}
9042 is one likely function to add to this hook.
9044 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9045 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9046 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9047 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9048 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9049 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9050 starting to handle the new mail) and
9051 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9052 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9053 default file modes the new mail files get:
9056 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9057 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9059 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9060 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9063 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9064 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9065 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9066 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9067 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9068 it will be used instead.
9070 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9071 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9072 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9073 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9075 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9076 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9079 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9080 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9081 @cindex incoming mail files
9082 @cindex deleting incoming files
9083 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9084 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9087 @c This is @code{nil} by
9088 @c default for reasons of security.
9090 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9091 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9092 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9093 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9094 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9097 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9099 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9100 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9101 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9102 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9103 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9104 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9105 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9107 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9108 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9110 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9112 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9113 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9114 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9115 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9116 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9121 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9122 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9123 @cindex mail splitting
9124 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9126 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9127 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9128 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9129 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9130 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9131 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9133 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9136 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9137 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9138 ;; from real errors.
9139 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9141 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9142 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9143 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9144 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9145 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9146 ;; Other mailing lists...
9147 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9148 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9150 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9151 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9155 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9156 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9157 the five possible split syntaxes:
9162 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name.
9165 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9166 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9167 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9170 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9171 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9172 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9173 be stored in one or more groups.
9176 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9177 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9180 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9181 this message anywhere.
9184 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9185 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
9186 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
9191 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
9192 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
9193 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
9194 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
9195 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
9197 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
9198 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
9199 are expanded as specified by the variable
9200 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
9201 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
9204 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
9205 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
9206 when all this splitting is performed.
9208 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
9209 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
9210 substitions in the group names), you can say things like:
9213 (any "debian-\(\\w*\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
9216 @node Mail and Procmail
9217 @subsection Mail and Procmail
9222 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
9223 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
9224 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
9225 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
9226 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
9228 This also means that you probably don't want to set
9229 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
9232 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
9233 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
9234 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
9235 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
9236 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
9237 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
9239 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
9242 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
9244 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
9245 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
9247 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
9248 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
9249 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
9250 to include all your mail groups.
9252 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
9253 method will be created automatically.
9255 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9256 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
9257 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
9258 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
9259 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
9260 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
9261 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
9262 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
9264 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
9265 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
9266 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
9267 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
9268 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
9270 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9271 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
9272 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
9273 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
9274 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
9275 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
9277 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
9278 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
9279 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
9280 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
9281 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
9284 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
9285 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
9286 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
9287 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
9288 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
9292 @node Incorporating Old Mail
9293 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
9295 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
9296 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
9297 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
9300 Doing so can be quite easy.
9302 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
9303 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
9304 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
9305 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
9306 your @code{nnml} groups.
9312 Go to the group buffer.
9315 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
9316 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9319 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
9322 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
9323 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
9326 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
9327 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
9330 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
9331 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
9332 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
9333 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
9334 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
9336 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
9337 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
9338 using the new mail backend.
9342 @subsection Expiring Mail
9343 @cindex article expiry
9345 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
9346 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
9347 different approach to mail reading.
9349 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
9350 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
9351 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
9352 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
9353 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
9354 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
9357 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
9358 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
9359 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
9360 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
9361 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
9362 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
9363 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
9364 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
9366 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9367 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
9368 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
9369 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
9370 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
9371 column in the summary buffer.
9373 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
9374 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
9375 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
9376 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
9379 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
9381 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
9382 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
9383 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
9386 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
9387 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
9388 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
9389 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
9390 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
9392 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
9393 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
9396 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9397 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
9400 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
9401 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
9403 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
9404 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
9405 don't really mix very well.
9407 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
9408 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
9409 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
9410 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
9413 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
9414 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
9415 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
9416 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
9419 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9421 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9423 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
9425 ((string= group "mail.junk")
9427 ((string= group "important")
9433 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
9434 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
9436 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
9437 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
9438 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
9441 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
9442 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9444 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9445 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
9446 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
9447 easier for procmail users.
9449 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
9450 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
9451 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
9452 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
9453 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
9454 caution. Even more dangerous is the
9455 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
9456 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
9457 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
9458 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
9459 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
9460 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
9461 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
9464 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
9468 @subsection Washing Mail
9469 @cindex mail washing
9470 @cindex list server brain damage
9471 @cindex incoming mail treatment
9473 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
9474 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
9475 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
9476 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
9477 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
9478 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
9480 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
9481 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
9482 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
9485 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
9486 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
9487 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
9488 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
9491 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9492 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9493 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
9494 grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include:
9497 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9498 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9499 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
9500 Emacs running on MS machines.
9504 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9505 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9506 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
9507 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
9510 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9511 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9512 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
9513 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
9515 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9516 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9517 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
9518 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
9519 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
9520 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
9521 also be a list of regexp.
9523 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
9524 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
9527 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
9528 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
9531 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
9532 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
9533 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
9537 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9538 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9539 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
9543 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
9544 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
9545 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
9552 @subsection Duplicates
9554 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
9555 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
9556 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
9557 @cindex duplicate mails
9558 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
9559 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
9560 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
9561 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
9562 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
9563 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
9564 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
9565 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
9566 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
9567 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
9568 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
9569 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
9570 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
9572 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
9573 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
9574 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
9575 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
9577 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
9580 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
9581 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
9585 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
9586 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
9587 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
9588 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
9589 (any mail "mail.misc")
9596 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9597 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
9602 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
9603 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
9604 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
9605 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
9606 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
9609 @node Not Reading Mail
9610 @subsection Not Reading Mail
9612 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
9613 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
9614 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
9616 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
9617 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
9619 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9620 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9621 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
9622 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
9623 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
9624 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
9625 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
9626 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
9627 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
9628 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
9629 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
9631 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
9632 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
9636 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
9637 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
9639 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
9640 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
9641 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
9644 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
9645 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
9646 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
9647 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
9648 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
9653 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
9655 @cindex unix mail box
9657 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9658 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9659 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
9660 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
9661 which group it belongs in.
9663 Virtual server settings:
9666 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
9667 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9668 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
9670 @item nnmbox-active-file
9671 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9672 The name of the active file for the mail box.
9674 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
9675 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9676 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
9682 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
9686 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9687 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9688 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
9689 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
9690 article to say which group it belongs in.
9692 Virtual server settings:
9695 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
9696 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9697 The name of the rmail mbox file.
9699 @item nnbabyl-active-file
9700 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9701 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
9703 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9704 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9705 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
9710 @subsubsection Mail Spool
9712 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
9714 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
9715 format. It should be used with some caution.
9717 @vindex nnml-directory
9718 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
9719 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
9720 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
9721 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
9723 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
9726 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
9727 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
9728 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
9729 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
9730 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
9731 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
9732 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
9733 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
9735 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
9736 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
9737 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
9738 backend when it comes to reading mail.
9740 Virtual server settings:
9743 @item nnml-directory
9744 @vindex nnml-directory
9745 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
9747 @item nnml-active-file
9748 @vindex nnml-active-file
9749 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
9751 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
9752 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
9753 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
9756 @item nnml-get-new-mail
9757 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
9758 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
9760 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
9761 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
9762 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
9764 @item nnml-nov-file-name
9765 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
9766 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
9768 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
9769 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
9770 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
9774 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
9775 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
9776 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
9777 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
9778 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
9779 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
9780 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
9785 @subsubsection MH Spool
9787 @cindex mh-e mail spool
9789 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
9790 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
9791 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
9792 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
9794 Virtual server settings:
9797 @item nnmh-directory
9798 @vindex nnmh-directory
9799 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
9801 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
9802 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
9803 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
9806 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
9807 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
9808 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
9809 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
9810 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
9811 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
9812 to set this variable to @code{t}.
9817 @subsubsection Mail Folders
9819 @cindex mbox folders
9820 @cindex mail folders
9822 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
9823 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
9824 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
9827 Virtual server settings:
9830 @item nnfolder-directory
9831 @vindex nnfolder-directory
9832 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
9834 @item nnfolder-active-file
9835 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
9836 The name of the active file.
9838 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
9839 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
9840 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
9842 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
9843 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
9844 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
9847 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
9848 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
9849 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
9850 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
9851 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
9852 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
9856 @section Other Sources
9858 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
9859 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
9863 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
9864 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
9865 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
9866 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
9867 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
9868 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
9872 @node Directory Groups
9873 @subsection Directory Groups
9875 @cindex directory groups
9877 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
9878 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
9881 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
9882 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
9883 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
9884 backend to read directories. Big deal.
9886 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
9887 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
9888 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
9889 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
9890 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
9892 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
9894 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
9895 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
9896 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
9897 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
9900 @node Anything Groups
9901 @subsection Anything Groups
9904 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
9905 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
9906 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
9909 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
9910 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
9911 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
9912 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
9913 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
9914 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
9915 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
9916 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
9917 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
9918 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
9921 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
9922 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
9923 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
9924 in the article buffer, just as usual.
9926 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
9927 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
9928 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
9929 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
9931 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
9932 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
9933 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
9934 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
9935 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
9936 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
9937 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
9938 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
9943 @item nneething-map-file-directory
9944 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
9945 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
9946 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
9948 @item nneething-exclude-files
9949 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
9950 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
9951 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
9953 @item nneething-map-file
9954 @vindex nneething-map-file
9955 Name of the map files.
9959 @node Document Groups
9960 @subsection Document Groups
9962 @cindex documentation group
9965 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
9966 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
9973 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
9978 The standard Unix mbox file.
9980 @cindex MMDF mail box
9982 The MMDF mail box format.
9985 Several news articles appended into a file.
9988 @cindex rnews batch files
9989 The rnews batch transport format.
9990 @cindex forwarded messages
9999 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10000 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10001 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10003 @item standard-digest
10004 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10007 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10010 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10011 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10012 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10015 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10016 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10017 group. And that's it.
10019 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10020 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10021 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10022 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10023 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10024 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10025 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10026 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10027 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10028 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10030 Virtual server variables:
10033 @item nndoc-article-type
10034 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10035 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10036 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10037 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-digest}, @code{standard-digest},
10038 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or @code{guess}.
10040 @item nndoc-post-type
10041 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10042 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10043 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10048 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10052 @node Document Server Internals
10053 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10055 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10056 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10057 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10058 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10060 First, here's an example document type definition:
10064 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10065 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10068 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10069 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10070 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10071 types can be defined with very few settings:
10074 @item first-article
10075 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10076 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10079 @item article-begin
10080 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10081 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10083 @item head-begin-function
10084 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10087 @item nndoc-head-begin
10088 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10091 @item nndoc-head-end
10092 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10093 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10095 @item body-begin-function
10096 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10100 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10103 @item body-end-function
10104 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10108 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10111 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10112 regexp will be totally ignored.
10116 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10117 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10118 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10119 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10120 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10123 @item prepare-body-function
10124 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10125 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10126 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10128 @item article-transform-function
10129 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
10130 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
10131 body of the article.
10133 @item generate-head-function
10134 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
10135 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
10136 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
10137 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
10141 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
10146 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10147 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10148 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
10149 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
10150 (head-end . "^ ?$")
10151 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
10152 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
10153 (subtype digest guess))
10156 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
10157 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
10158 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
10159 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
10160 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
10162 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
10163 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
10164 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
10165 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
10166 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
10167 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
10168 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
10169 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
10170 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
10171 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
10179 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
10180 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
10181 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
10183 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
10184 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
10185 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
10188 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
10189 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
10190 that interested in doing things properly.
10192 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
10193 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
10196 First some terminology:
10201 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
10202 get news and/or mail from.
10205 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
10206 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
10209 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
10213 @item message packets
10214 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
10215 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
10216 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10218 @item response packets
10219 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
10220 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
10221 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10231 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
10232 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
10233 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
10234 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
10237 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
10240 You put the packet in your home directory.
10243 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
10244 the native or secondary server.
10247 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
10248 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
10251 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
10255 You transfer this packet to the server.
10258 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
10261 You then repeat until you die.
10265 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
10266 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
10269 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
10270 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
10271 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
10275 @node SOUP Commands
10276 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
10278 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
10282 @kindex G s b (Group)
10283 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
10284 Pack all unread articles in the current group
10285 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
10286 process/prefix convention.
10289 @kindex G s w (Group)
10290 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
10291 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
10294 @kindex G s s (Group)
10295 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
10296 Send all replies from the replies packet
10297 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
10300 @kindex G s p (Group)
10301 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
10302 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
10305 @kindex G s r (Group)
10306 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
10307 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
10310 @kindex O s (Summary)
10311 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
10312 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
10313 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
10314 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10319 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
10324 @item gnus-soup-directory
10325 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
10326 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
10327 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
10329 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
10330 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
10331 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
10332 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
10334 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
10335 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
10336 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
10337 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
10339 @item gnus-soup-packer
10340 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
10341 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10342 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
10344 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
10345 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
10346 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10347 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10349 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
10350 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
10351 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
10353 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10354 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10355 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
10356 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
10362 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
10365 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
10366 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
10367 you can read them at leisure.
10369 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
10373 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
10374 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
10375 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
10376 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
10378 @item nnsoup-directory
10379 @vindex nnsoup-directory
10380 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
10381 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
10383 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
10384 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
10385 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
10386 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
10388 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
10389 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
10390 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
10391 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
10392 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
10394 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
10395 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
10396 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
10397 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
10399 @item nnsoup-active-file
10400 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
10401 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
10402 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
10403 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
10404 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
10406 @item nnsoup-packer
10407 @vindex nnsoup-packer
10408 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
10409 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
10411 @item nnsoup-unpacker
10412 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
10413 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
10414 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10416 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
10417 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
10418 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
10421 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
10422 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
10423 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
10430 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
10432 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
10433 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
10434 more for that to happen.
10436 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
10437 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
10438 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
10441 In specific, this is what it does:
10444 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
10445 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
10448 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
10449 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
10450 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
10454 @subsection Web Searches
10458 @cindex InReference
10459 @cindex Usenet searches
10460 @cindex searching the Usenet
10462 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
10463 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
10464 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
10465 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
10466 searches without having to use a browser.
10468 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
10469 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
10470 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
10471 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
10472 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
10474 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
10475 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
10476 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
10477 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
10478 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
10479 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
10480 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
10481 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
10482 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
10483 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
10486 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
10487 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
10488 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
10489 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
10490 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
10491 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
10493 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
10494 to use @code{nnweb}.
10496 Virtual server variables:
10501 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
10502 are @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
10505 @vindex nnweb-search
10506 The search string to feed to the search engine.
10508 @item nnweb-max-hits
10509 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
10510 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
10513 @item nnweb-type-definition
10514 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
10515 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
10516 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
10521 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
10525 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
10528 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
10531 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
10535 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
10542 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
10543 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
10544 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
10547 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
10548 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
10549 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
10551 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
10557 @item nngateway-address
10558 @vindex nngateway-address
10559 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
10561 @item nngateway-header-transformation
10562 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
10563 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
10564 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
10565 transformation should be called, and defaults to
10566 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
10567 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
10570 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
10571 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
10572 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
10575 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
10578 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
10581 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
10586 So, to use this, simply say something like:
10589 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
10593 @node Combined Groups
10594 @section Combined Groups
10596 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
10600 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
10601 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
10605 @node Virtual Groups
10606 @subsection Virtual Groups
10608 @cindex virtual groups
10610 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
10613 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
10614 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
10615 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
10617 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
10618 regexp to match component groups.
10620 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
10621 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
10622 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
10623 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
10624 the virtual group.)
10626 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
10627 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
10630 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
10633 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
10634 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
10636 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
10637 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
10638 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
10639 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
10642 "^nntp+some.server.jp:soc.motss$\\|^nntp+some.server.no:soc.motss$"
10645 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
10646 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
10647 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
10648 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
10649 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
10651 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
10652 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
10653 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
10655 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
10656 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
10657 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
10658 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
10659 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
10660 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
10661 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
10662 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
10663 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
10664 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
10665 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
10668 @node Kibozed Groups
10669 @subsection Kibozed Groups
10673 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
10674 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
10675 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
10676 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
10678 @kindex G k (Group)
10679 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
10682 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
10683 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
10684 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
10685 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
10687 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
10688 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
10689 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
10691 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
10692 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
10693 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
10694 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
10695 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
10696 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
10697 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
10698 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
10700 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
10701 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
10702 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
10703 Stranger things have happened.
10705 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
10706 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
10708 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
10709 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
10710 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
10711 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
10712 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
10713 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
10715 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
10716 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
10723 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
10724 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
10725 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
10728 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
10729 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
10730 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
10731 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
10732 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
10734 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
10735 before generating the summary buffer.
10737 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
10738 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
10739 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
10741 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
10742 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
10743 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
10744 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
10747 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
10748 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
10749 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
10750 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
10751 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
10752 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
10753 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
10754 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
10755 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
10756 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
10757 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
10758 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
10759 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
10760 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
10761 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
10762 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
10766 @node Summary Score Commands
10767 @section Summary Score Commands
10768 @cindex score commands
10770 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
10771 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
10772 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
10773 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
10774 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
10776 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
10777 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
10778 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
10779 score file the current one.
10781 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
10786 @kindex V s (Summary)
10787 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
10788 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
10791 @kindex V S (Summary)
10792 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
10793 Display the score of the current article
10794 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
10797 @kindex V t (Summary)
10798 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
10799 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
10800 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
10803 @kindex V R (Summary)
10804 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
10805 Run the current summary through the scoring process
10806 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
10807 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
10808 effect you're having.
10811 @kindex V a (Summary)
10812 @findex gnus-summary-score-entry
10813 Add a new score entry, and allow specifying all elements
10814 (@code{gnus-summary-score-entry}).
10817 @kindex V c (Summary)
10818 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
10819 Make a different score file the current
10820 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
10823 @kindex V e (Summary)
10824 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
10825 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
10826 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
10830 @kindex V f (Summary)
10831 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
10832 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
10833 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
10836 @kindex V F (Summary)
10837 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
10838 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
10839 after editing score files.
10842 @kindex V C (Summary)
10843 @findex gnus-score-customize
10844 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
10845 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
10849 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
10854 @kindex V m (Summary)
10855 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
10856 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
10857 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
10860 @kindex V x (Summary)
10861 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
10862 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
10863 expunge all articles below this score
10864 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
10867 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
10868 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
10873 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
10874 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
10876 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
10877 keys are available:
10881 Score on the author name.
10884 Score on the subject line.
10887 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
10890 Score on thread---the References line.
10896 Score on the number of lines.
10899 Score on the Message-ID.
10902 Score on followups.
10912 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
10913 what headers you are scoring on.
10925 Substring matching.
10928 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
10957 Greater than number.
10962 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
10963 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
10964 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
10968 Temporary score entry.
10971 Permanent score entry.
10974 Immediately scoring.
10979 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
10980 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
10981 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
10982 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
10984 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
10985 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
10986 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
10987 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
10988 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
10990 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
10991 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
10992 pretend they are keymaps or not.
10995 @node Group Score Commands
10996 @section Group Score Commands
10997 @cindex group score commands
10999 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
11004 @kindex W f (Group)
11005 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
11006 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
11007 all the time. This command will flush the cache
11008 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
11013 @node Score Variables
11014 @section Score Variables
11015 @cindex score variables
11019 @item gnus-use-scoring
11020 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
11021 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
11022 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
11024 @item gnus-kill-killed
11025 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
11026 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
11027 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
11028 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
11029 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
11030 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
11031 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
11033 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
11034 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
11035 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
11036 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
11037 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
11039 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
11040 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
11041 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
11042 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
11044 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
11045 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
11046 @cindex score cache
11047 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
11048 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
11049 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
11050 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
11051 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
11052 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
11055 @item gnus-save-score
11056 @vindex gnus-save-score
11057 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
11058 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
11059 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
11061 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
11062 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
11063 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
11064 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
11065 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
11066 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
11067 manually entered data.
11069 @item gnus-summary-default-score
11070 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
11071 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
11073 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
11074 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
11075 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
11076 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
11077 articles will be hidden.
11079 @item gnus-score-over-mark
11080 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
11081 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
11082 default. Default is @samp{+}.
11084 @item gnus-score-below-mark
11085 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
11086 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
11087 default. Default is @samp{-}.
11089 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
11090 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
11091 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
11092 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
11094 Predefined functions available are:
11097 @item gnus-score-find-single
11098 @findex gnus-score-find-single
11099 Only apply the group's own score file.
11101 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
11102 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
11103 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
11104 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
11105 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
11106 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
11107 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
11108 then a regexp match is done.
11110 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
11111 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
11113 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
11114 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
11115 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
11116 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
11118 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
11119 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
11120 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
11121 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
11122 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
11125 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
11126 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
11127 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
11128 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
11129 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
11130 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
11133 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
11134 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
11135 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
11136 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
11137 are expired. It's 7 by default.
11139 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
11140 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
11141 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
11142 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
11143 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
11144 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
11145 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
11148 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
11149 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
11150 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
11155 @node Score File Format
11156 @section Score File Format
11157 @cindex score file format
11159 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
11160 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
11161 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
11163 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
11167 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
11169 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
11171 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
11173 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
11178 (mark-and-expunge -10)
11182 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
11183 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
11184 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
11185 (gnus-summary-make-false-root 'empty))
11189 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
11190 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
11192 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
11193 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
11194 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
11196 Six keys are supported by this alist:
11201 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
11202 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
11203 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
11204 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
11205 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
11206 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
11207 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
11208 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
11209 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
11210 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
11211 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
11212 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
11213 to articles that matches these score entries.
11215 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
11216 score entry has one to four elements.
11220 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
11221 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
11225 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
11226 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
11227 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
11228 is successful. If this element is not present, the
11229 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
11230 instead. This is 1000 by default.
11233 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
11234 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
11235 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
11236 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
11237 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
11240 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
11241 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
11242 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
11243 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
11246 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
11247 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
11248 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
11249 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
11250 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
11251 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
11252 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
11253 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
11254 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
11255 instead, if you feel like.
11258 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
11259 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}. When matching on @code{Lines}, be
11260 careful because some backends (like @code{nndir}) do not generate
11261 @code{Lines} header, so every article ends up being marked as having 0
11262 lines. This can lead to strange results if you happen to lower score of
11263 the articles with few lines.
11266 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
11267 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
11268 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
11269 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
11270 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
11271 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
11272 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
11276 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
11277 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
11278 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
11279 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
11280 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
11281 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
11282 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
11283 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
11286 @item Head, Body, All
11287 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
11291 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
11292 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
11293 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
11294 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
11295 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
11296 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
11297 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
11301 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
11302 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
11303 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
11304 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
11305 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
11306 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
11307 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
11308 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
11309 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
11310 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
11314 @cindex Score File Atoms
11316 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
11317 lower than this number will be marked as read.
11320 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
11321 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
11323 @item mark-and-expunge
11324 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
11325 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
11328 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
11329 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
11330 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
11331 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
11332 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
11335 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
11336 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
11339 @item exclude-files
11340 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
11341 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
11345 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
11346 ignored when handling global score files.
11349 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
11350 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}).
11353 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
11354 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
11355 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
11356 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
11358 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
11362 (mark-and-expunge -100)
11365 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
11366 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
11367 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
11368 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
11369 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
11371 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
11372 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
11373 ordinary scoring rules.
11376 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
11377 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
11378 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
11379 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
11380 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
11381 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
11382 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
11383 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
11384 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
11385 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
11386 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
11390 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
11391 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
11392 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
11393 file for a number of groups.
11396 @cindex local variables
11397 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
11398 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
11399 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
11400 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
11405 @node Score File Editing
11406 @section Score File Editing
11408 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
11409 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
11410 with a mode for that.
11412 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
11413 additional commands:
11418 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
11419 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
11420 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
11421 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
11424 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
11425 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
11426 Insert the current date in numerical format
11427 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
11428 you were wondering.
11431 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
11432 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
11433 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
11434 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
11435 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
11440 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
11442 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
11443 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
11445 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
11446 e} to begin editing score files.
11449 @node Adaptive Scoring
11450 @section Adaptive Scoring
11451 @cindex adaptive scoring
11453 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
11454 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
11455 stupidity, to be precise.
11457 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
11458 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
11459 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
11460 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
11461 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
11462 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
11463 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
11464 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
11465 variable to @code{(word line)}.
11467 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
11468 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
11469 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
11470 might look something like this:
11473 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
11474 '((gnus-unread-mark)
11475 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
11476 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
11477 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
11478 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
11479 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
11480 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
11481 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
11482 (gnus-ancient-mark)
11483 (gnus-low-score-mark)
11484 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
11487 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
11488 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
11489 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
11490 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
11491 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
11492 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
11495 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
11496 will be applied to each article.
11498 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
11499 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
11500 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
11501 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
11503 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
11504 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
11505 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
11506 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
11508 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
11509 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
11510 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
11511 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
11513 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
11514 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
11515 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
11516 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
11517 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
11518 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
11520 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
11521 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
11522 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
11523 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
11524 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
11525 aspirins afterwards.)
11527 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
11528 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
11529 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
11531 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
11532 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
11533 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
11535 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
11536 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
11537 let you use different rules in different groups.
11539 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
11540 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
11541 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
11544 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
11545 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
11546 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
11547 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
11548 the length of the match is less than
11549 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
11550 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
11553 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
11554 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
11555 headers. If you adapt on words, the
11556 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
11557 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
11560 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
11561 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
11562 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
11563 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
11564 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
11567 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
11568 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
11569 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
11570 score with 30 points.
11572 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
11573 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
11574 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
11575 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
11576 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
11578 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
11579 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
11580 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
11581 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
11583 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
11584 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
11585 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
11587 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
11588 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
11589 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
11590 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
11593 @node Home Score File
11594 @section Home Score File
11596 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
11597 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
11598 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
11599 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
11601 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
11602 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
11603 could perhaps use the same home score file.
11605 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
11606 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
11611 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
11615 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
11616 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
11620 A list. The elements in this list can be:
11624 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
11625 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
11628 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
11629 the home score file.
11632 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
11635 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
11640 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
11643 (setq gnus-home-score-file
11644 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
11647 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
11648 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
11651 (setq gnus-home-score-file
11652 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
11655 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
11657 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
11658 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
11659 their own home score files:
11662 (setq gnus-home-score-file
11663 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
11664 '("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
11665 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
11666 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE"))
11669 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
11670 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
11671 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
11672 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
11673 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
11675 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
11676 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
11677 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
11678 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
11679 precedence over this variable.
11682 @node Followups To Yourself
11683 @section Followups To Yourself
11685 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
11686 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
11687 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
11688 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
11689 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
11690 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
11694 @item gnus-score-followup-article
11695 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
11696 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
11699 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
11700 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
11701 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
11705 @vindex message-sent-hook
11706 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
11707 @code{message-sent-hook}.
11709 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
11710 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
11714 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
11715 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
11718 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
11719 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
11724 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
11728 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
11729 is system-dependent.
11733 @section Scoring Tips
11734 @cindex scoring tips
11740 @cindex scoring crossposts
11741 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
11742 the @code{Xref} header.
11744 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
11747 @item Multiple crossposts
11748 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
11749 more than, say, 3 groups:
11751 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
11754 @item Matching on the body
11755 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
11756 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
11757 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
11758 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
11759 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
11760 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
11761 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
11764 @item Marking as read
11765 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
11766 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
11767 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
11771 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
11773 @item Negated character classes
11774 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
11775 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
11776 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
11780 @node Reverse Scoring
11781 @section Reverse Scoring
11782 @cindex reverse scoring
11784 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
11785 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
11786 like this in your score file:
11790 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
11795 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
11796 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
11799 @node Global Score Files
11800 @section Global Score Files
11801 @cindex global score files
11803 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
11804 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
11805 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
11807 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
11808 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
11809 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
11811 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
11812 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
11813 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
11814 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
11815 files are applicable to which group.
11817 Say you want to use the score file
11818 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
11819 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
11822 (setq gnus-global-score-files
11823 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
11824 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
11827 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
11828 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
11829 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
11830 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
11831 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
11833 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
11834 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
11836 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
11837 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
11838 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
11839 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
11840 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
11841 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
11843 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
11849 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
11851 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
11853 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
11855 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
11856 lowered out of existence.
11858 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
11859 articles completely.
11862 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
11863 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
11864 old articles for a long time.
11867 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
11868 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
11869 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
11870 holding our breath yet?
11874 @section Kill Files
11877 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
11878 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
11879 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
11881 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
11882 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
11883 files into score files.
11885 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
11886 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
11887 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
11888 that isn't a very good idea.
11890 Normal kill files look like this:
11893 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11894 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
11898 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
11899 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
11901 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
11902 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
11905 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
11910 @kindex M-k (Summary)
11911 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
11912 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
11915 @kindex M-K (Summary)
11916 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
11917 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
11920 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
11925 @kindex M-k (Group)
11926 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
11927 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
11930 @kindex M-K (Group)
11931 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
11932 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
11935 Kill file variables:
11938 @item gnus-kill-file-name
11939 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
11940 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
11941 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
11942 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
11943 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
11944 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
11946 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
11947 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
11948 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
11949 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
11952 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
11953 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
11954 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
11955 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
11956 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
11957 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
11958 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
11959 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
11960 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
11962 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
11963 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
11964 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
11969 @node Converting Kill Files
11970 @section Converting Kill Files
11972 @cindex converting kill files
11974 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
11975 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
11976 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
11979 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
11980 You can fetch it from
11981 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
11983 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
11984 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
11985 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
11993 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
11994 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
11995 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
11997 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
11998 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
11999 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
12000 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
12001 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
12002 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
12003 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
12004 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
12008 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
12009 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
12010 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
12011 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
12015 @node Using GroupLens
12016 @subsection Using GroupLens
12018 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
12020 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
12021 better bit in town at the moment.
12023 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
12027 @item gnus-use-grouplens
12028 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
12029 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
12030 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
12032 @item grouplens-pseudonym
12033 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
12034 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
12035 with the Better Bit Bureau.
12037 @item grouplens-newsgroups
12038 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
12039 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
12043 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
12044 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
12045 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
12046 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
12047 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
12048 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
12051 @node Rating Articles
12052 @subsection Rating Articles
12054 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
12055 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
12056 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
12057 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
12060 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
12065 @kindex r (GroupLens)
12066 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
12067 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
12070 @kindex k (GroupLens)
12071 @findex grouplens-score-thread
12072 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
12073 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
12074 threads in rec.humor.
12078 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
12079 the score of the article you're reading.
12084 @kindex n (GroupLens)
12085 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
12086 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
12089 @kindex , (GroupLens)
12090 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
12091 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
12095 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
12096 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
12099 @node Displaying Predictions
12100 @subsection Displaying Predictions
12102 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
12103 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
12104 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
12105 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
12106 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
12108 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
12109 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
12110 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
12111 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
12112 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
12113 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
12114 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
12115 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
12116 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
12117 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
12118 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
12119 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
12120 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
12122 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
12123 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
12124 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
12125 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
12127 The following are valid values for that variable.
12130 @item prediction-spot
12131 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
12134 @item confidence-interval
12135 A numeric confidence interval.
12137 @item prediction-bar
12138 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
12140 @item confidence-bar
12141 Numerical confidence.
12143 @item confidence-spot
12144 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
12146 @item prediction-num
12147 Plain-old numeric value.
12149 @item confidence-plus-minus
12150 Prediction +/- confidence.
12155 @node GroupLens Variables
12156 @subsection GroupLens Variables
12160 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
12161 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
12162 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
12163 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
12166 @item grouplens-bbb-host
12167 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
12170 @item grouplens-bbb-port
12171 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
12173 @item grouplens-score-offset
12174 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
12175 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
12178 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
12179 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
12180 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
12185 @node Advanced Scoring
12186 @section Advanced Scoring
12188 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
12189 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
12190 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
12191 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
12192 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
12194 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
12198 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
12199 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
12200 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
12204 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
12205 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
12207 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
12208 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
12209 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
12210 non-@code{nil} value.
12212 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
12213 operator, and various match operators.
12220 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
12221 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
12222 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
12227 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
12228 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
12229 then this operator will return @code{false}.
12234 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
12235 logical negation of the value of its argument.
12239 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
12240 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
12241 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
12242 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
12243 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
12244 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
12245 the ancestry you want to go.
12247 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
12248 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
12249 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
12250 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
12251 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
12254 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
12255 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
12257 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
12258 when he's talking about Gnus:
12262 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12263 ("subject" "Gnus"))
12269 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
12273 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12280 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
12281 really don't want to read what he's written:
12285 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12286 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
12290 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
12291 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
12292 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
12299 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
12300 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
12301 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
12302 ("body" "white.*socks"))
12306 The possibilities are endless.
12309 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
12310 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
12312 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
12313 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
12314 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
12315 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
12316 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
12317 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
12318 @samp{subject}) first.
12320 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
12321 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
12332 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
12333 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
12339 ("subject" "Gnus")))
12346 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
12347 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
12352 @section Score Decays
12353 @cindex score decays
12356 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
12357 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
12358 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
12359 use them in any sensible way.
12361 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
12362 @findex gnus-decay-score
12363 @vindex gnus-score-decay-function
12364 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
12365 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
12366 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
12367 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
12368 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-score-decay-function}
12369 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
12370 definition of that function:
12373 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
12374 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant' and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
12377 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
12379 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
12381 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
12384 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
12385 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
12386 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
12387 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
12391 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
12394 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
12397 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
12401 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
12402 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
12403 the new score, which should be an integer.
12405 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
12406 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
12413 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
12414 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
12415 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
12416 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
12417 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
12418 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
12419 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
12420 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
12421 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
12422 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
12423 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
12424 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
12425 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
12426 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
12427 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolited commercial email.
12428 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
12432 @node Process/Prefix
12433 @section Process/Prefix
12434 @cindex process/prefix convention
12436 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
12437 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
12439 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
12440 command to be performed on.
12444 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
12445 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
12446 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
12447 with the current one.
12449 @vindex transient-mark-mode
12450 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
12451 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
12453 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
12454 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
12457 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
12458 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
12460 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
12463 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
12464 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
12465 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
12466 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12468 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
12469 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
12470 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
12471 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
12472 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
12473 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
12474 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
12475 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
12479 @section Interactive
12480 @cindex interaction
12484 @item gnus-novice-user
12485 @vindex gnus-novice-user
12486 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
12487 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
12488 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
12489 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
12492 @item gnus-expert-user
12493 @vindex gnus-expert-user
12494 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will never ever be asked any
12495 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
12496 matter how strange.
12498 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
12499 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
12500 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
12501 is @code{t} by default.
12503 @item gnus-interactive-exit
12504 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
12505 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
12510 @node Formatting Variables
12511 @section Formatting Variables
12512 @cindex formatting variables
12514 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
12515 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
12516 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
12517 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
12520 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
12521 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
12522 lots of percentages everywhere.
12525 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
12526 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
12527 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
12528 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
12531 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
12532 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
12533 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
12534 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
12535 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
12536 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
12537 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
12538 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
12540 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
12541 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
12543 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
12544 @findex gnus-update-format
12545 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
12546 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
12547 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
12548 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
12552 @node Formatting Basics
12553 @subsection Formatting Basics
12555 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
12556 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
12557 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
12559 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
12560 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
12561 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
12562 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
12563 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
12566 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
12567 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
12568 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
12569 less than 4 characters wide.
12572 @node Advanced Formatting
12573 @subsection Advanced Formatting
12575 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
12576 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
12577 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
12578 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
12580 These are the valid modifiers:
12585 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
12589 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
12594 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
12597 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
12602 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
12605 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
12608 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
12611 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
12615 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
12616 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
12617 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
12618 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
12619 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
12620 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
12621 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
12623 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
12624 last operation, padding.
12626 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
12627 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
12628 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
12629 @xref{Compilation}.
12632 @node User-Defined Specs
12633 @subsection User-Defined Specs
12635 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
12636 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
12637 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
12638 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
12639 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
12640 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
12641 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
12642 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
12643 should protect against that.
12645 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
12646 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
12647 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
12648 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
12652 @node Formatting Fonts
12653 @subsection Formatting Fonts
12655 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
12656 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
12657 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
12658 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
12661 Text inside the @samp{%[} and @samp{%]} specifiers will have their
12662 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
12663 default. If you say @samp{%1[}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
12664 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
12665 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
12666 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
12668 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
12671 ;; Create three face types.
12672 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
12673 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
12675 ;; We want the article count to be in
12676 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
12677 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
12678 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
12680 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
12681 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
12683 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
12684 (setq gnus-group-line-format
12685 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
12688 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
12689 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
12691 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
12692 mode-line variables.
12695 @node Windows Configuration
12696 @section Windows Configuration
12697 @cindex windows configuration
12699 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
12701 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
12702 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
12703 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
12704 @code{t} by default.
12706 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
12707 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
12708 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
12711 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
12712 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
12713 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
12717 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
12718 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
12719 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
12720 possible names is listed below.
12722 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
12723 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
12726 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
12730 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
12731 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
12732 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
12733 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
12734 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
12735 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
12736 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
12737 size spec per split.
12739 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
12742 Here's a more complicated example:
12745 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
12746 (summary 0.25 point)
12747 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
12751 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
12752 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
12753 occupy, not a percentage.
12755 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
12756 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
12757 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
12758 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
12759 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
12762 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
12765 (article (horizontal 1.0
12770 (summary 0.25 point)
12775 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
12776 @code{horizontal} thingie?
12778 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
12779 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
12780 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
12781 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
12782 the screen is to be given to this strip.
12784 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
12785 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
12786 lines from the splits.
12788 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
12792 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
12793 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
12794 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
12795 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
12796 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] ")"
12797 size = number | frame-params
12798 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
12801 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
12802 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
12803 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
12804 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
12806 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
12807 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
12808 @cindex window height
12809 @cindex window width
12810 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
12811 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
12812 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
12813 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
12814 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
12815 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
12817 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
12818 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
12819 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
12820 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
12822 @findex gnus-configure-frame
12823 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
12824 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
12825 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
12826 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
12827 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
12828 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
12829 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
12830 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
12831 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
12832 configuration list.
12835 (gnus-configure-frame
12839 (article 0.3 point))
12847 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
12848 @code{frame} split:
12851 (gnus-configure-frame
12854 (summary 0.25 point)
12856 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
12857 (user-position . t)
12858 (left . -1) (top . 1))
12863 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
12864 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
12865 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
12866 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
12867 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
12868 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
12869 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
12870 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
12873 Here's a list of all possible keys for
12874 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
12876 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
12877 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
12878 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
12879 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
12880 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
12881 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
12883 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
12884 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
12885 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
12889 (message (horizontal 1.0
12890 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
12892 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
12897 @findex gnus-add-configuration
12898 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
12899 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
12900 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
12901 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
12904 (gnus-add-configuration
12905 '(article (vertical 1.0
12907 (summary .25 point)
12911 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
12912 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
12913 Gnus has been loaded.
12915 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
12916 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
12917 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
12918 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
12919 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
12923 @section Compilation
12924 @cindex compilation
12925 @cindex byte-compilation
12927 @findex gnus-compile
12929 Remember all those line format specification variables?
12930 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
12931 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
12932 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
12933 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
12934 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
12937 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
12938 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
12939 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
12940 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
12941 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
12942 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
12943 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
12947 @section Mode Lines
12950 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
12951 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
12952 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
12953 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
12954 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
12955 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
12956 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
12959 @cindex display-time
12961 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
12962 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
12963 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
12964 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
12965 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
12966 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
12967 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
12968 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
12971 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
12973 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
12974 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
12976 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
12977 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
12978 (length display-time-string)))))
12981 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
12982 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
12983 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
12984 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
12985 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
12988 @node Highlighting and Menus
12989 @section Highlighting and Menus
12991 @cindex highlighting
12994 @vindex gnus-visual
12995 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
12996 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
12997 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
13000 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
13001 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
13004 @item group-highlight
13005 Do highlights in the group buffer.
13006 @item summary-highlight
13007 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
13008 @item article-highlight
13009 Do highlights in the article buffer.
13011 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
13013 Create menus in the group buffer.
13015 Create menus in the summary buffers.
13017 Create menus in the article buffer.
13019 Create menus in the browse buffer.
13021 Create menus in the server buffer.
13023 Create menus in the score buffers.
13025 Create menus in all buffers.
13028 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
13029 buffers, you could say something like:
13032 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
13035 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
13038 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
13041 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
13042 in all Gnus buffers.
13044 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
13047 @item gnus-mouse-face
13048 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
13049 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
13050 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
13054 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
13058 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
13059 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
13060 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
13062 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
13063 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
13064 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
13066 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
13067 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
13068 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
13070 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
13071 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
13072 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
13074 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
13075 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
13076 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
13078 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
13079 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
13080 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
13091 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
13092 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
13093 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
13094 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
13095 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
13099 @vindex gnus-carpal
13100 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
13101 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
13102 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
13107 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
13108 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
13109 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
13111 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
13112 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
13113 Face used on buttons.
13115 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
13116 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
13117 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
13119 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
13120 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
13121 Buttons in the group buffer.
13123 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
13124 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
13125 Buttons in the summary buffer.
13127 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
13128 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
13129 Buttons in the server buffer.
13131 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
13132 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
13133 Buttons in the browse buffer.
13136 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
13137 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
13138 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
13146 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
13147 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
13148 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
13149 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
13150 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
13152 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
13153 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
13154 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
13156 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
13157 been idle for thirty minutes:
13160 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
13163 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
13167 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
13170 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
13171 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
13172 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
13174 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
13175 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
13176 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
13177 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
13179 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
13180 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
13181 @var{idle} minutes.
13183 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
13184 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
13187 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
13188 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
13189 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
13191 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
13192 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
13193 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
13194 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
13196 @vindex gnus-use-demon
13197 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
13198 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
13200 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
13201 your @file{.gnus} file:
13203 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
13205 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
13208 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
13209 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
13210 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
13211 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
13212 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
13213 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
13214 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
13215 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
13216 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
13217 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
13219 @findex gnus-demon-init
13220 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
13221 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
13222 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
13223 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
13224 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
13226 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you overdo it. Adding
13227 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
13228 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
13237 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
13238 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
13240 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
13241 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
13242 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
13243 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
13246 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
13247 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
13248 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
13249 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
13251 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
13252 this will make spam disappear.
13254 There are some variables to customize, of course:
13257 @item gnus-use-nocem
13258 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
13259 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
13262 @item gnus-nocem-groups
13263 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
13264 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
13265 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
13266 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
13268 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
13269 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
13270 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
13271 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
13272 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;" "jem@@xpat.com;" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
13273 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
13275 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
13278 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
13279 @cindex Chris Lewis
13280 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
13281 usenet abuse than anybody else.
13284 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
13285 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
13286 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
13288 @item jem@@xpat.com;
13290 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
13293 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
13294 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
13295 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
13298 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
13299 ones you want to listen to.
13301 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
13302 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
13304 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
13305 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
13306 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
13307 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
13309 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
13310 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
13313 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
13315 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
13323 This might be dangerous, though.
13325 @item gnus-nocem-directory
13326 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
13327 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
13328 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
13330 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
13331 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
13332 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
13333 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
13334 might then see old spam.
13338 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
13339 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
13340 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
13341 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
13348 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
13349 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
13350 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
13352 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
13353 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
13354 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
13355 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
13356 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
13357 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
13358 @code{undo} function.
13360 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
13361 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
13362 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
13363 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
13364 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
13365 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
13366 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
13367 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
13368 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
13369 never be totally undoable.
13371 @findex gnus-undo-mode
13372 @vindex gnus-use-undo
13374 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
13375 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
13376 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
13377 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
13382 @section Moderation
13385 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
13386 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
13387 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
13390 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
13394 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
13397 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
13399 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
13404 You split your incoming mail by matching on
13405 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
13406 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
13409 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
13410 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
13413 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
13414 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
13418 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
13421 (setq gnus-moderated-list
13422 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
13426 @node XEmacs Enhancements
13427 @section XEmacs Enhancements
13430 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
13434 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
13435 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
13436 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
13437 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
13446 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-att.ps}
13447 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-berkeley.ps}
13448 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-caltech.ps}
13449 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-canada.ps}
13450 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-cr.ps}
13451 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-cygnus.ps}
13452 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-gov.ps}
13453 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-mit.ps}
13454 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-nasa.ps}
13455 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-qmw.ps}
13456 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-rms.ps}
13457 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-ruu.ps}
13461 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
13462 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
13463 over your shoulder as you read news.
13466 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
13467 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
13468 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
13469 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
13470 * Picon Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
13475 @subsubsection Picon Basics
13477 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
13480 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
13481 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
13482 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
13483 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
13484 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
13485 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
13486 @code{GIF} formats.
13489 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases, point
13490 your Web browser at
13491 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
13493 @vindex gnus-picons-database
13494 Gnus expects picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
13495 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
13498 @node Picon Requirements
13499 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
13501 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
13502 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
13505 Additionally, you must have @code{xpm} support compiled into XEmacs.
13507 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
13508 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you must have
13509 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
13510 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
13514 @subsubsection Easy Picons
13516 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
13517 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
13520 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
13521 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
13522 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-prepare-hook 'gnus-group-display-picons t)
13523 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
13528 @subsubsection Hard Picons
13530 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
13531 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
13532 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
13533 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
13534 feature, you need to first decide where to display them.
13538 @item gnus-picons-display-where
13539 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
13540 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
13541 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
13542 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
13543 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
13544 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
13545 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
13551 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-seuu.ps}
13552 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-stanford.ps}
13553 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-sun.ps}
13554 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-ubc.ps}
13555 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-ufl.ps}
13556 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-uio.ps}
13557 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-unit.ps}
13558 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-upenn.ps}
13559 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-wesleyan.ps}
13563 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
13564 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
13566 Now that you've made that decision, you need to add the following
13567 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get
13568 displayed at the right time.
13570 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
13571 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
13573 @item gnus-article-display-picons
13574 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
13575 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
13576 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
13577 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
13579 @item gnus-group-display-picons
13580 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
13581 Displays picons representing the current group. This function should
13582 be added to the @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook} or to the
13583 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} if @code{gnus-picons-display-where}
13584 is set to @code{article}.
13586 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
13587 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
13588 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
13589 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
13593 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
13594 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
13597 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
13601 @node Picon Configuration
13602 @subsubsection Picon Configuration
13604 The following variables offer further control over how things are
13605 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
13606 don't need to worry about.
13609 @item gnus-picons-database
13610 @vindex gnus-picons-database
13611 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
13612 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
13613 subdirectories. Defaults to @file{/usr/local/faces}.
13615 @item gnus-picons-news-directory
13616 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directory
13617 Sub-directory of the faces database containing the icons for
13620 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
13621 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
13622 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
13623 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
13625 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
13626 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
13627 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
13628 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
13629 want to add @samp{unknown} to this list.
13631 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
13632 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
13633 The command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
13634 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
13635 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
13636 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
13638 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
13639 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
13640 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
13641 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
13643 @item gnus-picons-buffer
13644 @vindex gnus-picons-buffer
13645 The name of the buffer that @code{picons} points to. Defaults to
13646 @samp{*Icon Buffer*}.
13651 @subsection Smileys
13654 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
13655 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
13657 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
13658 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13661 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
13664 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
13665 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
13666 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
13667 text and maps that to file names.
13669 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
13670 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
13671 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
13672 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
13673 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
13674 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
13676 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
13677 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
13679 Here's the default value of @code{smiley-smiley-regexp-alist}:
13682 (setq smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
13683 '(("\\(:-+[<«]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceAngry.xpm")
13684 ("\\(:-+\\]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceGoofy.xpm")
13685 ("\\(:-+D\\)\\W" 1 "FaceGrinning.xpm")
13686 ("\\(:-+[@}»]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceHappy.xpm")
13687 ("\\(:-*)+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceHappy.xpm")
13688 ("\\(:-+[/\\\"]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceIronic.xpm")
13689 ("\\([8|]-+[|Oo%]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceKOed.xpm")
13690 ("\\([:|]-+#+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceNyah.xpm")
13691 ("\\(:-+[(@{]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceSad.xpm")
13692 ("\\(:-+[Oo\*]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceStartled.xpm")
13693 ("\\(:-+|\\)\\W" 1 "FaceStraight.xpm")
13694 ("\\(:-+p\\)\\W" 1 "FaceTalking.xpm")
13695 ("\\(:-+d\\)\\W" 1 "FaceTasty.xpm")
13696 ("\\(;-+[>)@}»]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceWinking.xpm")
13697 ("\\(:-+[Vvµ]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceWry.xpm")
13698 ("\\(][:8B]-[)>]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceDevilish.xpm")
13699 ("\\([:|]-+P\\)\\W" 1 "FaceYukky.xpm")))
13702 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
13703 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
13704 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
13706 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
13707 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
13711 @item smiley-data-directory
13712 @vindex smiley-data-directory
13713 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
13715 @item smiley-flesh-color
13716 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
13717 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
13719 @item smiley-features-color
13720 @vindex smiley-features-color
13721 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
13723 @item smiley-tongue-color
13724 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
13725 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
13727 @item smiley-circle-color
13728 @vindex smiley-circle-color
13729 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
13731 @item smiley-mouse-face
13732 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
13733 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
13739 @subsection Toolbar
13743 @item gnus-use-toolbar
13744 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
13745 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
13746 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
13747 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
13749 @item gnus-group-toolbar
13750 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
13751 The toolbar in the group buffer.
13753 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
13754 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
13755 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
13757 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
13758 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
13759 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
13765 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
13768 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
13769 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
13770 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
13771 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
13772 unusual directory structure.
13774 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
13775 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
13776 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
13777 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
13779 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
13780 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
13781 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
13782 Legal values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
13783 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
13784 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
13786 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
13787 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
13788 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
13796 @node Fuzzy Matching
13797 @section Fuzzy Matching
13798 @cindex fuzzy matching
13800 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
13801 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
13803 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
13804 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
13805 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
13807 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
13808 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
13809 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
13810 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
13811 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
13814 @node Thwarting Email Spam
13815 @section Thwarting Email Spam
13819 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
13821 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
13822 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
13823 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
13824 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
13825 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
13826 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
13827 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
13828 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
13831 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
13832 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
13833 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
13834 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
13835 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrouos hair on your toes!'')
13836 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
13840 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
13841 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
13843 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
13844 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
13845 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
13846 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
13847 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
13848 part of the mail address.)
13851 (setq message-default-news-headers
13852 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
13855 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13856 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
13861 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
13862 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
13863 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
13869 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
13870 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
13871 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
13872 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
13874 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
13875 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
13876 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
13877 twarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
13878 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
13879 your fancy split rule in this way:
13884 (to "larsi" "misc")
13888 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
13889 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
13890 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
13891 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
13892 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
13894 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
13895 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, availiable FOR FREE
13896 at @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
13897 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
13898 cosmic balance somewhat.
13900 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
13901 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
13902 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
13903 to non-existant domains is yucky, in my opinion.
13906 @node Various Various
13907 @section Various Various
13913 @item gnus-home-directory
13914 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
13915 defaults to @file{~/}.
13917 @item gnus-directory
13918 @vindex gnus-directory
13919 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
13920 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
13921 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
13923 @item gnus-default-directory
13924 @vindex gnus-default-directory
13925 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
13926 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
13927 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
13928 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
13929 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
13930 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
13933 @vindex gnus-verbose
13934 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
13935 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
13936 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
13937 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
13938 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
13940 @item gnus-verbose-backends
13941 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
13942 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
13943 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
13945 @item nnheader-max-head-length
13946 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
13947 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
13948 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
13949 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
13950 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
13951 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
13952 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
13953 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
13954 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
13956 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
13957 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
13958 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
13959 read when doing the operation described above.
13961 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
13962 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
13964 @cindex invalid characters in file names
13965 @cindex characters in file names
13966 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
13967 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
13968 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
13971 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
13975 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
13976 Windows (phooey) systems.
13978 @item gnus-hidden-properties
13979 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
13980 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
13981 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
13982 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
13984 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
13985 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
13986 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
13987 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
13988 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
13990 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
13991 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
13992 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
14001 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
14002 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
14004 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
14006 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
14012 Not because of victories @*
14015 but for the common sunshine,@*
14017 the largess of the spring.
14021 but for the day's work done@*
14022 as well as I was able;@*
14023 not for a seat upon the dais@*
14024 but at the common table.@*
14029 @chapter Appendices
14032 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
14033 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
14034 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
14035 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
14036 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
14037 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
14038 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
14046 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
14047 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
14049 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
14050 can point your (feh!) web browser to
14051 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
14052 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
14053 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
14055 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
14056 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
14057 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
14058 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
14059 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
14060 appropriate name, don't you think?)
14062 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
14063 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
14064 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
14065 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
14067 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
14068 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
14069 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
14071 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
14072 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
14074 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
14075 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4''.
14077 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
14078 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
14079 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
14080 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
14081 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
14085 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
14086 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
14087 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
14088 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
14089 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
14090 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
14091 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
14098 What's the point of Gnus?
14100 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
14101 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
14102 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
14103 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
14104 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
14105 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
14106 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
14107 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
14108 keep track of millions of people who post?
14110 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
14111 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
14112 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
14113 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
14114 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
14115 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
14116 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
14117 every one of you to explore and invent.
14119 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
14120 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
14123 @node Compatibility
14124 @subsection Compatibility
14126 @cindex compatibility
14127 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
14128 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
14129 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
14134 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
14138 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
14141 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
14144 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
14145 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
14146 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
14147 important variables have their values copied into their global
14148 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
14149 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
14151 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
14152 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
14153 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
14154 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
14155 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
14159 @cindex highlighting
14160 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
14161 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
14162 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
14163 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
14164 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
14165 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
14168 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
14169 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
14170 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
14171 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
14173 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
14174 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
14175 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
14176 to stop doing it the old way.
14178 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
14180 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
14182 @cindex reporting bugs
14184 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
14185 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
14186 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
14190 @subsection Conformity
14192 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
14193 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
14200 There are no known breaches of this standard.
14204 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
14206 @item Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
14207 @cindex Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
14208 Gnus has been through the Seal process and failed. I think it'll pass
14209 the next inspection.
14211 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
14212 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
14213 We do have some breaches to this one.
14218 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
14219 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
14222 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
14223 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
14224 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
14225 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
14226 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
14231 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
14232 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
14237 @subsection Emacsen
14243 Gnus should work on :
14248 Emacs 19.32 and up.
14251 XEmacs 19.14 and up.
14254 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.32 and up.
14258 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
14259 reliably, at least.
14261 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
14262 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
14263 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
14268 @subsection Contributors
14269 @cindex contributors
14271 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
14272 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
14273 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
14274 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
14275 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
14276 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
14277 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
14278 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
14279 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
14280 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
14282 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
14288 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
14291 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
14292 well as numerous other things).
14295 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
14298 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
14301 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
14302 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
14305 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
14308 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
14309 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
14312 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
14315 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
14318 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
14321 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
14324 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinsky---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
14325 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
14328 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
14331 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
14334 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
14337 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
14341 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
14344 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
14347 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
14350 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports.
14354 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
14355 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
14357 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
14366 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
14370 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
14385 Massimo Campostrini,
14390 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
14395 Michael Welsh Duggan,
14402 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
14407 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
14411 François Felix Ingrand,
14412 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
14419 Peter Skov Knudsen,
14420 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
14421 Thor Kristoffersen,
14436 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
14437 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
14443 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
14448 John McClary Prevost,
14456 Philippe Schnoebelen,
14457 Randal L. Schwartz,
14478 Katsumi Yamaoka. @c Yamaoka
14480 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
14481 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
14482 (550kB and counting).
14484 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
14487 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
14488 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
14492 @subsection New Features
14493 @cindex new features
14496 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
14497 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
14498 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
14501 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
14502 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
14503 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
14507 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
14509 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
14514 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
14515 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
14518 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
14519 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
14522 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
14525 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
14526 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
14527 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
14530 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
14531 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
14532 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
14533 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
14536 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
14537 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
14540 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
14541 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
14542 (@pxref{The Active File}).
14545 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
14546 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
14549 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
14550 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
14551 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
14554 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
14555 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
14556 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
14559 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
14560 the @file{.emacs} file.
14563 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
14564 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
14567 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
14568 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
14571 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
14572 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
14575 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
14576 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
14579 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
14580 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
14583 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
14586 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
14587 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
14590 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
14591 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
14594 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
14595 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
14598 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
14601 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
14602 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
14605 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
14609 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
14613 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
14614 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
14617 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
14623 @node September Gnus
14624 @subsubsection September Gnus
14626 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
14631 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
14632 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
14636 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
14637 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
14641 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
14645 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
14646 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
14649 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
14653 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
14656 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
14659 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
14662 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
14666 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
14667 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
14670 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
14674 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
14678 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
14682 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
14686 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
14689 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
14690 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
14693 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
14697 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
14698 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
14701 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
14704 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
14705 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
14706 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
14709 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
14713 The Gnus cache is much faster.
14716 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
14720 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
14721 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14724 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
14725 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
14728 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
14729 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14732 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
14733 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
14734 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
14737 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
14738 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
14741 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
14744 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
14747 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14748 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
14752 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
14755 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
14758 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
14759 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
14762 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
14766 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
14769 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
14772 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
14776 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
14779 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
14783 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
14786 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
14789 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
14790 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
14793 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
14794 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
14798 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
14799 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
14802 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
14806 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
14807 buffer to allow easier treatment.
14810 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
14813 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
14817 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
14821 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
14822 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
14825 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
14829 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
14830 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
14833 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
14834 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
14837 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
14841 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
14844 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14845 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
14849 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
14852 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
14858 @subsubsection Red Gnus
14860 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
14865 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
14868 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
14869 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
14872 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
14873 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
14877 Article washing status can be displayed in the
14878 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
14881 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
14884 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
14885 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
14888 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
14892 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
14893 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
14897 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
14898 Server Internals}).
14901 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
14905 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
14908 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
14909 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
14912 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
14913 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
14914 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
14917 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
14918 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
14921 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
14922 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
14925 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
14929 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
14930 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
14933 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
14934 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
14937 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
14941 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
14944 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
14948 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
14949 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
14952 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
14953 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
14956 A new command for reading collections of documents
14957 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
14958 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
14961 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
14965 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
14966 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
14969 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
14970 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
14971 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
14974 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
14975 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
14979 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
14983 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
14987 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
14991 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
14995 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
14996 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
14999 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
15002 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-emphasize)
15008 @node Newest Features
15009 @subsection Newest Features
15012 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
15015 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
15019 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
15021 Really do unbinhexing.
15024 And much, much, much more. There is more to come than has already been
15025 implemented. (But that's always true, isn't it?)
15027 @file{<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/rgnus/todo>} is where the actual
15028 up-to-the-second todo list is located, so if you're really curious, you
15029 could point your Web browser over that-a-way.
15034 @section The Manual
15038 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
15039 either @code{texi2dvi}
15041 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
15042 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
15044 to get what you hold in your hands now.
15046 The following conventions have been used:
15051 This is a @samp{string}
15054 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
15057 This is a @file{file}
15060 This is a @code{symbol}
15064 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
15068 (setq flargnoze "yes")
15071 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
15074 (setq flumphel 'yes)
15077 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
15078 ever get them confused.
15082 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
15083 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
15084 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
15085 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
15086 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
15087 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
15088 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
15095 @section Terminology
15097 @cindex terminology
15102 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
15103 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
15104 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
15105 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
15106 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
15110 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
15111 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
15112 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
15113 not posting, and replying is not following up.
15117 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
15121 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
15126 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
15127 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
15128 is all done by the backends.
15132 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
15133 default, way of getting news.
15137 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
15138 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
15143 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
15144 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
15148 A message that has been posted as news.
15151 @cindex mail message
15152 A message that has been mailed.
15156 A mail message or news article
15160 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
15165 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
15170 A line from the head of an article.
15174 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
15175 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
15179 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
15180 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
15181 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
15182 normal @sc{head} format.
15186 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
15187 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
15188 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
15189 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
15190 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
15191 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
15193 @item killed groups
15194 @cindex killed groups
15195 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
15196 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
15198 @item zombie groups
15199 @cindex zombie groups
15200 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
15203 @cindex active file
15204 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
15205 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
15206 is rather large, as you might surmise.
15209 @cindex bogus groups
15210 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
15211 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
15212 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
15216 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
15218 @item select method
15219 @cindex select method
15220 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
15223 @item virtual server
15224 @cindex virtual server
15225 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
15226 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
15227 whole is a virtual server.
15231 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
15232 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
15235 @item ephemeral groups
15236 @cindex ephemeral groups
15237 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
15238 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
15239 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
15242 @cindex solid groups
15243 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
15244 group buffer are solid groups.
15246 @item sparse articles
15247 @cindex sparse articles
15248 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
15249 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
15254 @node Customization
15255 @section Customization
15256 @cindex general customization
15258 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
15259 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
15260 for some quite common situations.
15263 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
15264 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
15265 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
15266 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
15270 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
15271 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
15273 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
15274 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
15275 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
15279 @item gnus-read-active-file
15280 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
15281 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
15282 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
15283 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
15284 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
15286 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
15287 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
15288 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
15289 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
15293 @node Slow Terminal Connection
15294 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
15296 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
15297 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
15298 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
15302 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
15303 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
15304 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
15305 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
15306 horizontal and vertical recentering.
15308 @item gnus-visible-headers
15309 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
15310 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
15311 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
15312 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
15314 @item gnus-article-display-hook
15315 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
15317 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
15318 '(gnus-article-hide-headers gnus-article-hide-signature
15319 gnus-article-hide-citation))
15322 @item gnus-use-full-window
15323 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
15324 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
15325 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
15326 want to read them anyway.
15328 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
15329 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
15332 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
15333 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
15334 lines, which might save some time.
15338 @node Little Disk Space
15339 @subsection Little Disk Space
15342 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
15343 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
15347 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
15348 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
15349 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
15350 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
15353 @item gnus-save-killed-list
15354 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
15355 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
15356 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
15357 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
15363 @subsection Slow Machine
15364 @cindex slow machine
15366 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
15367 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
15369 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
15370 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
15372 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
15373 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
15374 summary buffer faster.
15376 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
15377 processing a bit faster.
15380 @node Troubleshooting
15381 @section Troubleshooting
15382 @cindex troubleshooting
15384 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
15392 Make sure your computer is switched on.
15395 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
15396 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
15400 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
15401 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
15402 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
15403 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
15406 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
15410 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
15411 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
15412 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
15413 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
15414 something like that.
15417 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
15420 @cindex reporting bugs
15422 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
15424 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
15425 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
15426 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
15427 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
15429 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
15430 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
15431 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
15432 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
15435 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
15436 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
15437 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
15438 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
15439 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
15440 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
15442 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
15443 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
15444 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
15447 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
15448 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
15450 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
15451 @cindex ding mailing list
15452 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
15453 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
15456 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
15457 @section A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
15459 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
15460 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
15461 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
15462 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
15465 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
15466 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
15467 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
15468 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
15469 and general methods of operation.
15472 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
15473 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
15474 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
15475 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
15476 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
15477 * Group Info:: The group info format.
15478 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
15479 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
15483 @node Gnus Utility Functions
15484 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
15485 @cindex Gnus utility functions
15486 @cindex utility functions
15488 @cindex internal variables
15490 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
15491 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
15492 Below is a list of the most common ones.
15496 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
15497 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
15498 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
15500 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
15501 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
15502 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
15504 @item gnus-group-real-name
15505 @findex gnus-group-real-name
15506 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
15509 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
15510 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
15511 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
15512 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
15514 @item gnus-get-info
15515 @findex gnus-get-info
15516 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
15518 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
15519 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
15520 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
15523 @item gnus-continuum-version
15524 @findex gnus-continuum-version
15525 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
15526 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
15529 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
15530 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
15531 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
15533 @item gnus-news-group-p
15534 @findex gnus-news-group-p
15535 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
15537 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
15538 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
15539 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
15541 @item gnus-server-to-method
15542 @findex gnus-server-to-method
15543 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
15545 @item gnus-server-equal
15546 @findex gnus-server-equal
15547 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
15549 @item gnus-group-native-p
15550 @findex gnus-group-native-p
15551 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
15553 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
15554 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
15555 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
15557 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
15558 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
15559 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
15561 @item group-group-find-parameter
15562 @findex group-group-find-parameter
15563 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
15564 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
15566 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
15567 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
15568 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
15570 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
15571 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
15572 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
15574 @item gnus-check-backend-function
15575 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
15576 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
15577 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
15580 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
15584 @item gnus-read-method
15585 @findex gnus-read-method
15586 Prompts the user for a select method.
15591 @node Backend Interface
15592 @subsection Backend Interface
15594 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
15595 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
15596 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
15597 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
15598 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
15599 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
15601 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
15602 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
15603 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
15604 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
15605 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
15606 been opened, the function should fail.
15608 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
15609 name. Take this example:
15613 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
15614 (nntp-port-number 4324))
15617 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
15618 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
15620 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
15621 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
15622 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
15624 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
15625 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
15626 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
15628 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
15629 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
15630 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
15631 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
15632 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
15633 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
15636 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
15637 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
15638 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
15639 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
15642 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
15645 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
15648 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
15649 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
15650 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
15651 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
15652 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
15653 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
15657 @node Required Backend Functions
15658 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
15662 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
15664 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
15665 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
15666 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
15667 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
15669 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
15670 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
15671 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
15672 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
15674 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
15675 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
15676 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
15677 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
15678 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
15679 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
15680 number, do maximum fetches.
15682 Here's an example HEAD:
15685 221 1056 Article retrieved.
15686 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
15687 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
15688 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
15689 Subject: Re: Something very droll
15690 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
15691 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
15693 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
15694 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
15695 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
15699 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
15700 these in the data buffer.
15702 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
15706 head = error / valid-head
15707 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
15708 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
15709 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
15710 header = <text> eol
15713 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
15714 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
15718 nov-buffer = *nov-line
15719 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
15720 field = <text except TAB>
15723 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
15727 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
15729 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
15730 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
15732 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
15733 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
15734 server. In fact, it should do so.
15736 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
15737 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
15740 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
15742 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
15743 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
15746 There should be no data returned.
15749 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
15751 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
15752 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
15753 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
15754 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
15756 There should be no data returned.
15759 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
15761 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
15762 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
15763 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
15764 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
15766 There should be no data returned.
15769 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
15771 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
15773 There should be no data returned.
15776 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
15778 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
15779 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
15780 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
15781 it would be nice if that were possible.
15783 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
15784 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
15785 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
15786 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
15787 into its article buffer.
15789 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
15790 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
15791 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
15792 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
15793 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
15794 on successful article retrieval.
15797 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
15799 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
15800 making @var{group} the current group.
15802 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
15805 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
15808 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
15811 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
15812 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
15813 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
15814 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
15815 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
15816 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
15817 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
15818 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
15821 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
15822 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
15823 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
15827 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
15829 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
15830 a no-op on most backends.
15832 There should be no data returned.
15835 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
15837 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
15840 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
15843 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
15844 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
15847 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
15848 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
15851 active-file = *active-line
15852 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
15854 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
15857 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
15858 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
15859 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
15862 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
15864 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
15865 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
15866 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
15867 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
15868 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
15869 clear if the posting could not be completed.
15871 There should be no result data from this function.
15876 @node Optional Backend Functions
15877 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
15881 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
15883 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
15884 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
15885 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
15887 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
15888 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
15889 former is in the same format as the data from
15890 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
15891 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
15894 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
15898 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
15900 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
15901 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
15902 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
15903 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
15904 should return the (altered) group info.
15906 There should be no result data from this function.
15909 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
15911 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
15912 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
15913 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
15914 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
15915 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
15916 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
15917 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
15918 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
15920 There should be no result data from this function.
15923 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
15925 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
15926 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
15927 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
15928 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
15929 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
15931 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
15932 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
15933 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
15936 There should be no result data from this function.
15939 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
15941 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
15942 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
15943 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
15944 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
15945 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
15946 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
15947 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
15949 There should be no result data from this function.
15952 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
15954 The result data from this function should be a description of
15958 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
15960 description = <text>
15963 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
15965 The result data from this function should be the description of all
15966 groups available on the server.
15969 description-buffer = *description-line
15973 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
15975 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
15976 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
15977 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
15980 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
15982 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
15984 There should be no return data.
15987 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
15989 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
15990 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
15991 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
15992 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
15993 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
15996 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
15999 There should be no result data returned.
16002 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
16005 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
16006 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
16008 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
16009 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
16010 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
16011 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
16012 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
16013 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
16015 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
16016 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
16019 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
16020 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
16022 There should be no data returned.
16025 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
16027 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
16028 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
16029 this function in short order.
16031 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
16032 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
16034 There should be no data returned.
16037 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
16039 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
16040 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
16042 There should be no data returned.
16045 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
16047 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
16048 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
16049 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
16051 There should be no data returned.
16054 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
16056 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
16057 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
16059 There should be no data returned.
16064 @node Error Messaging
16065 @subsubsection Error Messaging
16067 @findex nnheader-report
16068 @findex nnheader-get-report
16069 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
16070 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
16071 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
16072 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
16073 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
16074 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
16077 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
16079 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
16082 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
16083 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
16084 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
16085 takes one argument---the server symbol.
16087 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
16088 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
16089 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
16092 @node Writing New Backends
16093 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
16095 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
16096 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
16097 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
16098 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
16099 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
16102 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
16103 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
16104 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
16106 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
16107 package called @code{nnoo}.
16109 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
16110 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
16116 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
16117 parameters. For instance:
16120 (nnoo-declare nndir
16124 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
16125 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
16128 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
16129 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
16130 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
16132 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
16133 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
16134 a function in those backends.
16137 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
16138 "Where nndir will look for groups."
16139 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
16142 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
16143 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
16144 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
16146 @item nnoo-define-basics
16147 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
16151 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
16155 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
16156 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
16157 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
16159 @item nnoo-map-functions
16160 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
16161 functions from the parent backends.
16164 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
16165 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
16166 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
16169 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
16170 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
16171 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
16172 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
16175 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
16176 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
16177 haven't already been defined.
16183 nnmh-request-newgroups)
16187 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
16188 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
16189 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
16194 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
16197 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
16198 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
16202 (require 'nnheader)
16206 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
16208 (nnoo-declare nndir
16211 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
16212 "Where nndir will look for groups."
16213 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
16215 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
16216 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
16219 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
16220 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
16221 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
16223 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
16224 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
16226 ;;; Interface functions.
16228 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
16230 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
16231 (setq nndir-directory
16232 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
16234 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
16235 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
16236 (push `(nndir-current-group
16237 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
16239 (push `(nndir-top-directory
16240 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
16242 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
16244 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
16245 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
16246 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
16247 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
16248 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
16252 nnmh-status-message
16254 nnmh-request-newgroups))
16260 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
16261 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
16263 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
16264 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
16265 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
16266 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
16268 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
16269 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
16274 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
16277 The abilities can be:
16281 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
16283 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
16285 This backend supports both mail and news.
16287 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
16290 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
16291 articles and groups.
16293 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
16294 true for almost all backends.
16295 @item prompt-address
16296 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
16297 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
16298 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
16302 @node Mail-like Backends
16303 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
16305 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
16306 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
16307 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
16308 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
16311 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
16312 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
16313 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
16316 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
16317 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
16320 This function takes four parameters.
16324 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
16327 @item exit-function
16328 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
16330 @item temp-directory
16331 Where the temporary files should be stored.
16334 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
16335 performed for one group only.
16338 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
16339 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
16340 find the article number assigned to this article.
16342 The function also uses the following variables:
16343 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
16344 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
16345 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
16346 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
16350 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
16351 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
16355 @node Score File Syntax
16356 @subsection Score File Syntax
16358 Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
16359 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
16360 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
16362 Here's a typical score file:
16366 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
16373 BNF definition of a score file:
16376 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
16377 element = rule / atom
16378 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
16379 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
16380 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
16381 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
16383 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
16384 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
16385 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
16386 date-header = "date"
16387 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
16388 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
16389 score = "nil" / <integer>
16390 date = "nil" / <natural number>
16391 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
16392 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
16393 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
16394 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
16395 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
16396 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
16397 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
16398 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
16399 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
16400 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
16401 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
16402 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
16403 exclude-files / read-only / touched
16404 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
16405 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
16406 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
16407 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
16408 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
16409 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
16410 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
16411 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
16412 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
16413 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
16414 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
16415 eval = "eval" space <form>
16416 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
16419 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
16422 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
16423 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
16424 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
16425 one looong line, then that's ok.
16427 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
16428 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
16432 @subsection Headers
16434 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
16435 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
16436 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
16437 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
16439 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
16440 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
16441 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
16442 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
16443 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
16444 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
16445 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
16447 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
16448 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
16449 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these
16450 slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
16451 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
16453 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
16460 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
16461 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
16463 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
16464 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
16465 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
16466 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
16468 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
16472 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
16475 is transformed into
16478 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
16481 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
16482 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
16485 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
16488 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
16489 is slightly tricky:
16492 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
16498 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
16501 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
16507 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
16514 and is equal to the previous range.
16516 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
16517 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
16518 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
16522 range = simple-range / normal-range
16523 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
16524 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
16525 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
16526 number *[ " " contents ]
16529 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
16530 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
16531 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
16532 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
16533 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
16538 @subsection Group Info
16540 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
16541 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
16542 describes the group.
16544 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
16545 second is a more complex one:
16548 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
16550 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
16551 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
16553 (auto-expire (to-address "ding@@gnus.org")))
16556 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
16557 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
16558 normally is a small integer. The third element is a list of ranges of
16559 read articles. The fourth element is a list of lists of article marks
16560 of various kinds. The fifth element is the select method (or virtual
16561 server, if you like). The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group
16562 parameters}, which is what this section is about.
16564 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
16565 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
16566 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
16568 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
16571 info = "(" group space level space read
16572 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
16573 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
16574 group = quote <string> quote
16575 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
16577 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
16578 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
16579 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
16580 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
16583 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
16584 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
16587 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
16588 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
16591 @item gnus-info-group
16592 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
16593 @findex gnus-info-group
16594 @findex gnus-info-set-group
16595 Get/set the group name.
16597 @item gnus-info-rank
16598 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
16599 @findex gnus-info-rank
16600 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
16601 Get/set the group rank.
16603 @item gnus-info-level
16604 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
16605 @findex gnus-info-level
16606 @findex gnus-info-set-level
16607 Get/set the group level.
16609 @item gnus-info-score
16610 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
16611 @findex gnus-info-score
16612 @findex gnus-info-set-score
16613 Get/set the group score.
16615 @item gnus-info-read
16616 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
16617 @findex gnus-info-read
16618 @findex gnus-info-set-read
16619 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
16621 @item gnus-info-marks
16622 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
16623 @findex gnus-info-marks
16624 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
16625 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
16627 @item gnus-info-method
16628 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
16629 @findex gnus-info-method
16630 @findex gnus-info-set-method
16631 Get/set the group select method.
16633 @item gnus-info-params
16634 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
16635 @findex gnus-info-params
16636 @findex gnus-info-set-params
16637 Get/set the group parameters.
16640 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
16641 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
16643 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
16644 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
16645 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
16646 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
16649 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
16650 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
16654 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
16655 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
16656 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
16658 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
16659 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
16660 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
16661 Gnus, that's very useful.
16663 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
16664 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
16665 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
16666 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
16667 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
16668 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
16669 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
16670 following function:
16673 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
16677 (,function ,@@args))
16681 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
16682 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
16683 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
16686 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
16687 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
16688 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
16690 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
16691 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
16692 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
16695 @node Various File Formats
16696 @subsection Various File Formats
16699 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
16700 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
16704 @node Active File Format
16705 @subsubsection Active File Format
16707 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
16708 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
16711 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
16714 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
16715 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
16716 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
16717 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
16718 no.general 1000 900 y
16721 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
16724 active = *group-line
16725 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
16726 group = <non-white-space string>
16728 high-number = <non-negative integer>
16729 low-number = <positive integer>
16730 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
16734 @node Newsgroups File Format
16735 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
16737 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
16738 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
16739 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
16742 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
16743 Here's the definition:
16747 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
16748 group = <non-white-space string>
16750 description = <string>
16754 @node Emacs for Heathens
16755 @section Emacs for Heathens
16757 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
16758 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
16759 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
16760 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
16761 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
16762 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
16763 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
16767 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
16768 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
16773 @subsection Keystrokes
16777 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
16780 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
16783 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
16784 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
16785 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
16786 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
16787 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
16788 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
16790 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
16791 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
16792 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
16793 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
16794 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
16795 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
16796 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
16798 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
16799 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
16800 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
16801 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
16802 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
16803 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
16804 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
16806 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
16807 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
16808 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
16809 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
16810 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
16816 @subsection Emacs Lisp
16818 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
16819 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
16820 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
16821 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
16823 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
16824 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
16825 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
16826 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
16827 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
16828 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
16829 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
16832 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
16833 write the following:
16836 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
16839 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
16840 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
16841 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
16844 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
16845 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
16846 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
16847 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
16848 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
16850 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
16851 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
16852 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
16856 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
16860 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
16863 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
16864 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
16867 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
16870 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
16871 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
16874 @include gnus-faq.texi